Eighth grade students who take guitar lessons outside of school are grouped together. This class studies the history of American music as it pertains to the guitar.
1st Quarter we focus on reading music notation by performing 3 American Folk songs and 3 Spirituals. Students are encouraged to select their own songs, based on their learning style, musical experience, and levels of proficiency on the guitar. The students are encouraged to collaborate with each other during our rehearsal and performance times. For each song selected by the student, the melody and the harmony (chords) must be played. Students are encouraged to use whichever notation method works best for them (standard notation, guitar tab etc.)
2nd Quarter we continue our focus on reading music notation by performing 6 songs in the style of 12-Bar Blues. Students will learn and demonstrate their knowledge of Major scale patterns by writing them, writing the 12-Bar Blues Chord progressions for those modes, then selecting 4 of them for performance and assessment. Most students of guitar are familiar with the blues scale.
3rd Quarter we focus on listening to professional recordings. Students will select 6 songs in any Rock style (soft, classic, hard, punk etc.) for performance. Students are expected to listen to the recordings then imitate the playing style of the lead guitar. If there are any solo portions, I encourage each student to play as much of the solo as probable (remember- these are paid professionals so I do not expect the student performances to be exactly the same. Do your best and have fun with the solos!!!)
4th Quarter we focus on composition and improvisation. You will utilize the knowledge and skills developed in the previous three Quarters to compose and original song and improvise original melodies. This is when you perform using your unique "voice", demonstrating your musical "personality" through your guitar playing.
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