On June 4th, 2014 The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards and NAfME released the new national Core Arts Standards. Of particular interest to K-12 music teachers, who teach classroom guitar, are the standards related to the guitar & harmonizing instrument strand. In the standards there is a clear emphasis on the creative process and how it might be taught from the perspective of guitar. Composition, improvisation, the qualitative aspects of performance, as well as the development of students as a discerning consumers of music, are just some of the areas that may be new for many teachers.
Consonus’ Director of Curriculum Development – Mike Christiansen – has studied the new standards and on August 26th broadcast a live webinar for NAfME and The Consonus Music Institute on these topics, and more. In the webinar Mike explains the goals of the new core and what your curriculum must include to accommodate them, along with techniques and examples that you can incorporate.
It’s amazing how much better at music you become when you study theory. Having the context to know why certain riffs sound the way they do can really change you performance ability. Otherwise you might just be copying famous artists and not know why things sound the way they do. Thanks for posting this cool info!