|
Personalized in your home by
Guitarist Alex Diambrini
CGS TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Once I acquired a new student who had 2 years
of previous guitar instruction with another teacher. His parents
were concerned, this boy could play a good half dozen tunes and
assorted riffs but he was not taught any music theory, reading or
notation. He could only read guitar tablatures. The parents asked
me if I thought this was normal. Upon auditioning the student, I
was appalled to discover that he couldn't even name the notes corresponding
to the 6 open strings of the guitar or number them in the right
order.
To answer the parents' question, I gave them this example:
Is there such a thing as a math teacher who specializes
in teaching multiplication and nothing else? Certainly not! He wouldn't
be allowed to teach. But in the fickle world of Music Business,
parameters of what modern contemporary popular music education should
be are sometimes foggy, stretched and blurred. Anybody, playing
a few licks and tunes on guitar can claim to be a qualified teacher,
show up in your home and charge a fee for approximate instruction.
Teaching music to children and youth is a great responsibility for
any good music teacher who must provide young people with a solid
accurate and complete music theory and instrumental technical background.
On a solid foundation, any prospective young musician can pursue
his musical dream, whether it's for leisure or for a professional
career.
WHAT QUALIFIES A MUSIC OR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TEACHER
- A solid background in Music education and/or a
degree in Music.
- A career background based on practical experience
such as touring with different artists or groups. Playing, performing,
composing and recording a wide variety of styles of music.
- The ability to convey notions to a student.
- Somebody who has never been thought can definitely
be a great musician (Jimi Hendrix). But this does not mean he
is necessarily able to organize and explain information successfully
to a second party or a class. The person, who teaches, needs some
experience in being taught himself or has studied how to teach
a complex subject like music.
CONTEMPORARY MODERN POPULAR MUSIC EDUCATION
When bassist Tim Bogart and drummer Carmine Appice
founded Musicians' Institute in Hollywood, they envisioned a school
aimed at making young musicians proficient and ready for the professional
music world. Rock, Jazz, Pop, R&B, World music, and any of these
combinations, have roots in traditional Folkloric and Blues musical
styles from all around the world. This kind of music has rules and
these rules have evolved in recent modern history with contemporary
Jazz and other complex forms of popular music.
Blues
Just Like with traditional Classical music education, Music Theory and
its rules (along with the breaking of the above) can be learned and
acquired through the study of any form of Jazz, Blues, Rock and R&B.
A Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters or Eric Clapton
piece constitutes a very good window on the structure of Blues, Blues improvisation
and its basic songwriting compositional format.
Other Composers are also useful in understanding basic concepts of 1- 4 - 5,
masters like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Santana, etc.
Progressive
In more complex modern Progressive music styles such as, for instance,
Satriani, Vai, Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Yes, or generally anything referred to as
Jazz Rock or Fusion, more advanced musical concepts can be acquired by the student,
which can further the study of the Electric Guitar.
Jazz and Contemporary Fusion
As a career Jazz/Fusion guitarist I know that the study of traditional Jazz styles and
the wealth and completeness of the theory
that comes with it means acquiring a professional musicianship and a total understanding
of modern music as a whole that goes above and beyond the study of any other modern musical
form. Superior improvisational skills, understanding of complex modern harmony and first sight reading
skills are developed very early on by the student that proficiently studies Jazz.
In the advanced study of contemporary Jazz-Fusion/Jazz-Rock Guitarist/Composers
the likes of Pat Metheny, Holdsworth, Stern, Gambale, Henderson, George Benson a wealth
of musical knowledge and empowerment can be acquired in relation to very complex
improvisational techniques that offer the seriously advanced student guitarist a door
to a world of sublime and haunting sheer musical beauty.
My Guitar and Music teaching concept associates
itself completely with the methods now successfully used by major
Music Schools where the practical knowledge of a modern Rock music
repertoire goes along hand in hand with a complete Music Curriculum.
I constantly use interactive equipment to simulate a live band workshop
environment. Because of the nature of playing modern music, live
band workshops and jam sessions must always be an integral part
of the Curriculum in order to develop concepts of rhythm, musicians’
interaction, improvisation and expressiveness which will otherwise
always remain lacking and incomplete.
The nature of Modern Music is such that a great deal of subtleties
and dynamics or rhythmical feels, cannot be written precisely in
traditional notation. Rather, they have to be suggested by words
describing the musical style, such as: Swing, Rock-Funk, Hip-Hop/Swing
feel, etc. These "feel" indications, have to be
personally interpreted, through the music, by the individual musician
and fitted in the appropriate musical "pocket" by the
actual practical act of "jamming" with other musicians.
All of this does not obviously exclude the simultaneous reading
of the music chart if needed. Not a simple a task to achieve, as
it may seem to the non-musician listener.
Lots of students who have completed my course and have ambitions
to continue College level Music Degrees, find it easier and smoother
to enter Schools like Berklee, Academy 2000, LAMA, or MI, by which
I have prepared many students for admission.
top |
