Vince Cancilla Guitar Lessons Reflection

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Pre-Student Teaching Observation Reflection

EDU 667 Dr. Ahuna

Best Practice Focus

Since many students do not read musical notation, it was important to be able to have a
music language to communicate in to better facilitate instruction. Rather than making the
lessons centre around reading music (which reduces student interest), I decided to focus on the
songs they want to learn as that is where their primary interest lies. The students get excited
if they can play a song they really connect with. So the best practice involved adapting the
lessons to be able to get directly to the music. I was able to accommodate by using guitar
tablature, a very simplified form of music notation just for guitar. It is very basic to read and
requires no technical knowledge.

This pairing of a simplified form of communication in

notation facilitated being able to move directly to the songs.

Setting
These are private guitar lessons, one-on-one with students of various ages, but mostly
adults. Sessions are usually 1 hour in length, in home, either in the students home or my
house.

These lessons began in the fall and can run anytime of the year.

Ive done some

lessons in Toronto and some in Milton, so there are both urban and suburban settings.
Description
Students choose a selection of songs they are interested in learning, and sitting face to
face each with a guitar in hand we practice the songs, and I demonstrate the chord shapes and
give instruction in optimal technique and provide feedback where needed.

Students are

assigned chord shapes to memorize, and given sheets printed with the chord shapes and the
tablature notes for melodies.

Vince Cancilla Guitar Lessons Reflection

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Emphasis is given to proper rhythm and timing, and the students practice various
tempos and learn different strumming patterns and rhythm techniques. The end goal is to get
a well rounded but non-theoretical grasp of guitar music and technique.
Analysis (Connection/Links)
Since students are generally novices when they begin lessons, I have found that lessons
benefit from a scaffolding approach, where I build up their skills by dividing the lessons into
tiny concepts and techniques that they need to learn, and then build on those techniques by
adding more little techniques, and eventually teaching them how to combine these techniques
to good effect in a song. This kind of tiered approach actually worked quite well and it shows
that the scaffolding method applies to many disciplines.
Applications
Since Ontario requires two teachable subjects, this experience could be very relevant as
I am considering adding Music as my second teachable (with French as another close
possibility). Learning how to get students excited about music and get their engagement level
up is a very valuable tool, so this experience helps me become familiar with what songs are
popular with students currently and also helps me develop a wide-ranging repertoire of songs.
In terms of best practices, scaffolding and content relevance is extremely critical and must
always be kept in mind for future opportunities.