The Classical Guitar Blog

There has been a severe lack of posts in the last few weeks. I’ve been giving a few solo recitals (along with a guitar duo performance thrown in) and traveling a lot to do doctoral auditions. Things will be quieter in a few weeks, and The Classical Guitar Blog with back to normal.

In the meantime, here’s some things that have been on my mind:

• People need to play easier music. A good repertoire selection will have some hard stuff, and some easy. Trying to put together an entire program of hard music is not the best way to get better at guitar.
• I’d rather listen to easy music played well than hard music played badly.
• It’s all about the legato. Music is about lines, and we need to connect them. Just because the guitar can make nice pointallistic stabs of sound does not mean we should do it all the time. Always try for a legato sound as your default (unless the music says otherwise, of course).
• Don’t learn interpretation later. It’s like learning two different pieces, and people spend too much time just, “getting in their fingers.” It’s no surprise, then, that a bad, uninterpreted version is the one that comes out on stage.
• Everyone needs to spend less time on scales and more time arpeggios. Seriously. Most of our stuff is arpeggio like in texture. That said, don’t neglect those scales completely.
• A smile and a good moment of poise can make a performance. Master those two things and your stage deportment goes to a new level.

What’s on your mind?

A brand is an identity. When I say “Nike,” you think shoes. When I say, “Yamaha,” you’d probably think of guitars. Both those are brands: strong identities associated with a name.

Musicians, especially those trying to make a living in music, should have brands as well. A brand is easy to think up, just ask yourself, “what do I want to be when I ‘grow up’?”

More than Business

A strong brand can give a business direction to an entrepreneurial musician, but everyone should have a brand because goals are important.

Having a brand is the same as have a long-term goal. Do you want to perform concerts? How many? What sort of practicing does that require? How about being a studio guitarist? You better be good at sight reading and an incredibly consistent player.

Those are two more business-like examples, but the possibilities are endless. Do you want to perform for family and friends? How do you practice for that? (by performing for them a lot!) Do you want to be able to play restaurant gigs? Or do weddings? Having that sort of brand, being a wedding musician, can provide a direction to your practice time and repertoire on which to work.

Brands are not just for businesses and professional musicians. What’s your brand?

Music is a gift. A gift for all ages and all cultures. It’s not for adults only, but children as well.

You might ask, “Why should I bother teaching children classical guitar?” There are many reasons. One that comes to mind immediately is that children who study music and classical guitar are the future core audience for classical guitar concerts. In addition, a good music education broadens a young person’s interests. We have the opportunity to encourage a young person to grow in depth and sensitivity.

Besides children love playing the guitar the world over. Why not introduce classical guitar instruction in addition to folk and popular guitar to your teaching program for children?

From past experience I’ve found that initially many kids sign up with me thinking that we’re going to learn the latest pop song and just strum and yodel a few I IV and V chords . And that’s all right. Most children have no idea what classical guitar is let alone why learning about classical music is such a joy.

However, with lots of patience and a sincere interest in each child’s welfare, you, the teacher, can stimulate a child’s interest in playing classical guitar and discovering the beauty and magic in music.

Please note though that it is very important that the classical guitar teacher has an excellent musical background, fine technique and must develop a real love for teaching children. Then this teaching program can succeed.

Working with Parents

How on earth do you get a parent or both parents seriously involved with their child’s musical progress? How do you get a real commitment and interest in their child’s practicing at home? Answer: It takes imagination and enthusiasm.

Most parents these days are so fragmented and so busy with multi-tasking that they don’t have the time or patience to talk with you as their child’s teacher, let alone time to practice with their child. Of course they want their child to take guitar lessons. However, they don’t want to be involved during lesson time or at home with practicing or musical progress. In reality they just want to drop their child off at the lesson and then be off to the next errand or appointment

So what is the answer to this problem? A few practical suggestions:

• First of all insist over the phone that the parent attend the first two lessons in order to see you teach. This gives the parent a definite idea of what it is you do during lesson time. This is especially important for parents who have never had music lessons themselves as children.
• Suggest to the parents that they set a regular time at home for their child’s practice and mean it. That is, no baseball or soccer practice until he has practiced for his 30 minutes first!
• In my own teaching practice I always hand out a Practice Sheet. Each of the seven days of the week is listed in a separate column. The student is required to fill in the amount of time he practices each day. If the child is still not old enough to tell time, I suggest that he mark the day’s practice with a check. He brings this sheet to each lesson.
• Incidentally, I hand out this Practice Sheet in a folder to the parent at the first lesson, along with a flyer from my Michelson Studio stating my teaching goals, when payment is due (4 lessons in advance) a business card, and a friendly welcoming smile. Since the Practice Sheet is in a folder there are fewer chances for it to be lost! Be firm but fair. Both the student and their parents will get the idea that you do mean business, and that you are a serious teacher and that you expect responsible behavior and a positive attitude toward practice and payment.
• Now back to practice time itself. For older students I expect a practice time of about 30 minutes for five days out of seven. For younger ones I start off with 15 minutes four days a week. It takes quite awhile for young students to learn to concentrate and to be regular in their practice time. Try to establish good practice habits right from the beginning of lessons. Be patient.
• I always suggest to the parent, right at the very first lesson, that the family should have a “Home Concert” at least once a week. Treat this seriously. Suggest to the parents that they meet in the living room after dinner and ask their child to perform. Even though he may only be able to play the first two or three measures of a piece, it will show his family what is being done in lessons and practice. In this way the parents are involved in their child’s music making. The young student feels good about the support he is receiving from his family and what he is doing at practice time.
• Another way to involve the parent is to make a friendly phone call a few weeks after the semester begins and Johnny has had a few lessons. Mention to the parent that their child will be in a Workshop in several weeks and that you expect the parent to attend giving time, date and place.
• If giving a Workshop is too hard to fit into your busy schedule as a teacher then mention that the Annual Winter Recital or the upcoming Spring Recital will be held at such a time and place.
• Parents do worry about how their own child will perform in a public place so they sit up and take notice. Parents usually show much more interest and involvement with their child’s practice and Home Concert after such a phone call. Naturally they want their child to be a success especially performing before family, friends and neighbors.
• I usually print up an attractive flyer about the upcoming Recital or Workshop a month before the performance. The student takes this home and it usually appears on the family kitchen refrigerator for everyone to see and to remember!
• Create a monthly Newsletter and give special mention to those students who have outstanding practice records. Also mention which students will appear in the next Workshop or Recital. Parents love to see their child’s name in print and will probably be more cooperative and involved in their child’s music lessons as a result of your Newsletter.
• Ask the parent, with either a phone call or a note home to buy a CD of an outstanding classical guitarist playing either Spanish music or romantic music. Something that is easy listening! Easy to digest. Have your parent write down the name of the artist and the CD. Don’t forget we, as teachers are trying to educate our parents as well as our students about music and classical guitar. Have the student listen at home or in the car. Ask the student during his/her lesson time which piece he liked best. Be kind and interested.
• Kids know when you like them and respect them. Just because the child may be only 5 or 7 years old he certainly has ideas and opinions. Listen to him carefully and thoughtfully.
• In addition to a CD you might suggest watching an outstanding performer playing a beautiful classical guitar piece on youtube or another video service.

Teaching Materials: Recommended books and Websites

The following Websites and books might interest you and will help keep your parents and students involved in their music and lessons.

• www.practicespot.com
• www.musicteaching.info
• yespublishing.com
• Not Until You’ve Done Your Practice (aff. link) by Johnson and Sutton. This book is written mostly for piano students but can easily be geared toward guitar practice.
• Helping Parents Practice: Ideas for Making It Easier (Vol 1) by Edmund Springer – available at Yes Publishing.

Please have understanding and patience with both your students and their parents. Show enthusiasm for the student and his parents and you’ll succeed. Good Luck!

We can take the most basic of arpeggios and develop them in several ways. The first is to just move the thumb around. Second, move the whole thing around. Third, rotate through the fingers (explained in detail here).

What else should I do video lessons on?

Before sitting down to begin work on a piece, a few things can be done to make your life easier.

1. Organize

   I make copies of all my sheet music and place them in a binder. This serves two purposes: (1) it keeps the original nicer while still having a performance edition and (2) it lets me keep all my repertoire for a season in one place. After making copies, arrange your pages for minimal page turns. Printed editions often lack a really great organization — fitting the stuff in X pages trumps make sure the page turns are okay.

   You can also trim the edges of copies so they fold nicely into the binder. In addition, tabbed separators can be used to organize the pieces.

2. Highlight

   After the music is organized, hole-punched, and in the binder go through with a highlighter and mark all the dynamic changes with a color. Mark the tempo indications and alterations with another color.

   This prevents the dreaded circling of, “important things.” Teachers and students alike often just circle important things on the page (such as dynamics!). After a few months working on the music everything ends up with a circle around. This is ridiculous, but a few highlighters can fix the problem.

   In addition to drawing your attention to the expression markings during practice, this sort of pre-reading and marking will give you an idea of the dynamic content of a piece before starting work.

3. Translate

   Let’s face it: not a one of us knows, with certainty, every musical term in foreign languages. After the first two steps are done, go through the music an translate every term you’re unfamiliar with. This is easily done with a music dictionary. Sometimes it can be enlightening and interesting to translate the terms with a simple Italian to English or French to English or German to English dictionary. Write in the definitions as best you can next to the terms.

4. Write in Fingerings (optional)

   Some people like to write in fingerings before sitting down to work on a piece. If that works for you, feel free to add fingerings while prepping the score. I prefer to do this with a guitar in my hand. That said, fingering a piece should be done as early as possible so muscle memory can be accurately dialed in sooner.

A look inside my music binder.

Bach Gavottes arranged for no page turns.