Learn & Master Guitar Home School Edition
Learning Becomes A Lesson In Harmony
When Connie Christy started teaching music at Aynor Elementary six years ago, she found children struggling to clap a beat. Even a simple rhythmic African stone-passing game left the youngest kids in tears.
Within four years, Aynor was one of 10 national winners of the Grammy Gold Signature Award for excellence in elementary music education. Its steel and African/world drum bands are in demand, performing at festivals and events across the state. Christy’s music classes play not just rhythm sticks and recorders, but glockenspiels, drums and guitars.
Besides teaching music, reinforcing academic goals and exposing students in this two-stoplight farming community to world culture, Christy uses music to teach larger life lessons. “What I’d like for them to take from this is that when they cooperated, they were able to make wonderful things happen,” she says.
Christy, 43, who plays six instruments, including the saxophone professionally, has a gentle manner that masks a competitive spirit. Her program is carefully structured to motivate students to work hard and work together.
“I’ve got something they want,” she says. Blessed with a supportive administration, a spacious classroom and ample storage space, Christy tantalizes her young charges with a complete African drumming ensemble, a regular drumming set, electronic keyboards, a piano, glockenspiels and 24 guitars. Each 50-minute class includes five to eight different musical activities.
Christy brought the drumming curriculum to Aynor her first year there. The steel and world drums demand cooperation and make success accessible relatively quickly, she says. She first teaches simple drum beats, moving the most beat-competent students to more sophisticated arrangements. Students quickly learn that everyone has to work together to make music. “All of a sudden, everybody plays, and everybody feels successful,” she says.
Starting in third grade, Christy’s music classes serve as a year-long audition for the school’s marquee drum bands. Christy keeps tabs on how well students pick up concepts and take direction. The top 30 students earn spots on the Steel Pan Jam steel drum band; the next 25 take places in the world drum band. A 78-member chorus rounds out the performing groups.
The transformation from rural kids bused to Aynor from all over the county to the dynamic musicians who have played at Broadway on the Beach at nearby Myrtle Beach starts in Christy’s youngest classes. She begins with simple beats, rhythmic clapping, singing and moving, breaking music down into a long string of small successes.
When first-graders play glockenspiels, she removes the flat notes, so even a mis-strike doesn’t sound bad. With the guitars, Christy puts smiley-face stickers on the frets to mark the fingering for simple chords, allowing third-graders to strum a basic song.
But for all her own musical training and teaching skill, Christy believes having a son with Down syndrome had the most profound effect on her as a teacher. Her son, now 20, taught her to think of every single child as special, she says.
“It really made me a much more compassionate teacher with every child.”
Sign Up for the 2009 Teaching Guitar Workshops Hot List
The MENC Guitar Education Team has created a “Hot List” for MENC members interested in attending the Teaching Guitar Workshops, which are available exclusively for MENC members during the summer of 2009.
In addition to instruction, workshop participants receive a free guitar, guitar publications and accessories, and three graduate college credits from Duquesne University. The entire package is worth about $1,800, and participants pay only travel and housing expenses and a $150 application fee.
Locations for the 2009 summer workshops include Atlanta, Georgia; Gahanna, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Bose, Idaho; Reston, Virginia; San Diego, California; St. Louis, Missouri; and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The MENC Guitar Education Team receives generous fur ding from the Guitar & Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) and the International Music Products Association (NAMM). The Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offers three graduate credits at no additional cost.
Since the inception of the Teaching Guitar Workshops program, more than 1,500 teachers have provided guitar classes for more than 700,000 students.
Suzanne Shull, Chair of the MENC Guitar Education Team and Teaching Guitar Workshops, said, “The guitar is the most popular and versatile of all instruments. It has become an integral part of music programs around the nation, increasing the number of students who are actively involved in music making. From upper elementary grades through high school, the guitar is a proven vehicle for navigating the richness of a music education propelled by the National Standards for Music Education.”
Visit www.guitaredunet.org for workshop dates and applications. For more information, contact Mark Koch at 412-396-4939 or koch duq.edu.
Send an e-mail to Hotlist@guitaredunet.org to get on the priority registration list for 2009. This gets your name in the system to receive the application.
The $150 application fee is refundable if the applicant is not accepted or cannot attend.
Learn Guitar From Rock Gods
Looking for a real Guitar Hero? Tune in to iVideosongs.com.
The website improves upon the Net’s vast guitar tablature libraries and generic video music lessons by having the actual recording artists teach you how to play their classics.
Guitarist John Oates not only breaks down his technique on the ’70s hit She’s Gone (written with Daryl Hall) in his iVideosong entry ($10) but also talks about his influences (Chuck Berry, Curtis Mayfield).
The videos can help beginners and accomplished guitarists alike, says Oates, who recalls picking up new skills from fellow musicians. “All of a sudden you have the ability to see the artist now firsthand,” he says. “The real value might even be with guitar players who have the ability to play at a certain level.”
For example, in another iVideosong, Graham Nash takes viewers through Teach Your Children, a song he wrote for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Deja Vu album in 1970. “He played it with a tuning that Stephen Stills told him how to do,” Oates says. “That’s just good stuff, and it’s so much easier to learn when you can freeze-frame and rewind it.”
Oates and Nash connected individually with iVideosongs founder Tim Huffman, who spent more than 20 years playing his own music as well as working with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. He earned a 1984 Grammy nomination for best gospel/duo performance (More Than Wonderful, written by Mylon Le Fevre; the winner: Larnelle Harris and Sandi Patty).
Huffman, 48, tired of touring in 1998 and spent five years owning and operating food franchises. After that, he says, “I wanted to get back to what I loved and connect fans with artists in a way that inspires a new generation of musicians and creates a new income stream for artists and publishers.”
A major hurdle: securing the licensing and rights from artists, publishers and labels. iVideosongs pays royalties to all stakeholders associated with a song, including artists.
During three years of legal work, Huffman and his team worked on lining up quality instructors. “We wanted to figure out how we could take a living-room approach and do it in a way that’s engaging and conversational,” Huffman says. “Part of the experience of learning to play is learning about the guy. We ask, ‘Who were your influences?’ and ‘Why did you write (a certain song such as Rush’s) Tom Sawyer?’”
Huffman initially worried that artists might not be forthcoming, “yet (all are) enjoyable human beings and were so into pulling back the curtain (to show), ‘This is how I did it, and you can do it, too.’”
Each high-definition Quicktime video lasts 30 to 40 minutes and includes music notation. Artist instructional videos cost $10 and can be downloaded and watched on a PC or transferred to an iPod; so far the site has about 175. Videos taught by other expert instructors are $5. An additional 250 free introductory tutorials are available on the site, MySpace, YouTube and iTunes.
Since launching in January, Huffman says, iVideosongs has had more than 3 million downloads of their for-fee songs and free tutorials.
“It helps me a lot more to see something.” says Louis Grondahl, 26, a police officer in San Jose who’s learning to play guitar. “You can download it and stop it if you don’t get a certain part.”
iVideosongs lets artists deliver their music in another fashion, says Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, who instructs viewers how to play two of the band’s songs, Meant to Live and 24. “A lot of kids come up to us after shows asking how to play certain songs, and it felt like a really good way to connect with folks.”
Learn To Play Guitar Free
learn-guitar | Feedagg.com
other: Learn-guitar Guitar-lessons How-to-play-guitar Beginner-guitar-song … How To Play Guitar Learn Guitar Learn To Play Guitar Free Guitar Lessons Jamorama …
www.feedagg.com/tag/learn-guitar
learn To Play Guitar Free
learn To Play Guitar Free. Here Are Some Of The Best Kept Secrets Such As How To Play Guitar Chords. … You Can Learn To Play Guitar For Free Online. …
www.bestguitarsecrets.com
learn To Play Free Falling By Tom Petty On Guitar Video …
this “learn To Play Free Falling By Tom Petty On Guitar” Video Requires The … Learn To Play For What It’s Worth By Buffalo Springfield On Guitar …
www.5min.com/video/learn-to-play-free-falling-by-tom-petty-on-guitar-61111809
learn To Play Guitar The Basic Part 1
the Basic To Learn To Play Guitar, What You Need To Know. … Join My Blog Tips Newsletter And Get A Free Copy Of My Ebook “learn To Play Guitar” …
learntoplayguitarland.com/learn-to-play-guitar-the-basics-part-1
learn How To Play Guitar Online For Free
a Site Containing Jokes, Humor, Entertainment, Online Guitar Lessons, And Much More! … Learn How To Play Fingerstyle Guitar. Find More Music Like This On Craypoe.net …
www.drpsychotic.com/guitar/index.html
guitar Machine And Music Machine Online Flash
then Play The Melody. Sound Memory. Improvement Free Game. Listen Music. Then Try To Repeat It. … Learn To Play Guitar, Piano And Keyboard With Music Coach Software. …
ababasoft.com/music/guitar_machine.html
guitar Lessons On Dvd, Learn Guitar At Home – Instructional …
learn & Master Guitar Is Widely Recognized As The Best Home Instruction Course For Learning Guitar Available Anywhere. …
www.learnandmasterguitar.com
guitarojam – Learn To Play Guitar. Hot Guitar Lessons. Guitar …
… Guitar Lessons, Guitar Learning Materials, Guitar Tips And Techniques. Resources For Learning To Play Guitar. … Sure To Sign Up For Our Free Newsletter …
www.guitarojam.com/index.html
learn To Play Chords On A Guitar | The Guitar Workshop Blog
… Grammy Award Winning Instructors. Learn To Play Acoustic Blues, Finger Picking, … Learning To Play Guitar Will Bring You A Life Time Of Free Pleasure. …
theguitarworkshop.com/wordpress/learning-to-play-chords-on-a-guitar
buy Quality Bass Guitar Books Videos And Cd Roms At Zzounds
browse Zzounds For Quality Bass Guitar Books Videos And Cd Roms. Find A Great Selection Of Musical Instruments And Sound Gear Best Prices Available. Shop Now.
www.zzounds.com/cat–bass-guitar-books-videos-and-cd-roms–2412
learn To Play Guitar
… Learn To Play Guitar Video Reviews | Discover Secret Shortcuts To Jamming On … Chords Easy Electric Free Getar Gitar Gitarre Guitar Guitare Guitarra Guitarre …
www.learnandplayguitarjamora.com/blog
learn To Play Free Fallin By Tom Petty On Guitar Video 5min.com
learn To Play Free Falling By Tom Petty On Guitar … Learn How To Play Tom Petty’s Song Free Falling With This Acoustic Version For The Guitar. …
www.5min.com/video/learn-to-play-free-fallin-by-tom-petty-on-guitar-61111614
Guitar Lesson DVDs
david Taffet | Totally Grasp Harmony Guitar Lesson Dvd | Cd Baby
listen To And Buy David Taffet Music On Cd Baby. Buy The Cd Totally Grasp Harmony Guitar Lesson Dvd By David Taffet On The Independent Record Store By Musicians For …
www.cdbaby.com/cd/taffet
guitar Lessons For Beginners Reviews
… Is Dedicated To The Teaching Of Improvisational Guitar Via Learning Modes. … Products That Have Either Video Guitar Lesson Dvd’s Or Video Guitar Lesson Clips. …
www.4improv.com
guitar Lesson Dvd – Thefind.com
find Products And Compare Prices At Thefind.com. Shop Online For Thousands Of Great Items Like The Guitar Lesson Dvd.
www.thefind.com/instruments/info-guitar-lesson-dvd
#1 Free Country Guitar Licks Videos – Modern Chicken Pickin
all The Licks And Lessons With A Real Band Situation Without Guitar. … New Guitar Video/dvd. Or Cd. Count Me In… Down Under Pickers Get. Ya Mits On This…
sizzlingguitarlicks.com
guitar Lessons – Playing The Guitar: Learning From The Pros …
guitar Lessons – Beginners Guide, Playing The Guitar: Learning From The Pros, Dvd Style … Showing The Simple Steps In Learning How To Play A Guitar In A Dvd. …
www.gruphelesa.org/playing-the-guitar-learning-from-the-pros-dvd-style.cfm
how To Play Guitar | Learn Guitar Lessons
learn How To Play Guitar With Easy Lessons And Free Tips … Dvd? Lesson? 14th November. I Prefer A Dvd, Can Anyone Reccommend One? …
www.guitar.playandlearnguitar.com
learn How To Play Guitar! Over Six Hours Of Guitar Lessons On …
… Private Guitar Lessons With 23 Pages Of Tabs Teaching How To Play Guitar With Guitar Chords, Soloing, Guitar Scales … Plus, With Lessons On Dvd, You Spend No …
www.jamguitar.com
your First Guitar Lesson | Netflix.com
rent Your First Guitar Lesson Or Find More Music & Musicals Movies From Netflix. Rent As Many Movies As You Want From Only $8.99 And Instantly Watch On Your Pc, Mac,
www.netflix.com/movie/your_first_guitar_lesson/70026742
monthly Guitar Lessons.biz
learn Guitar Online Or From Guitar Instructional Dvds From Chris Rupp. … Copyright ฉ 2009 The Guitar Video Store: Dvd Videos, Lessons, Tabs. All Rights Reserved. …
monthlyguitarlessons.biz
watch & Learn: Guitar Instruction Products
… With Dvd And Audio Cd By Peter Vogl Is A Unique Book And Video Lesson That … Guitar Practice Cds. Intro To Acoustic Rock Guitar Dvd. Acoustic Rock Guitar …
www.cvls.com/guitar.html
instructional Guitar Dvds By Watch & Learn
… Beginning Guitar Lesson Package On Dvd By Peter Vogl Takes The Lessons From Our … Intro To Acoustic Rock Guitar Dvd … Acoustic Guitar Part 2 Dvd …
www.freeguitarvideos.com/dvd/dvd-catalog.html
