Guitar Curriculum.com and the Austin Classical Guitar Society

Several weeks ago a friend of mine referred me to these guys when we were discussing guitar curriculum. They're with the Austin Classical Guitar Society and have put together a killer website. They've started from the ground up and have written a comprehensive classical guitar curriculum. It's got daily lesson plans and a whole repertoire of graded music. The site is pretty new and they're still adding to it, but already it's really an overwhelming amount of material.

This method takes highly inovative approach to teaching in the classroom setting. First of all, they start with ensemble playing on the first day. (Dude, I know!) They divide the class into three sections like a band or chorus and teach the "set up" for classical sitting position. Then the students learn basic right hand free strokes on open strings.

Ah, open strings... This is where I start glazing over in the Noad book and think, " I could never do this for weeks with Middle School kids", but here's where I think they're onto something. It's ensemble music. The teacher teaches simple parts by rote, incorporating a couple of left hand notes and the kids are playing an ensemble. This first song is called Spy Tune and is a great first day guitar class activity whether or not you are sold on the whole ball of wax. The best thing is it's really fun.

The first few weeks are focused on the right hand and learning to read the open strings. The curriculum maintains interest by emphasizing dynamics, rhythm and mixing in some left hand notes which are taught by rote.

I think the repertoire alone is worth looking at this program, and if you're like me and have tried this thing on your own for a few years and really want to get down to the technique stuff that you may already teach private students, this is a great place to start.

In the past, I've always thought, "I can't wait until we learn enough notes to play some ensemble music". Consider that in band methods students learn 5 or 6 notes and immediately sound like an ensemble of some kind just because of the different registrations of the instruments. Well, with the guitar, you can get two full octaves if they're playing arrangements using the six open strings. Why didn't I think of this?

Starting with the open strings and focusing on the right hand is the consensus in the standard classical methods. Because of the technical nature of classical playing there's really no way around it. They're just really repetitive and may lose high school (and especially middle school) students' attention quickly.

Not only does this method put great ensemble music in your hands for even the most beginning groups in guitar class, but it uses this element, combined with emphases on dynamics, rhythm and percussion effects to combat the tedium of most classical methods' early and lengthy focus on the right hand.

You should know that this method is very detailed and comprehensive. Without training or some private lessons, it may be inaccessible to teachers who have no previous classical experience. A year or two ago, I read an article at the Guitar Foundation of America's website that stated the serious need to do more in the area of pre-college training for classical guitarists. I think this program addresses that need pretty well.

Guitar classes in general are increasing in popularity at a rate that is really exciting. So a method that seeks to make technical study fun? That could be really cool.

Right now they're offering the curriculum as an annual subscription. You can click "Contact" on the Guitar Curriculum home page for more info.