College of Magic - Courses

Courses

The College of Magic is engaged in performing arts education and training, and specialises in training young people – children from the age of 10 years and upwards – in the art of magic and the allied arts of juggling, ventriloquism, mime and clowning.

The unique curriculum consists of six core courses that are structured hierarchically, with each course increasing in complexity, expectations of the learner and skill mastery. In the first three years, students are introduced to the basics of magic including presentation skills, the theory of entertainment and the essential elements of controlling an audience. During the fourth, fifth and sixth years, the curriculum becomes substantially more demanding in terms of the technical requirements and the theoretical aspects of entertaining. Students focus on entertaining children, sleight of hand, close-up magic, stage magic, magic with animals and stage illusions.

The courses are geared to encouraging individuality and innovation; hence workshops are frequently included as part of the course, where students can build their own props and experiment with new ideas. The nature of the courses is instructive, where opportunities for learners to continually "go back" – i.e. to refine, rehearse, improve and become more competent "magical" performers at that particular level – is fundamental. Embedded in each course is a cycle of action that includes:

• demonstration,
• practice,
• presentation,
• reflection,
• refinement,
• practice, and
• presentation.

The syllabus of each course is regularly assessed and upgraded wherever necessary. The required standard of performance is monitored closely so that uniformity and excellence is maintained. Lessons are held on Saturday mornings, and tutorials are arranged at other times directly with the instructors.