Hi all,

In the Workers section of The Café there is a running thread of seven pages as I write this that was started by Steven Youell. The topic is "Why You Should NOT Learn from YouTube." Needless to say, like most threads in that specific section of The Café, the debate has been heated; there have been compelling arguments and unfortunately a few attacks. I guess we card folk are a passionate lot. Those of us who rail against free YouTube "tutorials" point out the lack of expertise of these so called teachers. Some of us have even argued that what is going on with this YouTube business is nothing more than wanton exposure covered in a thin veneer of "instruction." I'll hasten to add at this point that I believe there is much that can be learned for free on YouTube, but not in terms of learning how to be a good magician in terms of technique. Rather, in my estimation, the real learning comes in watching videos of how pros such as Malone, Lorayne, Slydini, Vincent, and others perform. Those videos are wonderful examples of instruction on how to entertain and, as magic is first and foremost a performing art, these videos will teach the motivated student how to develop or at least think about her own presentation chops. [N.B.: For the purpose of this series of reviews, I will be using the feminine pronoun because I find the practice of "she/he" tedious].

Steve Faulkner chimed in on the thread and is offering what he claims to be a complete course in card magic. I read the endorsements by Dave Forrest and other respected names and it piqued my interest. I have 20+ years experience as a professional entertainer in magic, music, and live theater. I've tried to instill in my students that one invests in one's art and that nothing worthwhile is easy or free. When I teach, I require my students to read foundational texts on the art because those authors teach much better than I could ever dream.

But, YouTube came along while I was reading Tarbell and something unsettling happened: aspiring magicians were learning from others who possess perhaps six months of experience in the art - and it shows. I'm not old but I am very old school when it comes to magic instruction. To my dying breath I will vociferously defend my argument that somebody with six months of experience - if it can be called that - has absolutely no business teaching magic. So, I made a few post's in Steven Youell's long thread and when Steve Faulkner's post came along announcing his Card Magic Course, I decided that I wanted to go a step further than merely rant and rail. I enrolled in the course! I covered the whys and wherefores in that thread and you are welcome to review those there as I don't want to waste bandwidth repeating it here.

So, here is my approach for a continuing series of reviews of this online course.

1. Despite the fact that I am completing a Master's degree in Instructional Design and Curriculum and possess two decades of professional performing experience, I am taking the course as if I was a complete neophyte. I want to assess how well the course works and whether it is a meaningful alternative to the free instruction provided on hundreds of YouTube channels.

2. Each review will touch upon the modules in the course I've worked through with the following criteria in mind:
a. Did I as "Vlad the neophyte" feel as though I have actually learned something?
b. Was the instruction carried out in a meaningful, professional, constructivist manner?
c. Did I have any problems with the design of the site? [Note that here I DO have to call upon my experience in Instructional Design. Design does not mean how nice looking a site is. Design is defined as anything purposefully included in any instructional material to facilitate learning; design is deliberate and purposeful instructional decision making.
d. Ultimately, does the course deliver what is promised?

I am hopeful that readers will find my unsolicited reviews useful and at the very least, topics for conversation.

Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with Steve Faulkner nor did he ask me to write these reviews. I paid to enroll in the course so I gain nothing either way.

Now that I have gotten the house keeping out of the way, let's get started with some broad strokes concerning the design of the site.

The course is broken down into modules much like Card College, Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights, and even Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, so, I would ask that non-card magicians join the ride as such a course COULD prove to be an antidote to exposure in other areas of magic.

While I cannot say that Steve was influenced directly or consciously or what have you by Giobbi's model, there is a sense of Giobbi in the design. The course begins with the same assumption as Giobbi and other courses that the learner doesn't have the ability to hold a pack of cards correctly. From there, each module builds upon the preceding. Design wise, the modules are categorized in a linear fashion which I believe is beneficial to the student. That said, the intermediate level magician can skip ahead to later modules, but again, these reviews are from the perspective of a "created" neophyte so I'll not be addressing the benefits for intermediate and advanced level magicians.

The graphic layout of the course is at this point very well organized. There are over 100 posted videos - with many more modules and videos to come - categorized into larger module headings. As of this writing there are six modules, each with a varying number of training videos. Navigation is clean but I would advise Steve to add "alt tags" for accessibility for those who are visually impaired; after all, Richard Turner was at one time a neophyte and perhaps a future Richard Turner may take this course. Alt tags allow browser reader software to give visually impaired learners audio clues.

When the student clicks on a module heading, she is taken to a page that contains all of the videos that pertain to that given module. In a nice design touch, Steve has kept the navigation clean by providing links back to previous modules and pages, so, the learner doesn't have to use the browser back button. Again, the buttons themselves really need alt tags for accessibility and fortunately they are easily coded.

The videos themselves are well shot with no stupid nausea inducing camera tricks or effects. It's refreshing NOT to see some magician trying to look like a rock star while standing in a mock up rough neighborhood. This course is about teaching magic and it gets down to the business at hand with no gimmicks. Thanks for that Steve! Learning should be focused not distracting. If any reading this are familiar with Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights, you'll remember that Daryl offers an over the shoulder view of the sleight being taught in what he termed "super practice sessions." While useful, these were usually too short and no verbal instruction was given during these over the shoulder shots. Steve offers two videos per sleight and thus does one better than Daryl in this respect. The first video is shot from a front perspective so you can see what the sleight should look like from a performance angle. The second video is an over the shoulder, tight shot of Steve's hands from the perspective of the performer. Each video, that is, the performance angle and the over the shoulder (OTS from now on), is painstaking explained and are of roughly equal length. So, in the exercise for the overhand shuffle, I followed with cards in hand on both videos. Steve clearly explains finger placement, the importance of proper grip tension (Aaron Fisher would love this), as well as the pitfalls one should avoid when executing an overhand shuffle. There is no ambiguity nor guesswork. The pacing is such that I didn't feel lost nor rushed. What's more, Steve explains not only the "how" of the mechanics of a sleight, but the "why." In my estimation, this is something sorely lacking in YouTube videos and I daresay even in some professionally produced learning resources.

This ends part I of a continuing series of reviews. So far, I like what I am experiencing, and it is clear that Steve Faulkner has put a lot of work into this course.

Thank you for reading and see you next time!

Best,
Vlad

In part II, I will be taking a moment to discuss what this course states in terms of its purpose as I find that it needs to be more clearly defined. I'll explain next week or later this week.

Brother Vlad, thanks for taking the time to share this important experience with us!

Thanks very much for your review Vlad_77. It's nerve-racking when you release something that has taken a fair bit of sacrifice and work. I learned a lot from card college and I think it's a masterpiece so I suppose it's difficult not to be influenced. This is by no means supposed to be a replacement for books, which I love so very much, but just an acceptance that many of those learning are not going to read them. Even lot's of great magicians I know struggle with learning from books as they are more visual learners. The whole thing has been a steep learning curve as I knew that I had to learn how to build the site and learn the software so I could add to and maintain the site myself. It's also taken a lot of money so I need to have a little break before another pro film shoot. However the video on the sign up page is self shot and edited (I invested in a little gear to make it look unYoutube) so I can add individual videos myself to answer questions and clarify things. And good point about the alt tags. This is currently beyond my capabilities but I will definitely look into it. Thank again for the time it must have taken you to write this.
Steve

Thank you for your information Vlad

I appreciate your efforts Vlad.

Thanks!

Jim

Hi Steve,

You are more than welcome! More reviews are coming as I journey through your course. PM me and I can help you free of charge with some coding (alt tags, etc.).

Best,
Vlad

Hi Steve,

You are more than welcome! More reviews are coming as I journey through your course. PM me and I can help you free of charge with some coding (alt tags, etc.).

Best,
Vlad

Any updates to the review?