The Workers Course: Why I Created It - And How It Can be of Value to You

By Michael Close

When Dai Vernon moved from Ottawa, Canada, to New York City in 1915, he helped establish The Big Apple as the Mecca of magic. The gathering places were informal (the back rooms of magic shops, various restaurants and delicatessens) and there was a definite seating hierarchy, but the main draw was Vernon. The goal was to sit with him or near him and absorb whatever nuggets of magical wisdom he happen to drop.

In 1963, Vernon moved to California and began his residency at the Magic Castle. For almost the next thirty years, magicians from around the world came to the Castle to sit with Vernon and learn from him. Several, like Ricky Jay, Bruce Cervon, Larry Jennings, Steve Freeman, and John Carney, uprooted and moved west to be with him.

I did not have the same relationship with Vernon as those mentioned above (I only met him a few times), but I did spend a lot of time with Harry Riser and Johnny Thompson, both of whom espoused and exemplified the Vernon aesthetic. I tried to incorporate this way of thinking into all the routines I created and performed.

The Professor died in 1992. (Due to an illness, he had been moved away from the Magic Castle a few years earlier.) In the thirty-four (!!) years since then, the world of magic has changed dramatically, spurred by the advances of technology (which enabled anyone to relatively easily bring any product to the marketplace) and the overwhelming influence of social media, which, due to its pandering to short attention spans, has placed an emphasis on demonstrations of eye candy. In the English-speaking countries, there are still some who champion the Vernon approach, but their voices are often lost in the tsunami of tricks promising to immediately turn the purchaser into a magician.

In Europe and Spain in particular, however, Juan Tamariz has not only promoted the Vernon aesthetic, he has expanded on it. Through his writings, his performances, and his kindness and generosity, he has inspired several generations of exceptional performers, who shine both theatrically and creatively.

I wondered if I could help spread this message.

The Impetus

In my work with private students and with the six-hundred-plus performers who have appeared on Fool Us, I discovered that many of them, even those who have been interested in magic for a long time and who have a lot of flight time in front of audiences, were unaware how magic’s basic tenets could be applied to produce astonishing, high-caliber performances. Either no one had explained these ideas clearly, or they were hidden away in texts and not carefully read.

Even though, in every magic book I’ve written, I’ve tried to emphasize the “why” of the choices I made in the construction of the tricks, very often that information gets lost in the reader’s struggle to internalize the “how,” especially when the handling involves unfamiliar or more difficult techniques that must be mastered.

I wondered if I could design a pedagogically sound course in such a way that the important “theoretical” concepts were grounded in reality by immediately applying them to techniques and tricks. The sleights would start with the basics, but taught correctly using the best information possible, and thus avoiding a common problem many hobbyists face: having to unlearn bad habits.

With each sleight, I would teach a trick that utilized it, thus providing an incentive to put in the practice time. The tricks would be simple enough that the theoretical unpinning could be easily understood. And the tricks would also be chosen with a powerful, ulterior motive: they could be combined into effective two- and three-trick sets. These sets can be performed in casual situations and will amaze and entertain any audience.

Explorer 1 and Explorer 2

This, then, was the beginning of the two-part Explorer Course. Although I designed it so anyone with a serious interest in performing magic (regardless of experience or skill level) would be able to successfully master the information presented, I have heard from experienced performers who took the course that they learned things about the art of conjuring they had never ever considered.

My main goal with this method of teaching is to introduce you to a profound way of studying magic – to show you how good magicians think. I want to turn magic-trick owners into conjurers.

What Do You Get?

The instructional portion of each class is sixty minutes long. I open the Zoom room about fifteen minutes before the start time and I keep the room open for about fifteen minutes after the class to allow for informal chat and questions. The emphasis is on making this an enjoyable experience.

In each class I discuss card and coin techniques, a trick or two, some applicable theory topic, and I introduce you to strategies for “fixing” tricks, something rarely discussed. Again, my goal is to change the way you think about magic.

Each class is recorded, and that recording plus any instructional videos used in that lesson are available for you to access at any time. In addition, there are required reading assignments (these are not long) and supplemental material to expand your knowledge. These are available for you to download and save. (Learning to read a magic book is a valuable skill and I want to encourage that practice.)

To get the most value from the course, you should plan regular practice times. We provide you with a practice log for each week. I suggest at least fifteen to thirty minutes each day.

In Conclusion

I sincerely believe this course (and my private session work) is my way of honoring my mentors and giving back to the magic community. Regardless of your experience or skill level, I think you will find the information offered to be revelatory.

For more information, check out Explorer 1 and Explorer 2.