並不是真正的大學。剛剛去查了(對不起我只去找英文版的 -_-||| 有時間我去找找看中文版):
That's a terrific question. Not only should magicians know about the course but they should also realize that this course is still in operation today under the hands of Dale Salwak.
I graduated from the course in 1963 at the age of 17. I took the course by mail order and began at age 15. The course lasted......(wait, let me get my calculator).....Two Years!! Actually back then I believe it was a 17 month course.
The Chavez College of Magic was founded in 1941 by Ben and Marion Chavez. The course covered mostly manipulation techniques with Cards, Balls, Thimbles, Coins, and Cigarettes. It also taught showmanship, microphone technique, some dove work, stage lighting for an act, music cues for an act, color schemes, costuming, etc.
Many notables in magic graduated from that course. Channing Pollack, Don Alan and Norm Nielsen are only a few that come to mind at this moment. This course was actually accredited under the GI Bill so after World War II, a serviceman could actually take the course and the government would pay for it. What a deal!! All you had to do was kill the enemy and risk your life during the war and you could get free magic lessons if you lived through it.!!!
At 15 I begged my Mom to enroll me in this course. The cost back then was, I beleive, $11.00 per month. I would receive one lesson per month and the course came with the necessary props. I remember receiving the first lesson along with a cardboard box. I opened the box and there inside was a deck of Aviator playing cards, a plastic bag of fanning powder, 5 Jay Marshall Palming Coins, an Ireland Magic Rubber Golf Ball, some wooden thimbles, AND A PACK OF CIGARETTES. Can you imagine that happening to a fifteen year old today??? Getting a pack of cigarettes in the mail as part of a magic course??? The school would have been shut down and sued. (Of course back in those days, we all took responsibility for our own actions and choices and lawyers were not allowed to advertise on television.)
Each month I would wait for a new lesson to arrive. I would take the lesson upstairs to my bedroom and begin reading and learning. I would stand in front of the mirror and go to work. I would practice on each lesson perhaps three or four evenings per week for maybe an hour or so each evening. I began to learn. Certain moves, techniques, or manipulations were sometimes frustrating but I kept trying them over and over until I sort of "caught on." Sometimes I would take my questions or problems to Frank Thompson at the Phil Thomas Magic Shop downtown. He would help me out. I would meet Walter Cummings at conventions or banquets. Walter was an instructor for Chavez in the early years. He would polish up my techniques and give suggestions. The school would send me questionaires in the mail. I would have to fill them out, explain what I was having trouble with or what I didn't understand. They would quiz me on structure of routines, how I would open the act and how I would close. I sort of slacked off near the end of the course because I had a steady girl friend who always wanted to go to dances and stupid stuff like that. She just didn't "get it." One day I realized that these Saturday night dances were interfering with the magic meetings at the magic shop and my Chavez course and so we broke up. I had some catching up to do. After all, the final exam with Chavez was coming up.
For the final exam, I had to completely create an act from beginning to end complete with lighting cues for the light man and music cues for the live orchestra. I received my diploma and still proudly display that piece of paper in a frame at one of my homes here in Baltimore.
Was I now ready to go out and start performing?? Heck no!!! There were still other books to study and learn from. It was just a continuous education process. I would go to conventions and get in the contests. I think I won each and every time I entered. I volunteered to be on every show I could get on. I was always nervous and my hands shook all the time. Confidence only comes from performing things hundreds of times rather than dozens of times. I still had to be mentored. I would politely approach every older magician I knew and ask some sort of question that would get them talking and showing me things.
As I think back to those years, I realize that my real learning years were between 15 and 19. That's where the foundation was built. I devoured every book I could afford to buy. I had a paper route back when paper boys existed and earned about $12.00 per week. With a little extra assistance from my Mom and Dad, my library grew and I poured myself into these books during those four years.
COULD A MAGICIAN LEARN THIS WAY TODAY??
Yes, they could......but would they try?? Do they have the patience?? Computers, DVDs, Video Games have all changed the way we learn and I am not sure if it is for the better. I know of very few younger magicians who would have the patience to learn this way today. There are a few out there and they are patiently learning and practicing at this moment. I believe that these will be our future magic pro performers. Slow and steady wins the race. Structured learning will point you in the right direction.
Today we seem to "want in NOW!" Just give it to me on a DVD and I'll copy it. I have A.D.D and have to learn it quick. I can't learn from a book. I don't know how to read.
You know, I may have had A.D.D. also, maybe a bit dislexic, perhaps I had trouble reading and comprehending also. Videotape didn't even exist back then. So you see......I was lucky. No one told me I had some 3 letter acronym for a learning disability or that I needed to be a "visual learner." No one gave me an excuse to fail or be lazy so I just did the best that I could.
RECOMMENDATION:
I would recommend that any young magician who can afford it, look into the Chavex College of Magic. Just do a "google search" on Chavez School or Dale Salwak. If you can afford the personal lessons, by all means do so. If you can only take the correspondence course then that is fine also. WARNING. You can save a bit of money by getting the entire correspondence course at one time. I do not recommend it. Just get a lesson every month and work on it until the next lesson arrives. Learning correctly requires "properly structured" lessons. If you get them all at once, your mind will be jumping all over the place. Just too much information at one time. Remember: Slow and Steady Wins the Race.
轉:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=197206&forum=230The Chavez Studio of Magic was founded in 1941 by Benny Chavez, establishing for the first time a bonafide school of magic. In 1946 the course of study was approved by the California State Department of Education, the only school for magicians in America where Veterans of World War II could study under the G.I. Bill of Rights. Over the years the methods of instruction have been perfected and new material as been added to the curriculum. Literally a Who’s-Who” in the magical field have benefited in one way or another from the instruction.
When Benny Chavez passed away in 1962, Marian Chavez continued to operate the school – both home-study and private – from her studio in Panorama City. When she passed away in 1978, it was her wish that Neil Foster and Dale Salwak become the co-owners of the Chavez school. Together over the next nine years they made every effort to carry on the training in the tradition established by Benny and Marian. In 1988 Neil Foster passed away. Dale Salwak continues that tradition at the West Coast branch where he works hard to maintain the high standards that the founders of the studio set for all of their students.
The course focuses on everything (from basic to most advanced) with cards, coins, thimbles, billiard balls, and cigarettes (or similarly-shaped objects). Although we emphasize stage/parlor magic, much of the material can be adapted to close-up as well.
Along with all that, the lessons have much to teach about showmanship, stage deportment, routining, working to music, stagecraft, and the many other principles essential to any successful performance. We want to help the student to understand the psychology of magic, and the principles taught relate to practically any style of magic.
We are also able to offer a consultation service to help with routines, development of an act, promotion, and anything else the student may require.
For more background on the studio and its historical connection with Benny and Marian Chavez, Neil Foster, Channing Pollock, and Dale Salwak, please see the August 2004 issue of MAGIC, the October 2004 issue of THE LINKING RING, the February 2006 issue of MUM. and the June 2006 issue of THE LINKING RING.
轉:
http://www.dalesalwak.com/Chavezstudio.html希望這些有幫助~ 我明天找找看中文版的~ 或我去翻譯以上這些 :P
