Stop Worrying About Teaching Guitar! Turn Your Guitar Class into a Guitar Ensemble (for Free)! KMEA Dennis Davis
Basic Questions, Assumptions, and Observations
Do You Really Need To Play The Guitar Well (or at all) To Teach A Guitar Class Well?
Do You Really Need To Play Every Instrument in a Jazz Band or Orchestra to Teach Those Ensemble Classes Well?
You Are an Excellent Musician Teach Them What You Know Best! MUSICIANSHIP & ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Missed Conceptions ) Many guitarists in HS and MS can already play their instrument to some degree. ) Most guitarists want to be in a band and have never experienced the fun of performing in an ensemble. ) Most guitarists do not want to be the solo guitar player. They are much more comfortable in a large group (section player).
Missed Conceptions: Traditional class guitar method books. Fail to actually teach proper guitar technique beyond the two or three photos and paragraphs in the front of the book.. Do not utilize tablature.. Focus on learning the notes on each string (linear approach) with boring music exercises that are not fun to practice (musically and creatively stifling). 4. Focus on solo progress and performance with unison or teacher accompanied exercises. 5. Are rarely more than poorly adapted private lesson books. 6. Introduce chords too early and irresponsibly.
Missed Conception : Failure to actually teach proper guitar technique beyond the two or three photos and paragraphs in the front of the book. Many teachers purchase a book hoping it will teach their class proper guitar technique (how to physically play the guitar). Is that really possible with a few pages and photos in the front of a book? The simple truth is that many guitar methods, class or otherwise, do not teach the mechanics of proper guitar technique. If you strip that brief section out of the front of the book, how much guitar-specific pedagogical information is actually left? What typically follows is a plethora of simple solo or teacher accompanied music exercises, as seen in John Thompson books and other solo oriented texts. Is that similar to the early primers you experienced in your private lessons?
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to actually teach proper guitar technique beyond the two or three photos and paragraphs in the front of the book. Do not buy into the hype and do not buy the books to solve that problem. Understand that many of your guitar students can already fret and hold their instrument. And, the proper technique and sitting position may exacerbate the problems young children face when playing an over-sized guitar. Even if they have never played the guitar, let them hold it the way that works best for them during the early stages of this process. Let them discover proper guitar technique and guide them with the basic principles that I will provide to you for free. Besides, students have seen too many guitar videos and guitarists on TV/Internet to believe that there is only one right way to hold or play a guitar. And, if you analyzed the twenty best classical guitarists in the world you would find significant differences in hand positions, guitar angles, and holding devices.
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to actually teach proper guitar technique beyond the two or three photos and paragraphs in the front of the book. Utilize the plethora of free Internet videos that teach students how to hold, position, and play the guitar. Many of these videos are taught buy some of the most important performers and teachers in the world (for example, Kanengiser s: Effortless Classical Guitar Videos on YOUTUBE). They are also available through ILL. However, it is really best not to overly focus on the mechanics of guitar playing in the early stages, beyond the common concerns of basic posture and positioning. you will probably discover, as I have, that MUSIC is the best way to teach MUSIC! And, good music will teach good technique (necessity is the mother of invention).
Missed Conception : Failure to utilize tablature. Guitar pedagogy is in a sad state of denial. Simply put, Tablature is not evil. It is one of the oldest forms of notation in the history of Western music and it is commonly transcribed by growling graduate students who must study it in Notation and Early Music History courses. Tablature is the primary way that uneducated guitarist learn to play their instrument. It is the focus of popular song books, magazines, and websites. It is not uncommon for very young students to already know how to read tablature. Fortunately, it is also the quickest way to teach young inexperienced guitar students how play the correct pitches on the guitar. And, it is the easiest way for non-guitarist teachers to check that students are playing the correct pitches on the guitar (WIN-WIN)!
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to utilize tablature. Begin with easy ensemble music that YOU know well and like. Make numerous copies of Notation/Tablature manuscript paper (four bars per system and unbarred). Copy the score or parts for the students, assign the parts, and have them transcribe those parts into tablature using a Neck/Notation sheet (I will give you one, but they are free on the Internet).
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to utilize tablature. It is incredibly easy to turn any MIDI, Finale, or Sibelius score into parts with notation AND guitar tablature. You can easily add a Tab staff below each part and create the Tab part by copying and pasting. Remember that the Guitar sounds an octave lower than written, so you may want to either use an Octave/Tenor Treble Staff or transpose the notation line before copying. This is not a difficult process. For more advanced music (higher range) you will want to specify the position (the lowest fret) that best fits the range of the phrase or entire part, but this will be fairly easy to do after finding those notes on the neck chart.
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to utilize tablature. However, it is even easier and more educationally productive to do this by assigning the part as written homework for your students. This is, without doubt, the best way to wean students away from tablature, teach them standard notation, and have them understand and think critically about rhythm. IT IS THE MOST CRITICALLY MISSED STAGE OF GUITAR INSTRUCTION-PERIOD. Rhythm: Notation software will add the counting above the tablature and students transcribing their part should be made to write the counting above the tablature.
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to Utilize Tablature Easy ensemble music for guitar ensemble has a range that runs from E below middle C to A above the staff. These parts will be easily played in first position and your students will learn them quickly. Since your students are using tablature, the accidentals and chromaticism will only be a problem if they do not understand those symbols in notation. Remember, they are converting notation into tablature at this point, which actually makes it easier for them to deal with accidentals and key signatures on the guitar. When arranging more advanced parts, either in notation software or as assignment for students, you will want to find the location (position) on the guitar neck where all (or mostly all) of the notes in a phrase may be played WITHOUT shifting. It is critical that students try, from the earliest moment, to not look at their hands while they read their tablature parts. If the phrases are tabbed in the most appropriate position, the notes should lay under the four fingers easily with each finger having its own fret.
Missed Conception Solutions: Failure to Utilize Tablature While this may seem complicated, it is really quite logical and most importantly, the first part of a more complicated work is typically the only part that needs this type of attention. And fortunately, your more advanced students will not only already have the technical facility to play those lines, but they will also know to place those lines in the best position. If they do not, then you can help them without much effort. AGAIN: It is critical to make your students write out their counting over the tablature. Ideally, they will copy the notation, convert it to the tablature staff underneath, and then write the counting for their part over the tablature. Rhythm tends to be the most difficult and often neglected element when teaching with tablature. That is why notation eventually replaced tablature historically. The inverse is why young guitarists cannot count or read rhythms very well. Whether you use notation software or student transcriptions, you reinforce critical thinking and writing is utilized as an important method of learning. You also have an excellent means of assessing the comprehension of learning objectives and measurement of learning outcomes.
Missed Conceptions & 4 Focus on learning the notes on each string successively (linear approach) with boring music exercises that are not fun to practice (musically and creatively stifling). Focus on solo progress and performance with unison or teacher accompanied exercises. Typical guitar methods, class or private studio, introduce one string at a time, typically high to low, and use short exercises to learn the notes on the guitar. The problem is that the exercises are boring and everyone is playing a unison part. This process continues for six to eight weeks until each string is covered individually. This is a private lesson guitar approach with a very steep and discouraging learning curve. Since the teacher cannot work with each student individually, this methodology places too much responsibility on the student. Many students become frustrated with the material, pace, and difficulty of memorizing the note locations on the guitar. And, many naturally need more time to learn the notes below the staff.
Missed Conception & 4 Solutions: The elegance of using tablature is that the student has an immediate understanding of where the note is played and the memorization of the notation location for that note can unfold naturally over time, and, in the comfort of much better music that allows students to have their own part in a larger group. It is imperative to understand that tablature works across the guitar neck vertically and horizontally. Meaning, it allows students to play music on all of the strings of the guitar immediately, instead of one string per week. This affords a circuitous, rather than linear, methodology. Playing,, is largely the same process on any string. This allows the teacher to divide the class into one large ensemble (or smaller ensembles) to learn duo, trio, quartet and larger works.
Missed Conception & 4 Solutions: It is exciting to watch the immediate gratification that young guitar students experience after they play an easy ensemble work in four parts after very little rehearsal. It is also the quickest way to teach young inexperienced guitar students how play the correct pitches on all six strings of the guitar simultaneously. And, it is the easiest way for non-guitarist teachers to make sure that students are playing the correct pitches on the guitar (WIN-WIN)! You cannot argue with a fret number... The ensemble music replaces the boring exercises and the focus is on the group and not the individual student.
Missed Conceptions 5 & 6 Guitar class methods rarely more than poorly adapted private lesson books and, they introduce chords too early and irresponsibly. Few items confirm the misguided nature of many guitar methods more than the early introduction of chords. On the surface, many seem to think that chords are easier because the fingers are stationary for an extended period of time while the strumming hand does all of the work. Another common misconception is that guitarists should learn to play rhythm guitar well before they try to play lead. The real goal of this maxim is for the young guitar student to learn rhythm, meter, counting, and tempo control.
Missed Conception 5 & 6 Solutions: First of all, chords are much more difficult to play than single note lines and exercises. It is ridiculous to think that chords develop, exercise, and improve the coordination of the fretting finger better than isolating and exercising the fingers individually. The fingers just set still on the neck and then they must fly to another formation in the blink of an eye. If chords were easy to play young guitarists would be playing them well in a short period of time. And more importantly, they would be changing between them quickly and easily. Simply put, chords do more damage to the psyche of young guitarists then any other single element and many young players quit because of trying to learn them.
Missed Conception 5 & 6 Solutions: Beginning guitarists should focus on single note exercises until they gain the finger independence they need to play chords well. While there are many exercises that will help do this, the ensemble music you teach them will also do this. And, it will alleviate the need for the teacher or students to accompany class guitar songs with chords. When chords are introduced, they may also be divided according to strings and played by the ensemble (three students play the high string, three the second string, etc). This way chords can be learned by adding strings, rather than all at once.
Missed Conception 5 & 6 Solutions: Beginning guitarists should focus on single note exercises until they gain the finger independence they need to play chords well. While there are many exercises that will help do this, the ensemble music you teach them will also do this. And, it will alleviate the need for the teacher or students to accompany class guitar songs with chords. When chords are introduced, they may also be divided according to strings and played by the ensemble (three students play the high string, three the second string, etc). This way chords can be learned by adding strings, rather than all at once.
Review Ensemble Music You Download for Free (Quick Start): Go to one of many websites that offer free guitar ensemble music, download the PDFs and have the students transcribe their parts into Tablature. This music is already for guitar ensemble (no transposing, range, or part assignment problems). http://www.classicalguitarschool.net/en/ http://www.derek-hasted.co.uk/free-guitar-music/ http://imslp.org/wiki/special:genresearch/guitar http://www.acguitar.com/lessons/notation/notation.shtml (Instructional: Session Link)
Review Ensemble Music You Arrange (Quick Start): Simply take any ensemble music you already have in Finale or Sibelius, including MIDI files, and transpose the parts to fit the guitar s range (think Clarinet), add a tablature staff for each part, and create the parts. Sibelius will also generate a play-a-long Scorch File and add Beat counting to the Tablature staff. Many scores are available at the Sibelius web site.
Review Ensemble Music They Arrange (Critical Thinking/Musicianship): Give them a copy of the parts for easy ensemble works and sheets of blank notation and tablature paper. Is it really a problem for students to learn clef conversion and transposition? Or, is that learning musicianship and critical thinking? You can also let bass players read bass clef (and use their basses). Divide the class into parts and if you have them, place an experienced player on each part. Give them a sheet of the notes on the neck in notation (free and readily available also in many entry level books as an appendix). Tell them to stay in one position as much as possible (four frets, one per finger) and convert the notes into tablature. Transcribing standard notation into tablature is one of the quickest and best ways for your students to learn how to read music. They will naturally want to quit transcribing parts after they can read notation. Voila! Instant Guitar Ensemble...
Sample Guitar Instructional Internet Site http://www.acousticguitar.com/lessons/notation/notation.shtml
http://freeblanksheetmusic.org/guitar/
Cancion Sin Fronteras For 5 Acoustic Guitars Guitar Guitar C G7 C G7 C G7 C G7 Guitar Guitar 4 Bass 5 Gt. Gt. C F G7 Gt. Gt.4 5 BGt. D.Kennedy Tel 997 44 email duncan.m.kennedy@btinternet.com
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Haydn Demonstration for Determining Playing Positions Symphony 4: III Menuetto and Trio (Allegro)
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Basic Technical Suggestions. Sit Correctly Edge of the seat with good posture. Guitar between legs. Peg head/tuning gears at ear level via strap or footstool.. Left Hand Palm parallel with bottom of neck. Fret on the tips of the fingers with the thumb across from fingers and.. Right Hand Finger Style (Do not anchor fingers on the top or bridge, thumb ahead of index finger, Segovia triangle, Rest Strokes before Free Strokes). Plectrum (hold between tip of thumb and tip of index finger, keep wrist loose, compare to the act of writing).
Practical Pedagogical Suggestions. If a student already seems at ease playing the guitar, just have them sit correctly and notice that many technical issues will resolve themselves over time.. If the guitar does not fit the child, use a capo and have them play in the higher positions. These situations often require altered sitting positions (for example, right leg supporting the instrument).. Internet Materials and Instructional Videos. Many of the best instructional materials and videos are free on YOUTUBE and Google. William Kanengiser Effortless Classical Guitar (highly recommended). Hal Leonard and Mel Bay have basic videos, including videos for younger students. YOUTUBE has other excellent videos (too many to list). Download them and watch them before you present them in class. Simply Search Free Guitar Lessons and notice the hundreds of free instructional videos, theory links devoted to guitar, and printable resources (tab, manuscript, metronomes, tuning sites, JamCenters, Accompaniment Tracks, Guitar Pro, and so much more). http://www.justinguitar.com/en/aa--lessonindex.php
Use Basic Guitar Exercises to Teach Rhythm. Right Hand (Fingers and Plectrum): Open string strumming (all strings) Single string focus (open string).. Left Hand: Non articulated left hand legatos (hammers) on open strings.. Both Hands: Vertical and Horizontal Stretching Exercises (long note values). Coordination drills (long note values). Ascending and Descending legatos (hammers and pull-offs). The Shifting Exercise (quick rhythms but use layers for less experienced players).
The Mid-America Guitar Ensemble Festival (4+ Guitarists: College and High School Ensembles)
Thank You For Attending KMEA!! Please Email Me If You Have Any Questions! dennis.davis@eku.edu 859-6-57