I have a student who is looking for a guitar teacher for their family members, who live out of town, and she asked me how would she go about looking for an instructor. It took me awhile because first she gave me the name of the town and I said I could ask around
I was a music nerd, I would go down the street to my local music store and buy guitar books that had millions of chords, a few songbooks, and just teach myself guitar. I also watched and tried to imitate whatever my cousin did on the guitar before any formal guitar lessons. * Prior to guitar I took piano lessons for a few years so reading music gave me an advantage and coordination made me understand disciple. Some people use books because the method of reading and learning/self exploration on their own works for them. Others want the teacher right in front of them, so here are some ways if you or someone you know are looking for an instructor: How to find a teacher Ask around Easy right? You will have to do some research ask friends, family, co-workers, or teachers church member's what have you. Someone may know an instructor who does music lessons. Music Store Musicians are always going into these places getting things to maintain their instruments or getting new instruments. Store associates try to get to know their customers because they want to build that relationship with them so they can continue to do business together. Through this relationship store associates can find out if their customers are teachers and by College/University In some college music programs they do have programs instilled where music students may teach private music lessons, others may recommend students or teachers that they know. Either way you can get a push in the right direction. Look for performances Next time you go out to banquet, recital or music event and you notice a musician playing watch them to see what they play and how they play. When they are done go up and strike up a conversation with them it is possible that they teach music lessons! Professional Organizations Some musicians opt to be part of a large music organization, locally, state, or even global. The purpose of these organizations are to promote music and build a community among teachers, pupils, and enthusiasts by creating events such as concerts, places for interaction workshops/seminars, festivals within areas, and online forums for discussion and news. Organizations that have an online presence can allow these people to create profiles or a directory database of musicians and may be accessible to people looking for musicians or teachers for further opportunities. Things to think about when looking for a teacher What do you want to do/learn? I have had some students who say they want to learn guitar. Cool! Teacher: "What do you want to learn on the guitar?" Student: "I wanna learn to rock, like that solo from queen We will Rock you!" Teacher: "O....K...." It is great to have goal that you want to achieve because it gives you drive to works towards! BUT getting there will take time and there are steps to take before getting to the big picture. First thing realize is not everyone teaches topics the same way. Not every teacher teacher covers the same topics into depth as much as the next teacher does because each teacher has their own philosophy. With guitar 2 examples of how lessons can be handled: A. There is an adult who wants to learn guitar, more specifically they want to learn to play songs for enjoyment and just wants to jam. Learning to read notes on sheet music is good but maybe learning to read chord charts, knowing chords and rhythms are going to be more beneficial to him/her. On the other hand, B. A teacher may teach students things they believe students should learn such as reading music notes as well as their instrument. Maybe the student will not be playing popular music like Taylor Swift, or Metallica but instead work on exercises, etudes, and studies that require more detail and while it can be seen as "boring" student should NOT be discouraged! Students should realize that they are learning the fundamentals of their instrument AND elements of music. So when finding a teacher Use these ways to scout for music teacher Understand what teachers offer Understand their philosophy I took lessons from multiple guitar teachers sometimes 2 at the same time because they worked with me on different areas, how to solo, music theory, guitar neck theory, technique, classical guitar, electric guitar, song writing, etc... The more knowledge, the different perspectives allowed me to keep me inspired to keep working on music because it is a never ending journey.
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Currently I am working on some unfinished projects. Some of it is gear, piecing together a rig setup for bass, electric guitar, and working on some music. Lately I've been helping some students organize their practice routine because some students are at the point they are learning 4-6 pieces at a time. Shoot in college music majors are expected to learn 6-9 pieces of music during the semester, along with exercises and scales and have all of it prepared for juries (an examination point usually at the end of a semester for music students).
The 3 concepts I try to remember while balancing things in work/life: 1. Consistency. Work on your small tasks of your project every day. it may seem simply enough but saying it will help keep you on track. Try to schedule when you want to work on something every day say a piece of music, a technique, any topic BUT the key to mastering that concept is the action, do it EVERY DAY! 2. Focus. Understand that it will take time to fully understand what you are doing. Do not do something blindly and hope that it will work out. Focus on the things it takes to do for your objective. 3. Keep perspective. Break often, work diligently and take your time. I cannot tell you how many times I have had my head stuck down working on a project I forget how "it fits in the bigger picture". Sometimes I think I just want to be done already!!! But if I slap things together holistically the parts may not make sense when combined. These are the three ideas that I try to remember when balancing more than one project whether it may be music, understanding equipment, organizing things in work or life. What are some of the things you remember when balancing more than one thing? Decided to start posting up some articles, thoughts about what I am working on and I thought this would be a good spot to share my experiences and impart any knowledge about anything music and guitar related. I love playing music and consider myself not just a guitarist, but a musician because music from any instrument connects to another.
I remember watching the movie X-Games 3D and in the interview with skateboarder Bob Burnquist he spoke about his thoughts on Olympic Gold medalist Shaun White (snowboarder/skateboarder). To paraphrase Burnquist said...I think skateboarding helps him [Shaun White] be better a snowboarder and snowboarding helps him to be better at skateboarding. So regardless of what instrument/style anyone plays the knowledge is transferrable and I hope you can take something from it. Welcome to the music corner. |
AuthorPaul Sanchez Archives
August 2013
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