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MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Guitar Class: A Multifaceted ApproachAuthor(s): Lee R. BartelSource: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 77, No. 2, Special Focus: The Making of a Master MusicTeacher (Oct., 1990), pp. 40-45Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for Music Education

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Awell-designeduitarlasscan roviden ttractived-ditiono thesecondary

schoolmusicurriculum.

LeeR.Barteliscusseshemanyptionsrovidedyguitarrogramnd howshoweachersall n llfac-ets ofguitaredagogyomeet heneeds ftoday'sstudents.

W hen he irstrticlenguitarappearednMEJtwenty-fiveears

ago, few educators would haveguessed how popular the ideawouldbe a decade ater.By 1973,"guitarclass" was synonymouswith hemusic eacher'sdaptationto changingimes.Thoughmanyguitarrogramsontinueoexistn1990, heguitar as beenovershad-owedby thecurrentymbol f amusicteacher'scontemporaneity:MIDI technology.heguitarlass,however, ontinues o have greatpotentialormusic ducation. he

opportunitiesnd

challengesof

secondary eneralmusic, heman-datedfine rtsrequirement,nd areassessmentfobjectives orun-ior and seniorhighschool pro-grams emand reexaminationfguitar rogramsn the chools.

Thoughheguitar as a long ndvenerablehistory,t was out offavor s a classical nstrumentntheearlypartof thiscentury.tsstatusslowlybeganto rise withAndres Segovia's first tour ofNorthAmerican 1928.Neverthe-

less, by 1960 theguitarwas stillstronglyssociatedwith owboys,country ingers,azz, and aboveall, rock and roll. These associa-tionswithpopular culturepro-longed heguitar's xclusion rom"serious" music makingby themajorityfmusicians nd educa-tors ntilwell nto he ixties.

At the end of the sixtiesthezeitgeistavored outhulture ndtheexpansion f music curriculabeyond raditionalnsemble ffer-

ings.In this

context,he

guitarsoon becamethe newpanaceaforthe generalmusic teacherfacedwithmotivatingtudents ostile o"classical" musicand the disci-pline fthe raditional usic lass.Enthusiasmor the guitar t theend of the sixties edmanyuniorand seniorhigh chool teachers o

Lee R. Bartel is assistantprofessorofmusic education and directorof theCanadian Music Education ResearchCentre t theFaculty ofMusic, Univer-

sity fToronto.

teach hemselves ow oplay t ndtobegin sing t n their lasses.

Manyof thereasonsguitarwasan attractiveption orunior ndsenior igh choolprogramst thattime re still alid.First, heguitarclass does notneedto emphasizeformal ublicperformance;t canbe a "generalmusic"class,devel-opingmusicianshipsing heguitaras theprincipalmusic-makingool.Second, the cultural ppeal andstylisticdaptabilityf theguitarmake it an attractive ehicle formusicaldevelopmentor studentswho find ittle nterestn

band,orchestra,r choirprograms-orfor hosewhohavenotdevelopedthenecessary killsfor suchpro-grams at the secondary level.Third, heguitar rovides senseofmasteryt various kill evels.Finally, uitarlassdevelops life-skill:because theguitar an be apersonal, uietsolo instrumentrprovide ccompanimento casualsinging,t is ideally uited o thelife-stylef people who are notinvolvedwithmusicin their a-

reers rprofessions.heappealofguitarprogramshas resulted ntheirwidespread doption, factsupportedby the 1978 ASTA-GAMA school guitar urvey,byAlanJohn anzen's 980 hesis, yMichaelDecker's 1984 rticle,ndby my wn 1984 hesis.

During he past severalyears,increasedbasic course require-ments nd mandated ine rts re-quirementsave introducedrob-lemsfor and,orchestra,ndcho-ral

programsnhigh

chools.Theseproblems ave broughtntofocusthe need for teachers o providemusic experiencesfor studentswho have hadlittlefanyconsist-entmusiceducation n theyearspreceding igh chool or for stu-dentswhowant meaningfulusicexperiencewithin singlecreditcourse.

Music eachers reusing ariousapproaches, ncluding omputer/synthesizerrograms,odeal withtheproblem.Reportsfrommany

teachersndicate hat goodguitar

MEJ/October90 41







eacherseed moreomprehensiv

programs one ofthe best solutionsto the fine arts requirement rob-lem.Guitarprograms an be adapt-

ed totheneeds of the studentswhoare enrolled for the first ime infour or five years in a fine artscourse.

The popularity fguitar oursesin thepast and the need to providesingle-creditmusic courses at pre-senthave createdanotherproblemfor music teachers-the need toteach in an area for which theyhave little reparation. ormal sur-veys and casual observations re-veal thatmany eachersnow teach-

ingguitarhave limited

layingbil-

ityand only begin to use it afterbeinghired oteach another ypeofmusic; Decker found,in his 1984study, hat85 percentofthe teach-ers he surveyedfit n thiscategory.

Since basic guitar killsare easi-ly developed, manyteachers whoare new to guitar ind tan excitingteaching area. Although teacherswho have not taughtguitarbeforeshould be encouraged to take onthechallengeofa guitar lass, itisequally important o advise estab-

lishedteachersofguitar oreexam-ine or to formulateclearly theirconceptofguitar lass. A teacher'sperformancekillon an instrumentdoes affect he kindof instructionoffered tudents-a fact thatmayaccountfor the diversity n teach-ers' approachestoguitar rograms.Many of these approaches are re-strictedby a limited concept ofwhatguitar lass ought o be. Eachapproach has some uniquestrengths nd may offer deas forteachers new to the instrument;

every eacher houldseriously on-

sider, however, the limitations feach approach in the process offormulating conceptof theguitar

class that best meets the goals ofmusic education.First and foremost, the guitar

program ughtto be a qualitymu-sic education program.It shouldseek to attainbroad objectives setfor hemostexemplarymusicpro-grams regardless of performancemedium.The following iveobjec-tives,adaptedfrom ages 29-38 ofCharles Leonhard's article,"1984and Beyond" (see the suggestedreadings), illustrate specificallywhat such a

programshould ac-

complish. The guitarclass oughtto: (1) enable each student odevel-op personal musicianship to thehighest evel possible; (2) enablestudentsto discover and developtheirmusical talent to the highestlevel possible; (3) enable all stu-dents to develop discriminationsthatgivethem he basis for ontrol-ling the aesthetic quality of theirmusical ives; (4) admit ll studentsto the creative mode-enablingthem odevelop the abilitiesneces-

saryfor elf-expressionnd forun-derstandingheexpressionsof oth-ers; and (5) enable all studentstodevelop resources fora rewardinglife,positivesocial interaction,ndparticipationn the rites nd ritualsofsociety.

Humand strumOne of the most popular con-

ceptsof class guitar an be identi-fied as "hum and strum." Pro-gramsof thistype are usually de-signed for the student who will

studyguitarforonlyone year and

arethe kindofprogrammosteasilyintroducedby the self-taught ui-taristswho primarily lay first-po-

sition chords. The typical objec-tives of the hum-and-strum lassare to enable the student o accom-pany folk or popular songs withbasic first-positionhords. In addi-tion,studentsmay be encouragedto sing,to study spects of folkorpopularmusichistory, r to devel-op harmonic and rhythmic on-cepts. The hum-and-strumap-proach gives students skills thathave ongoingutilityn leisure-timemusic makingand, as such, con-tributes life-skill. he objectivesofthe hum-and-strumrogram revalid, but theyoftenfall shortofattainingmany common goals ofmusic education. The skill mostcommonly eglected nthismethodis thereadingof notation.This, inaddition to a neglect of melodicskill and of concept development,inhibits he students'achievementof theirpotentiallevels of musi-cianship.

Guitarorchestra

In the "orchestra approach,"students re assigned to sections:first uitar,second guitar,and soforth. ach sectionplays a mono-phonic line of music. The guitarorchestra may have four or fivesuch parts plus a groupof guitarsplaying hords, some bass guitars,and a percussion section that in-cludes keyboard. Teachers usingthis approach are attractedby itssimilarity o band and orchestraprograms.Objectives of theguitarorchestra lass usuallyincludede-

veloping heability oplaymelodic

42 MEJ/October90







conceptf uitarlass.

notation,developingensemble-playingbility, evelopingn un-derstandingfthe lementsfmu-

sic,nd

performingwide

rangef

literature.The guitarorchestraclass can accommodate largenumber fstudents,nd the itera-tureperformedan be graded ndifficultyo that students' killsand musical nderstandingan bedevelopedthrougheveralgradelevels. A problemwith this ap-proach,however,s the manufac-tured ature f heguitarrchestraconcepttself: heguitar rchestradoes not exist as an establishedperformingnsemblen ourculture.

Consequently,eithertudentsorthepublic eadilydentifiesitht,and omposersnd rrangerso notwrite or t. The teachermust r-range nd adaptmostofthe classmaterialnd constantlysell" thegroupothepublic.

RockbandA concept hatgained onsider-

ablepopularitymong tudentsnthe earlyseventies a popularitythat thasmaintainedecauseof tsconnection ith he culture f ourtime) s the rock-bandpproach.This versionof guitar lass hasparticularppealfor tudentsut-side the mainstreamfband,or-chestra, nd choir. It is usuallytaught yteachers ith pecializedrock- rstudio-guitarkills. nthisapproach,studentsplay electricguitars,earnbasicbarchords orrhythmuitar laying,nddevelopleadguitarmprovisationkills.Anadvantage f thisapproach s itsemphasison improvisationnd

performance.eacherswho use

this approach must attempttocounter hree roblems: hesmallnumbers f students hat re opti-mum or

class,the estrictiono a

narrowmusical tyle, nd the fre-quent ackofdevelopmentfanymusic eadingkills.

Jazz nsembleThe jazz-ensemble pproach s

similar o thatof the rockband.Thismethodgain equires teach-er with pecializedkills nd nter-ests. Classes are typically uitesmall ndusuallyt thehigh choollevel.Learningn theclass settingfocuses nthedevelopmentfhar-

monic ndmelodic echnicalkillsand he pplicationf hese killsnreadingazz arrangements,mpro-vising,ndperformingazz reper-toire.Classesusuallynvolve assguitarand percussion. Limitedpublishedmaterial xists for thisjazz ensemble pproach;a goodexampleof such material s thebookbyWilliam eavitt listed nthesuggested eadings). he tech-nical demandsof the jazz stylemean hat guitarourse aneitherbe

developedver everal

yearsr

can be limited o high chool stu-dentswho realready amiliar ithbasic guitar echnique. he inclu-sionof music eadingnd mprovi-sation,usingboth the harmonicand themelodicfunctions f theguitar,makes for a music coursethatmeetsmost f he bjectivesfa traditional usicprogram.

Classicalguitar oloOne ofthemore ommon uitar-

classconcepts as a similarimto

thatof class piano: the develop-

ment of solo players n a classsetting. ere, he eacher susuallya classicallyraineduitaristrse-rious

elf-taughtlayerwho s mo-

tivated ythedesire o establishprogramased on historicalitera-ture,music eading,nd the lassi-cal-soloistmodel fperformance.

Inone suchprogramhe eachermeetswith class offifteentu-dents fortwentyminutes t thebeginningf the class to tunetheguitarsndto ntroduce technicalor musicalconcept.Students rethen ispersedospecifiedreas ntheclassroom, tairwells, alls,orother lacestopracticendividual-

ly. The teacher irculates mongthem o offernstructionrto istento pieces. The advantage f thisapproachs the bundance fhigh-qualityhistorical iterature ndmethodbooks, the presence ofclearly efinedechnique,ndtheeasy ncorporationf a readingp-proachthatbringsout both themelodicnd harmonicotentialsftheguitar.A disadvantages thefact that the methodrequiresasmall lass size and that he lassi-cal

stylemaynot

appealto

manystudents.

Multifaceted uitar lassEveryone of theseconcepts f

guitarlass can be welladapted otheroleofsupplemento the radi-tional and,orchestra,nd choralprograms,ut ach s too imitedoallowguitar rogramso developthe kindof maturityhatwill letthem e seen as legitimatequalsofthe raditionalerformancero-grams. eachersneed more om-

prehensiveoncept fguitar lass:

MEJ/October90 43







a concept hat anmeet heneeds

ofthe one-creditourse-butonethat an also becomea multiyear,sequential rogramhatdevelopsstudents'eneralmusicianship.

The fiveapproachesto guitarclassthathave ustbeendescribedplacedifferingmphases ndevel-oping skills and understandingsthathave to do withmelody, ar-mony,style, improvisation,ndperformance.ach oftheseskillsandunderstandings,owever,s anessential acet fa guitar rogramandmustbe developed ystemati-

cally.Melody.The guitar an play a

melody ccompaniedby anotherinstrumentrby tself. tudentsnguitar lass should earn to play,read, nd mproviseinglemelodiclinesin variousstylesemployingtechniquescharacteristic f thestyle.This means, for example,that tudents ould learn to playfirst-positionoteswithclassicalapoyando ingerechniquendem-ploythisskill n playing guitar

quartetrrangementfa madrigal.Thesameclassmightater earnblues caleand use ittoimproviseover a twelve-bar lues progres-sion.As students ontinue tudy-ing uitar,hedifficultyevelofthemelodicmaterial hould ncrease(as it does norchestralrograms):more advanced students houldlearn oplaymelodicnd harmonicmaterialimultaneously.

Aural skills relatedto melodyshould e developed hroughing-ing,playing,ndwritingctivities

related o the musicbeing tudied

bythe lass.A teacher ouldbegin

thisby having tudents um thetuningitches,yhavinghemmi-tate blues riffs by ear," or bywritingut thefirst-positionoteson stringne as they laythemnvariousordersand withvariousrhythms. trumminghordal ac-companimentseemsto be a cata-lyst or inging,o studentshouldbe encouragedosingmelodicma-terialwhenevert s appropriateothe tyle nder tudy.

Harmony. he guitar s an ac-companyingnstrumentapableof

six-note hord tructures,o it isusefuln ccompanyingingersndother nstrumentalists.o developstudents'bilityoaccompany,heteachern the multifaceteduitarclass needs to offernstructionnchord ingeringsndthereadingfchord chart accompanimentsosongs n various tyles.Classicalfingeringechnique, three-fingerfolkpicking,ndplectrumtrum-minganallfind legitimatelacein theguitarlass.Studentshould

learn o read several ines imulta-neouslyswell s tofollow otatedchords.

Activitiesn guitar lass shouldlead studentsoexplorendexploitthe harmonicotentialf thegui-tar. Students houlddevelop anauralsense of harmonic rogres-sion and should earn to identifychord ypes ndfunctions.or ex-ample,when tudents an playatleasttwochords, he teacher anlabel hords y heir unctionsuchas tonic and dominant), lay the

chords forthe studentsmaking

certain hattheycannot see the

fingering),nd ask students toidentifyhe hords eard. tudentsshouldanalyzechords and otherharmonic ombinations f notes,transpose ccompaniments,earnto perform odulationsrom nekey oanother,nddevelop ll theassociated aural skills of chordidentificationndproduction.

Style.One of themoststrikingattributesf theguitars its diom-atic identificationith more cul-tures ndmusical tyles hanmostother nstruments.n our diverse

society,music ducatorsmust ap-italize n thepotentialftheguitartoexplore raditionalndcontem-poraryorms ffolk, ountry,las-sical,azz, rock, ndworldmusics.Substyles uch as flamenco, eg-gae,and bluesmust e included.

Improvisation.One oftheobjec-tives of all musicprogramss toadmit ll students o thecreativemode-to helpthem evelop heirabilities or elf-expressionnd forunderstandinghe expressions f

others.The teacher can developthese abilities nd understandingsfromheearliest tagesof nstruc-tion nguitar lass. For example,fingerxercisesfordexterityndhandposition orbeginnersan beconducted singthe blues scale,leading irectlyntomprovisation.At an even morebasic level,oneteacher skedstudents o "find ninterestingound on the guitar"and then had studentsorganizethese sounds into collages ofsound.

Performance.As a generalmusic

44 MEJ/October90







II( itarlassdevelops]onceptsabouthe lementsfmusic.

program,he multifaceteduitar

programoncentrates

rimarilyn

thedevelopmentf ndividualmu-sicianship. erformances an im-portant eans othis evelopment.The lack of a traditionallystab-lishedperformancensemble on-ceptmeansthe teachercan andshould mphasize varietyfper-formanceroupings:lassical so-los,duets ndtrios;azz ensemble;guitarrchestra;olk roups; ockbands; ndso forth.he teacher ftheguitar lass,who s frequentlyalso the band director r choral

director,hould ry o connect heguitar rogram ith ther nsem-bles suchas jazz bands,vocalen-sembles,ndstring uartets.

As a good generalmusicpro-gram,heguitar lasswilldevelopconceptsbout he lements fmu-sic through laying,istening,ndtalking.tudents ill earn o hearall music n historical erspectiveand will learn to think riticallyabout music and performance.Regardless f programength,

guitar rogramhould e multifac-

eted: mphasizinghedevelopmentof melodic nd harmonickill ndperception, reativity, nd per-formancekills n severalmusicalstyles.

Aguitar rogramhat ostershedevelopmentfthese kills, nder-standings,nd appreciationsanoffertudents sequential ourseofstudy or ll six yearsoftheirsecondarychoolyears. t can alsokeep those students nvolved nmusic or heforeseeableuture.

As music ducatorswe need to

riseabove culturalmusicalbiasesthat nclude heunquestioningc-ceptanceof the mainstreamer-formancerogramss theonly e-gitimatemusicprogramsnd theconcept that secondary generalmusicmeans only listening ndtalking.We need toapply urphi-losophyof music education n aculturallyelevantmannerusingone of the mostpopular nstru-ments f oday-theguitar. nd, fwe are already sing heguitarnclass,we need toexpand ur con-cept o make t nexemplary usic

educationprogram.As multifac-etedguitarrogramsrow nd ma-ture, heywilltaketheir laces inthe chools s serious nd reward-ingmusic ducation rograms.

SuggestedeadingsBartel, ee R., and DonB. Doerksen.Get

into Guitar.Winnipeg,Manitoba:Ya-maha Foundation orMusic Education[Canada], 973.

."The Identificationf Criteria orthe valuation fJuniorigh choolGui-tar rograms." aster's hesis, niversi-ty fManitoba, 984.

Bishop,Bob."Guitar olves Problemsn

Two SouthwesternighSchools." TheInstrumentalist2,no. 3 (1977), 4-66.

Bune,RobertW. "Let theGuitarLightYour Fire." Music Educators Journal 6,no. 5 (January970), 3-84,135-37.

Callahan, lare. The SchoolGuitar lass:A NeedforRedirection."he nstrumen-talist 2,no. 11 1978), 0-62.

Decker,Michael. A Survey f ClassroomGuitarnstructors."oundboard,1,no.1 Spring 984), 0-75.

Diekneite,on. "UsingtheBlues na Be-ginning uitarClass." The Instrumental-ist36,no. 1 1981), 05-106.

"Usingthe Blues in a BeginningGuitar lass: mprovisation."he nstru-

mentalist6,no. 2 (1981), 0-92.

"Forty-Fourercent f U.S. SchoolsNowOffer uitar rogramming."choolMu-

sician 0 December 978), 3.Fowler,William,ndHermanlayman. heGuitar Goes to Class. Chicago: The Gui-tar& AccessoryManufacturersssocia-tion fAmerica ndThe American usicConference,974.

Grossman,aphael. The ClassicalGuitar:ItsPlace ntheAmericanchool." MusicEducators Journal49, no. 4 (February-March 963), 40-42.

Grunfeld, redericV. The Art and TimesofTheGuitar. ondon:Macmillan,969.

Janzen,AlanJohn. A Survey fJuniorHigh Music Programs n the PublicSchools of Manitoba." Master'sthesis,UniversityfManitoba, 980.

Kozinin,Allan,PeteWelding, an Forte,and Gene Santoro. The Guitar: The His-tory,The Music, The Players. Toronto:Musson, 984.

Lane,William. "TheA Strings Depressed... But Don't Fret." Music Educators

Journal1,no. 7 (March 975),9-52.Leavitt, William. The Berklee Guitar En-

sembleSeries. (Boston:BerkleePress,1968).

Leonhard, harles."1984 and Beyond."Notes12,no. 1 1988), 9-38.

Love,Beatrice. The Guitarn theJuniorHigh School." Music Educators Journal60,no.7 (March 974), 6-37.

"NineteenSeventy-Eight STA-GAMASchoolGuitar

urvey."American

tringTeacher 9,no. 1 1979), 0-31.Snyder,Jerry. The Guitar:Friend or

Foe." The Instrumentalist31, no. 7(1977), 9-51.

Stimpson,Michael, ed. TheGuitar:A Guidefor Students and Teachers. New York:Oxford niversityress,1988.

"Survey f School Guitar rogramming."Soundboard,no. 1 1979),15-16.

Timmerman,aurine,nd CelesteGriffith."LegitimizingheGuitarn GeneralMu-sic." Music Educators Journal56, no. 3,(November969), 5-76.

Zvengrowski,teven . "Developing om-prehensiveMusicianship ith the Gui-tar." Music Educators Journal66, no. 8

(April 980), 0-52. ]

MEJ/October90 45

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