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Consonus Music Institute

Professional Development & Currriculum for Classroom Guitar

Professional Development and Curriculum for Classroom Guitar
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Latest Post

How to Teach Composition to  Guitar Students, Part 3 – Composition Form

How to Teach Composition to Guitar Students, Part 3 – Composition Form

April 9, 2018 By Michael Christiansen Leave a Comment

In this installment of How to Teach Composition to Guitar Students, classroom guitar expert, Mike Christiansen, discusses composition form, the form of the song you are writing. Writing a song is like writing a story. Like writing words, the melody and the chords have to work together to make sense and have direction…Read More.

Hot Topics

How to Teach Composition to  Guitar Students, Part 2 – Chord Progressions

How to Teach Composition to Guitar Students, Part 2 – Chord Progressions

By Mike Christiansen

The Progression of Chords In the first blog on composition, I talked about finding the chords in major and minor keys by using the chord clock (a modified circle … [Read More...]

 

How to Teach Composition to  Guitar Students, Part 1

How to Teach Composition to Guitar Students, Part 1

By Mike Christiansen

How to Teach Composition to Guitar Students Some of you may have been to one of my sessions at an MEA conference where I discussed methods of teaching music … [Read More...]

More Articles

Beginning Guitar: Getting Rid of the Buzz

Beginning Guitar: Getting Rid of the Buzz

Shouldn't Take a Light Year to Get Rid of the Buzz String buzz can be one of the simplest things to diagnose and solve for beginning guitar students. I say "can be" because the problem may be with the guitar and not the fingers. However, I would say … [Read More...]

Teaching Beginning Composition

Teaching Beginning Composition

Tips for Teaching Beginning Composition for Guitar & Ukulele Start Early I have my students compose from very earlier on in their instruction. Teachers should have their students begin composing by writing chord progressions. The first chords students should … [Read More...]

Basic Ukulele – Announcing the Release of a New Consonus Ukulele Method

Basic Ukulele – Announcing the Release of a New Consonus Ukulele Method

Basic Ukulele - Addressing The Ukulele Explosion If you haven't noticed, the popularity of the ukulele is taking the country by storm. The only way you wouldn't have noticed is if you lived on a secluded island. Even then, a ukulele could have easily washed … [Read More...]

Classroom Guitar Curriculum Change Up

Classroom Guitar Curriculum Change Up

Why Change Your Classroom Guitar Curriculum? Changing the way you do something, or the way you teach something, is scary. It's comfortable to continue teaching the same way and using the same materials. So…why change your classroom guitar curriculum? Changes … [Read More...]

Private Guitar Teachers: What to Look For

Private Guitar Teachers: What to Look For

With summer coming on and your classroom guitar class winding down you may be interested in continuing your guitar studies with a private guitar teacher. In this video blog Guitar Pedagogy Expert Mike Christiansen gives you tips on what to look for in a … [Read More...]

Classroom Guitar: Tips for Tuning the Class

Classroom Guitar: Tips for Tuning the Class

An Easy and Fun Way to Tune Your Class One of the most fun ways to tune is with the video at the top of this blog post. This video, called "Tuning Pitches," is also found in the video library that comes with every course in the Consonus courseware library. … [Read More...]

Memorizing Music

Memorizing Music

In this video blog Classroom Guitar expert Mike Christiansen gives you tips and tricks for memorizing music. Here's a short summary: Before you even play the music...look it over Before you start playing the music take some time to look the music over. Count … [Read More...]

Classroom Guitar: How, When and Why to Use a Capo

Classroom Guitar: How, When and Why to Use a Capo

In this video blog, Consonus Classroom Guitar Curriculum author Mike Christiansen discusses how, when and why to use a capo. Probably the most common use of a capo is to change key but when teaching very young classroom guitar students, and using a full … [Read More...]

Classroom Guitar: Silence is Golden

Classroom Guitar: Silence is Golden

When teaching classroom guitar or classroom ukulele having some tools to get your class to quite down can be essential. In this video-blog Mike Christiansen teaches the concept of "rest position" and gives you some tools to help calm the chaos. … [Read More...]

Teaching Classroom Guitar – Flipped

Teaching Classroom Guitar – Flipped

Flipping Your Guitar Class Consonus Music Institute's Classroom Guitar and Classroom Ukulele curriculum provides everything you need to "flip" your class. In fact, this is one of the most productive uses of technology in the classroom.<?p> We asked … [Read More...]

View more of our latest posts >>

Mike Christiansen – Curriculum Author

Mike Christiansen classroom guitar and ukulele curriculum authorMike Christiansen, classroom guitar & ukulele curriculum author, is Professor Emeritus in the Music Department at Utah State University. Mike founded the guitar program at USU and was Director of Guitar Studies at USU for 39 years. Read More...

Upcoming Events - featuring Mike Christiansen

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What Teachers Think

"The level of accomplishment of the class has certainly increased since I began using CMI's classroom guitar material."

Richard Langham Chaparral Middle School

"I really like the way tablature is introduced in this classroom guitar curriculum. It looks more like real music. I think it sets up the students for success when learning how to read rhythms and standard notation."

Brian Parker Granite Park Junior High School

"I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your classroom guitar curriculum and classroom ukulele curriculum here at Lakeview Academy. The kids stay engaged and have progressed much farther than I could have ever taken them on my own."

Ruth Young Lakeview Academy

"As a brass player and band teacher who has been asked to teach classroom guitar this curriculum is a life saver. Using video instruction to demonstrate guitar techniques and musical examples allows me to put my focus on helping the student’s with their performance."

Paul Dewey Legacy Preparatory Academy

"The developmental sequencing is the best of any published classroom guitar curriculum I've used. I love the emphasis on technique building."

David Jackman Alpine School District

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Richard Langham Chaparral Middle School

"The Consonus Music Institute Classroom Guitar Curriculum guides the students to become better guitarists and musicians. It enables them to take responsibility for their learning."

Karen Straus Carrolton Christian Academy

"We really like the Consonus Music Institute product and … I anticipate using this classroom guitar curriculum for quite some time."

Dwight Dodd Bartlett High School

"This classroom guitar system will make my job as a teacher so much easier."

Cami Jensen Utah Valley University

"I love how Consonus classroom guitar curriculum starts with tablature and incorporates chords from the beginning. The way the tablature incorporates aspects of standard notation, making that a little less scary when we get to it about halfway through the book."

Kelley Neudecker Fulton High School

"The classroom guitar course is very well organized and easy to comprehend. The students can work ahead as fast as they are ready with the help of the online resources."

Spencer Jensen Legacy Preparatory Academy

"Consonus has the best 'pre-reading' guitar TAB approach for classroom guitar I have seen. Transitioning into standard notation is actually smooth. Kids quickly feel successful and motivated. I'm a fan."

Chris Frazer Pueblo Middle School

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