FOR STUDENTS

Welcome! This page has been created to share resources with anyone who may be interested in learning more about guitar. The content varies from information for beginning students to very advanced players. The page was created with college and adult students in mind, so please monitor young students with content and links. I hope you find the page useful.

Explorations in Listening

Andy LeGrand is a multifaceted guitarist who performs on nylon and steel-string guitars, composes and hosts two podcasts in addition to founding and managing his own music school in Knoxville, Tennessee. If that wasn’t enough, he is also Executive Director at Knoxville Classical Guitar which hosts a concert series featuring incredible guitar artists.

Using the embedded player below, you can listen to the "Crossroads" episode of Andy's show, Acoustic Walk, a podcast that “combines the journey of music with the journey of life.” (Andy LeGrand). It is the third episode on the list.

Questions to Consider:

Andy presents his composition twice. The first time, spoken word is presented simultaneously with the music. He then offers a second opportunity to hear the music without commentary. How does this format affect you as a listener? Do you experience the music differently the second time? Are there other times when you listen to a single piece of music more than once at one sitting?

How do you hear Andy’s philosophical ideas in the music? What elements of the music create these references or experiences for you?

If you had not heard Andy’s commentary and did not know the title of the composition, would you sense similar ideas from the music?

Is this a piece you would like to play?

Featured Score

As autumn approaches, some of you may be thinking cozy thoughts of pumpkin spice and apple cider donuts, or perhaps you are putting up Halloween decorations for trick or treat and dusting off that DVD of Nightmare Before Christmas. From Danny Elfman to Franz Schubert and Camille Saint-Saens, there's plenty of incredible music to accompany the spookiest of seasons.

A piece that has become iconically associated with Halloween is Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Grieg was born in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. He wrote background music for a play titled Peer Gynt during which the character Peer "finds himself in the Hall of the Mountain King where he is captured by trolls." (www.bellinghamsymphony.org)

Guitarist and educator Lou Warde has written an arrangement of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for guitar ensemble and made the score, parts and recording available for free access at the website below. Once on the webpage, scroll to the teal green menu of Arrangements for Quartet.

If you aren't currently performing in a guitar ensemble, consider learning one of the parts and playing along with the video...or perhaps starting a guitar ensemble in your community. I am hoping to start one soon!

Access Lou Warde's sheet music and recordings for guitar ensemble at this link:

www.theguitarclassroom.com/guitar-ensemble.html

If you'd like to drop Mr. Warde a note of appreciation for the great resources he has made available, his email can be found at this link:

www.theguitarclassroom.com/contact.html

Access more information about Grieg and an activity shared by Bellingham Symphony Orchestra at this link:

www.bellinghamsymphony.org/learn/in-the-hall-of-the-mountain-king

Resources

Daily Scale Videos

You can practice your major scales along with me in these videos made for my beginning students learning notes in first position and key signatures. Goals include mastery of note knowledge, consistent use of first-position fretting-hand fingerings, right-hand finger alternation, and tone. The tempo is 80 bpm.

Major Scale Exercise Video C G D A

Major Scale Exercise Video E B F# C#

Major Scale Exercise Video F Bb Eb Ab

Major Scale Exercise Video Db Gb Cb

Basic Chord Switching Exercises for Group Beginner's Guitar Classes

Students who are learning to switch between basic chords while strumming can use these videos for daily practice.

Open Position Chords in Pairs

G Em C D7

Tech Resources

https://online-voice-recorder.com/

https://www.metronomeonline.com/

https://www.fender.com/online-guitar-tuner/