Sometimes we all need to remember to really complete some work on solid methods. The first two I’ve listed here are not the most “fun” but they instill solid musical training. They need to be completed a little bit each day rather and bought, looked at for one week, and then shelved. Remember, it may take going [...]
Archive | Lessons, Tips and My Week Teaching
RSS feed for this sectionJerome Ducharme: Practice Routine For Guitar Champions From GFA Winner
After Jérôme Ducharme’s recent concert in Wichita, he discussed guitars, repertoire, technique and more with John Francis and an internet audience. In this video, Jérôme discusses the practice routine that helped him win the championship and exercises that he recommends for aspiring young guitarists. http://jeromeducharme.ca http://wichitaguitar.com http://chainedsky.com
Redesigning my method books
I’ve been redesigning my Guitar Victoria method books so if you like the them buy em up as they won’t be available much longer. I’m combining both of them into one book to be distributed through Classical Guitar Canada. Sadly I’ll have to remove much of the material but I think they will streamline the learning process. [...]
Developing Scales – A few leading questions
Some of these questions come from my experience teaching but I filled it out with a few from The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher (overpriced but great book). Presenting and developing scales: questions to consider for teachers and students: What type of legato: When working on legato scales what type of legato are you aiming for? Will it aim [...]
Having musical friends is just as important as practicing
It’s a myth that if you practice your heart out in the solitary confinement of a practice room you’ll become a great musician. Music is not a solitary experience (not all the time anyway). For the last three years I’ve been the director of the VCM Summer Guitar Academy (Alexander Dunn is the new director [...]
Go to concerts and learn to communicate musically
Just a short post this week as I’m on Spring Break and not teaching this week. I’ve been really working with my students on polishing this week. It’s all about phrasing folks. You have to combine your technical work with phrasing. If you can phrase well your music will make sense to any listener even [...]
My Week Teaching: Quality vs Quantity and Methodology
I had a discussion with a few students this week about practicing in a way that emphasizes quality vs quantity. Gettting into fancy theories about music and pedegogy is fine but methodology in music can sometimes take the student away from the primary goal of making great music. Here are some tips. Listen to yourself [...]
My Week Teaching: Musical Layers
When I teach I like to think of layers of musical information and how those layers can be simplified to the student. Think of layers as slides that you stack on top of one another. One slide could be the sky, another the trees, another a person etc etc until you have an entire picture. [...]
My Week Teaching: Practice and Bach Videos
Just a short entry this week as I have to get working on some papers for my history classes at UVic (I’m studying Asian history at the moment) and need to get practicing for an upcoming concert I’m playing in with Alexander Dunn, Adrian Verdejo, and Michael Dias. Even some of my most accomplished students [...]
My Week Teaching: Presentation and Preparation
Presenting material and ideas clearly, confidently, and concisely is a primary problem of many music students. This is what I try to impart upon my students: Make clear goals: Prepare specific material, that is, pick a phrase or section and be determined to make progress on that section. Be very clear about what you’re working [...]
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