MUHLENBERG COLLEGE Class works magic in philosophy study

The class touches on philosophical andpsychologicalaspects of magic.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- As students waited for philosophy professor Lawrence Hass to start class, a third of the group did card tricks, shuffling and rearranging decks, fanning them out into circles and reclosing them with one hand.
The class at Muhlenberg College was Theory and Art of Magic, and Hass started by chatting about tricks and giving some of the students books and videos on ones they might perform in a show on which they would be graded.
He soon moved on to say the class wasn't really about the tricks, however.
The emphasis
"It's to learn how to make magic out of a trick. Tricks are easy to come by," he said. "Magic is deceptive, powerful, entertaining, and perhaps -- this is the Holy Grail -- perhaps even artistic."
Magic is about life, Hass said. For example, he asked the students what qualities within themselves they might craft into a performing magician's persona: wise guy or sage, trickster or friend, teacher or clown?
"Who am I going to be when I perform? What side or sides of myself will I reveal in my performance? You can't present every side of yourself or you are going to present mush," Hass said. "That's a pretty high-level kind of reflection."
The class, which includes on-campus performances and lectures to the students by visiting world-class magicians, started three years ago and has held an irresistible allure.
Philip LaPorta, 19, a sophomore physics major from Lodi, N.J., said he waited eagerly to be in this fall's group.
"All of last semester I practiced," said LaPorta, who before class rehearsed fanning a deck of cards into a full circle and closing it again one-handed, without dropping any. "That took me a month. Closing it took another two weeks."
Other schools
Other colleges offer classes in magic. The Chavez College of Magic in Hollywood, Calif., is devoted entirely to it. The University of Minnesota offers The Art of Magic as a youth program for students 12 to 15.
To Hass, who has taught at Muhlenberg since 1991, magic was an intriguing way to approach the study of philosophy. He said the insight came while watching a magic show 10 years ago with his son: "I said, 'Wait, magicians are creating experience. I want to be able to do that.'"
The class brings visiting magicians to perform and lecture. In class, Hass teaches the basics like sleight of hand, directing attention and the psychology of deceptions. Students put on juried performances, judged by professional magicians.
Top magicians
Visiting performers are magicians like Eugene Burger, author of 16 books on magic; Margaret Steele, a musician and magician who has performed around the world and written music and magic programs; and mind reader Max Maven, who was a visiting performer earlier this month.
"When we see Eugene Berger with his low voice, Max Maven with his [demonic] eye, David Copperfield with his flourishes, Siegfried and Roy with their tigers, it is so tempting to take up their personas," Hass told the students. But he said that won't work.
"When you are an actor or musician you are letting yourself come forth in your performance. It's hard," Hass said.
"And with Freud, we know there are sides that are hidden from ourselves."
"There is so much psychology in it," said Michael Bernstein, 20, of Philadelphia. Bernstein, a double major in philosophy and psychology, said magic skills would help him connect with children he works with.
Bernstein, too, put in time learning basics, like causing the deck of cards to stream smoothly from one hand to the other with his hands a foot apart. "That took a week," he said.
Craft and philosophy
Hass covered questions of craft as well as philosophy, including a magician's need to control the attention of the audience. To show how not to do that, he spoke in a monotone. "I have a quarter. Now it's gone," he said. "Not very interesting."
The result was different when he swept his hand upward, leaned almost over the first row of desks, fixed his eyes on the upraised coin and intoned: "Lives can be won or lost on the flip of a coin."
The class stared.
Ironically, LaPorta said after class, the magicians are directing attention away from the skills they work for hours to perfect.
"We practice things nobody is supposed to see," he said, but he added that success is rewarding. "There is nothing better than to show somebody a magic trick and see them smile."