Today on Young Artists Spotlight we hear a performance from two classical guitar ensembles from Central Unified School District in Fresno, led by instructor Brian Garcia. He writes this about his students and the guitar program:
Our students have the chance to train in 6 year cohorts beginning in the 7th grade and continuing through the 12 grade. The idea is to provide a curriculum and environment that helps each student reach their potential as a musician and performer. We train with classical and flamenco guitar methodologies. None of our kids take private lessons because they cannot afford the cost. Our program is designed to offset this disadvantage.
Music is also a vehicle to teach students about the learning process. Students are guided on a "music walk" which is a similar technique used for concepts in print via language arts. They learn to look for difficult passages, key signature, time signatures, and design a schedule and practice plan that is realistic in conjunction with their schedules. Through consistent practice, success-failure-success etc. students are able to experience the evidence of this process first hand as they work from beginning a new piece of music and taking it to a level of proficiency and eventually mastery. This mindset is truly powerful. Once a student begins to understand that they can achieve greatness through this process, then many doors will begin to open for them as they pursue their goals and aspirations.
We currently have 178 guitar students district wide with 3 leveled class at the high school.
Support for Young Artists Spotlight comes from the Bonner Family Foundation; Dr. Alice Martinson and Carole Sturgis.