Guitar Teaching: the process and the product
Published: 1990 Author: Adrian Ingram
IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED (Brocklehurst 1962, p 6, Tillman 1976, p 6, Paynter and Aston 1970, p 6, et al.) that musical performance can contribute positively to certain areas of personal growth. These include:
- physiological – through the development of the neuromuscular co-ordination necessary for skilled behaviours
- conceptual – through the acquisition, interpretation and organization of information
- emotional – through the expression of imagination, feelings and a realization of the ‘inner self’
- social – through the corporate responsibility cultivated by ensemble work
- sensual – through the intensification of auraI awareness, sensitivity and touch responsiveness
The most overtly beneficial aspect of playing a musical instrument is to make music, but this also involves the acquisition and development of physical acuity skills. These skills, when guided and controlled by reaction to environmental stimuli, are described as ‘psychomotor’. As these skills are a regular phenomenon of everyday life, their development and refinement is educationally justifiable.
Szende and Nemessuri classified our basic functional movements as:
- vegetative (ingestion, bowel movement, coughing etc.)
- instinctive (defensive, orientative, reflexes, etc.)
- expressive (mimics and gestures)
- operative (various manipulations and concomitant locomotion)
(1971, p 15)
The number of functional movements which may be developed by guitar playing are relatively limited. Although they require the use of only the upper limbs, the refinement of fine finger control, eye-to-hand co-ordination, and two-hand synchronization is educationally important because they are required for other skilled behaviours. Atarah Ben Tovim commented on the transfer skills gained through playing an instrument in her book The Right Instrument for Your Child (1985, p 113):
Children who have learned the piano for several years make rapid and excellent typists, mechanics, machinists, surgeons. They excel at any activity which requires both hands and several fingers to be used at the same time.
Although Ben Tovim’s statement lacks supportive evidence, the extent to which psychomotor skills transfer must be important on the grounds that they are an everyday phenomenon.
We must remember however that the development of such skills is but one facet of learning to play an instrument, the fundamental aim is to make music!
Many students learn to play a musical instrument without contemplating a musical career: some lose interest and eventually give up. In such cases the development of transferable skills might be considered as valuable, in the long term, as aural and aesthetic experience. While this is true for some, it is hoped that, for many, playing an instrument will open the door to a meaningful lifelong association with music.
If the transference of psychomotor skills is educationally important, the process by which they were acquired is perhaps even more so. Dorothy Taylor (1979, p 40) listed eleven psychomotor behaviours which are involved in the process of learning to play a musical instrument:
- to attend to cues
- to imitate and to repeat
- to monitor oneself
- to follow instruction
- to fixate through practice
- to refine
- to co-ordinate series of cues and acts
- to acquire speed
- to lessen time
- to perfect
- to hear inwardly
If hearing inwardly is to be classed as a psychomotor skill, Taylor’s list should also include:
12. to perceive gradations of pitch, dynamics, texture and intensity
Similar behaviours were also listed by Regelski (1981, p 362). It should be noted that most of these behaviours are equally applicable to other educational subject areas.
A student’s success in these behaviours is, almost exclusively, dependent on order, discipline and application. Learning to play an instrument fosters the educationally desirable qualities of: concentration, attentiveness, patience, perseverance and conscientiousness. Conversely, it could provide the negative experiences of frustration and humiliation. Without these qualities and experiences the learning process would break down, leaving the psychomotor skills required to play an instrument unmastered. If, like the psychomotor skills they were born from, these qualities and experiences are transferable, it is imperative that we continue to offer instrumental tuition in schools.
Given the fact that psychomotor skills and their transference is important we must, when assessing the guitar’s educational potential, determine (1) which psychomotor skills are involved and (2) to what extent they transfer. The basic function of the hand is to grip, and the ‘physically normal’ child has the ability to do so from birth. To grip, the fingers and thumb are drawn, as a unit, inward towards the palm of the hand; no independent finger movements are necessary. More complex manipulations, whilst based on the grip, require both co-ordination and independence of the thumb and fingers. These are the manipulations which can be developed and refined through guitar playing. The technique of playing the guitar, like the keyboard and the harp, utilizes the fingers of both hands but, unlike those instruments, the guitar has an advantage of cost, size, portability and image. Whilst the physical aspects of playing the guitar, stopping the strings and causing them to sound, are based on the grip, it is easy to underestimate the inherent complexity of such actions. The beginner guitarist will posses an ability to grip, almost by instinct, but co-ordinating the fingers, synchronizing the hands and ordering intricate operative manipulations must be developed. The student who successfully refines these skills, develops a kinesthetic memory where elementary movements become automatic, providing the basis for further manoeuvres.
Consider the initial difficulties in the execution of two notes:
The process involves:
General
- positioning the instrument
- positioning the arms
Right Hand
- positioning the hand above the strings
- selecting the finger needed to strike the string
- locating the required string
- preparing the finger for action
- estimating the amount of pressure required to set the string vibrating
- co-ordinating the striking action with the left-hand fingering
- striking the string
- clearing the string to avoid shortening the sound
- clearing the adjacent strings
- damping the string when the note has completed its specified duration
Left Hand
- placing the thumb on the back of the neck
- lacing the fingers above the strings parallel to the fingerboard whilst retaining the position of the thumb
- selecting the finger required to stop the string
- locating the first fret
- preparing the finger for action
- adjusting the finger position to obtain optimum tone
- estimating the correct pressure required to hold the note
- holding the note whilst synchronizing the right hand
- maintaining finger pressure whilst striking the string
- holding the finger on the note for the correct duration
- releasing the finger
The task is quite formidable, particularly for the 7- or 8-year-old with poor hand-to-eye co-ordination and underdeveloped small muscles. While, in principle, the Suzuki philosophy – ‘all children skillfully reared reach a high level but such rearing must start from the day of birth’ (1969, p 11) – is laudable, for the above reasons, together with practical considerations (i.e. difficulties of acquiring good quality small guitars) it is not advisable to begin school guitar lessons with children under 7. This does not preclude other musical activities or an early start, given exceptional circumstances, i.e. total parental involvement as advocated by Suzuki.
During the early seventies Elizabeth Botting, Music Adviser for Lincolnshire LEA, and Graham Wade, Lecturer in Guitar with the Holland County Music School, set up an interesting scheme which was loosely based on the Suzuki philosophy of total parental involvement. Wade wrote at the time:
The headmaster allows any number of children to attend guitar lessons which last the whole afternoon. After school, the parents of the children and some of the teaching staff come along for a guitar lesson. This creates an ideal context in which parent and child can collaborate in a single task, and teachers can organize informal practice groups throughout the week on school premises. (1970, p 12)
The guitar lessons for parents were given free and included in Wade’s peripatetic teaching hours. The scheme, based at Whaplode school, lasted for three and a half years and, according to its organizers, the students were more highly motivated and seemed to benefit both musically and socially from the co-operative spirit. As far as 1 am aware, this was the only scheme of its kind to operate under the auspices of an LEA. The tiny fen village of Whaplode was, however, no stranger to co-operative ventures and one wonders whether such a scheme would be practicable in a large city.
Another problem, in these days of cost-effective teaching, is the provision of free guitar lessons. How many authorities would be prepared, as Lincolnshire obviously was, to provide free tuition? While the Botting/Wade scheme was an interesting experiment, it did not set a precedent. Until the machinery becomes available to set up similar schemes, or unless parental involvement can be guaranteed, it is not advisable to begin guitar lessons too early.
Neither, because of the psychomotor complexities of single-note playing, is it advisable to introduce chords in the early stages of tuition. The muscular memory required for chord playing is best developed gradually in a systematic, stepwise manner.
A common instructional strategy is to:
- break down into small parts
- add stage by stage to what has already been mastered
- synthesize the stages into the accepted (pre-ordained) whole
With a complex task like guitar playing, it is essential to isolate and grade specific problems. These can be mastered, in turn, providing a gradual path towards competence and, more importantly, to lessen the risk of failure. The gratification of success in the early stages is a great motivator and should not be underestimated.
Chord playing involves the simultaneous placing of three or four digits which would suggest a greater degree of skill than the placing of one. Another problem is stretch which, for the undisciplined hand, may prove insurmountable. For these reasons, the hand should be prepared for chords gradually by playing individual notes and simple tunes.
The advantages of this strategy are obvious. Yet, while other instrumental teachers use it as a matter of course, guitar teachers do not. It is difficult to identify the exact reasons for this, but the stylistic diversity of the instrument must have an influence. Guitar teachers come from a variety of backgrounds perhaps, because of the ubiquitous nature of the instrument, more so than other instrumental teachers. Stimpson’s statistics demonstrate the variety of styles presently taught:
- 31% of LEAs offer classical guitar only.
- 45% offer classical and folk guitar.
- 24% offer classical, folk and electric guitar (1985, p 66)
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Access to and cross-fertilization of different styles should be encouraged as the ability to cross barriers is one of the guitar’s greatest assets. Different styles require different levels of achievement and consequently different standards. It is not uncommon to see someone with limited ability, knowledge and experience set up as a guitar teacher. To exacerbate matters, they often charge a nominal fee. At the same time, there are many excellent, knowledgeable, well-trained teachers charging a professional fee for a professional service. Unfortunately, the prospective employer (be it a private student or a school) is not always able to discriminate between them. Guitar teachers would perhaps benefit from a doctrine of collective responsibility with some consensus of acceptable standards. The formation of a professional body like the American Federation of String Teachers might be a possible solution to the problem.
Different teaching standards however are not necessarily the only reason for the anomalies. There are literally dozens of guitar methods which, white loosely based on the cumulative strategy, show little real understanding of progression. This is seemingly a throwback to the nineteenth-century guitar methods (Méthode by F. Carulli [1810], Méthode pour la Guitare by F. Sor [1825], Nuevo Método para Guitarra by D. Aguado [1843], etc) which give too much too soon to be of any real use in schools. Fortunately several well-conceived methods have appeared in recent years which are far more suitable for school use. These include: A Modern Approach to the Guitar (G. Topper, 1962), A Duet Approach to the Guitar (G. Topper, 1973), and, with reservations, First Book for the Guitar (F. Noad, 1978) and Basic Guitar Method, Book 1 (d’Auberge/Manus). These methods successfully utilize the cumulative single-string approach which, as previously stated, has certain advantages.
These are:
- it encourages melodic phrasing
- it allows the student to concentrate on obtaining a ‘good’ tone
- it enables students to work in ensemble (and contribute at their own level)
- it can make the learning of staff notation more accessible (single note and staff notation are interdependent, which is not always the case with other approaches)
- it provides opportunities for recreative music making (because the student learns staff notation) and creative music making (because of access to different pitches)
- it can provide gratification, motivation and self-respect, through the sense of achievement
The nature of the guitar as both a melodic and harmonic instrument gives rise to a variety of other approaches: chord windows, colour methods, number methods and all manner of tablature systems. In the light of this, the benefits of the above approach must be stressed.
Because of the notion (perpetuated by scores of questionable guitar methods) that chord playing is quick and easy, chord teaching is both popular and widespread. Even if we disregard the physical aspects of chord playing, the way in which they are taught (from chord windows) is generally haphazard. Chords are learnt at random, with little regard for harmonic progression or voice-leading and, while this practice may provide immediate results it can, in the long term, prove catastrophic. Many of the guitar students on the Graduate Diploma Course at the City of Leeds College of Music, demonstrate the typical problems which arise when working from chord windows. Although most have a commendable vocabulary of chords, they have, because of the way in which they learnt them (from windows), no understanding of their application. In extreme cases, there have been students who were convinced (as a result of their work with chord windows) that there was only one way to play an A minor chord!
The chord window system does however have certain merits: it is quick, easy to understand and does not require proficiency in staff notation. It is also a useful system for making the guitar accessible to the player who wishes to go no further than simple song accompaniment.
Yet if we must use it, we should try to do so in a structured and intelligent way. Teaching chords as an isolated series of finger patterns cannot in itself fully prepare students for their use. Consequently, they have little meaning outside the context of the tune for which they were learnt. For this reason, chord teaching will, without recourse to a carefully planned approach, obscure the guitar’s rich harmonic potential. It is unfortunate that many guitar methods and song books, especially those written for schools, perpetuate this pragmatic approach.
If our system for teaching chords is inadequate, and the physical demands, in the initial stages, too high, directed and exclusively single-note group work can provide a valuable alternative. Ensemble arrangements rnay be introduced after the first few weeks of tuition.
(7 Easy Pieces for 3 Guitars, H. Hoekema, Broekmans & van Poppel; 5 Easy Pieces from Tielman Susato’s Danserijie, P van der Staak, Broekmans & van Poppel; Guitar Band, Book I, R. Lee, Mel Bay Publications; 4 Miniature Pieces, A. Atkin, Opus 81 Music.)
The process of ensemble work encourages guitarists to listen, count time, match their tone, tuning and dynamics with others, and accept some degree of responsibility and self-subordination, depending on whether the part played is to be prominent or subservient. The product, musical performance, encourages aural awareness and sensitivity, involvement and enjoyment, independent thought and self esteem. Ensemble work is therefore both musically (the product) and educationally (the process) beneficial and should be started at the earliest possible opportunity.
It would be helpful if closer links could be established between the peripatetic and class teachers, for a termly exchange of information. The peripatetic could provide record cards for each student, with details of musical articulacy, i.e. compass of pitch, vocabulary of note values and rhythmic groupings. These cards could then be used by the class teacher as a guide to integrate the guitarists with class and school music ensembles. Most schools ensemble music is suitable, with a little adaptation, for this purpose. Possibilities exist in:
- doubling simple pitched percussion, violin and recorder parts
- ostinatos
- pedals
- sustained (slow harmonic rhythm) harmony notes
- simple counter melodies
- special effects (tambora, pizzicato, playing behind the nut, glissandos and harmonics); these fascinate children and are particularly effective for classroom compositions and descriptive mood pieces
Young guitarists, like other learners, are motivated by the gratification of achievement. If we are to plan our teaching methods accordingly we must know how, during the learning process, positive and negative feelings are formed. Bloom (1956) identified three features of the learning process:
- psychomotor – the development of neuromuscular co-ordination necessary for skills
- cognitive – understanding, knowledge and conceptualization
- affective – subjective responses of attitudes, feelings and values
Theoretically these are interdependent. Regelski (1975, p 218) highlighted the importance of their interaction when he wrote:
Students involved in the acquisition of performance skills should be consistently confronted with cognitive and affective behaviours in an attempt to make them better able to understand the what, why and how of performance . . . Without such cognitive and affective behaviour, psychomotor behaviour becomes meaningless, futile, unproductive and often self-defeating.
Most instrumental teachers have witnessed the unproductive routine of mindless practice and unfocused repetition, the results of which would appear to support Regelski’s viewpoint.
The implications for the guitar teacher are far reaching. On the one hand he must break things down into manageable stages while on the other he must see the relationship of these stages to the whole. Furthermore, he must assess whether the stages are achieving a balance between cognitive, psychomotor and affective behaviours. How, for example, is this achieved in the aforementioned single-string approach?
1. The development of good melodic phrasing
- psychomotor behaviours = to physically control sound to co-ordinate a series of cues and acts (reading and playing)
- affective behaviours = to organize subjectivity and to prefer
- cognitive behaviours = to perceive, evaluate and differentiate
2. Producing a ‘good’ tone
balance of behaviours as n† 1
3. Playing in ensemble
- psychomotor behaviours = to physically control sound, to attend to cues, to monitor oneself, to follow instruction
- affective behaviours = to respond intuitively, to enjoy, to choose on the basis of feel
- cognitive behaviours = to perceive, to evaluate, to decide, to differentiate
4. The learning of staff notation
- psychomotor behaviours = to physically control sounds, to co-ordinate a series of acts and cues, to follow instruction, to fixate through practice
- affective behaviours = to enjoy (this exists only if theory and practice [performance] are interdependent
- cognitive behaviours = to perceive, to comprehend, to analyse, to identify and differentiate, to synthesize, to decide
5. Recreative and creative music making:
- psychomotor behaviours = to physically control sounds, to co-ordinate a series of acts and cues, to monitor oneself, to hear inwardly, to fixate through practice.
- affective behaviours = to respond intuitively to create or organize subjectively, to choose on the basis of feel, to prefer
- cognitive behaviours = to perceive, to comprehend, to identify, to compose, to decide, to elaborate.
There would appear to be a healthy balance of behaviours inherent in this approach. Number 4, the learning of staff notation, is particularly weak in affective behaviours but this is counterbalanced by number 5, which is especially strong in them.
It is evident that, in order to strike the correct balance between these behaviours, no one area should be developed at the expense of another.
In a later work, however, Regelski (1981, p 367) recommends a shift of emphasis in this balance, advocating that affective behaviours are central to the application of Bloom’s theories to music education. While previously he saw the behaviours as interdependent, with equal and balanced importance, he now considers affective learning to be the central and pervasive force:
It motivates students to learning in the cognitive and psychomotor domain. Success in these areas further intensifies good ‘feelings’ and can inspire further learning. (1981, p 368).
This may be interpreted diagramatically as:
Conversely, negative feelings initiate resistance and poor motivation:
Affective behaviour may, as Regelski suggests, be the central and pervasive force but it is clear that the learning cycle may break down at any stage. Consequently the guitar teacher should be aware of his role in the formation of student attitudes. He must also learn to view the teaching of technical (psychomotor) skills in broad educational terms. Methods and materials should be closely and constantly scrutinized. If failure is encountered, he should not be too quick to condemn students who fait. Instead, he should try to discover the defect in the cycle and take appropriate measures. It is apparent from Regelski’s model that psychomotor development impinges on other behaviours and involves much more than the acquisition of a playing technique.
The following diagram illustrates the extent to which educational objectives might be achieved through the acquisition of technique:
THE PROCESS
the path towards the acquisition of technique
| self-discipline | concentration |
| self-determination | patience |
| self-appraisal | attentiveness |
| self-awareness | perseverance |
| self-confidence | |
| self-expression |
THE PRODUCT
the means to make music
| digital independence and co-ordination | aural awareness and sensitivity |
| synchronization of fingers and hands | involvement and enjoyment |
| bilateral limb control | independent thinking |
| sensitivity of touch | self-esteem |
Many of these objectives can, however, be realized elsewhere. Why, if this is the case, teach the guitar? The answer lies in ‘the original and most valuable aim of the pursuit: to make music! Music making allows students to interpret information instead of just receiving it.
It stimulates independence of thought, responsibility and, more significantly, sensitivity and imagination. This is important as it provides a healthy balance with the ‘received-information’ subject areas of literacy and numeracy. Music is, like words, an important medium for expression. Keith Swanwick (1982, p 124) suggested that
Why we value music is ultimately not to do with belonging to a tradition or with self-development, as some have argued. but depends on recognition that music is one of the great symbolic modes available to us.
Music is not only a great symbolic mode, but a unique one, for it is not, like words, tied to precise meanings. It is the language of an abstract world which manages to touch our deepest feelings and responses, a bridge between the real world of ideas and emotions and the world of pure imagination. Crossing this bridge requires personalized. original and creative thought: music making will, if effectively guided, enable students to make this crossing.
References
Ben Tovim, A. (1985) The Right Instrument for your Child. Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Bloom, B.S. (ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Longmans.
Brocklehurst, J.B. (1962) Music in Schools. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Paynter, J. and Aston, P (1970) Sound and Silence: Classroom Projects in Creative Music. Pitman Publications.
Regelski, T.A. (1975) Principles and Problems of Music Education. Prentice Hall.
Regelski, T.A. (1981) Teaching General Music. Schirmer.
Stimpson, M. (1977) ‘Guitar Music for Schools.’ Music Education Review, vol. 1, no. 1. Cambridge University Press.
Stimpson, M. (1985) ‘The Guitar in English Music Education.’ Music Education Review, vol. 2, no. 1. Cambridge University Press.
Suzuki, S. (1969) Nurtured by Love: a new approach to education. Exposition Press.
Swanwick, K. and Taylor, D. (1982) Discovering Music: developing the music curriculum in secondary schools. Batsford Academic and Educational Ltd.
Taylor, D. (1979) Music Now. Open University Press.
Tillman, J. (1976) Music Now. Open University Press.
Wade, G. (Spring 1970) ‘Guitar in Primary Education.’ Making Music no. 75. Rural Music Association.
Copyright © 1990 by Adrian Ingram