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Goal

Our goal for the students at Lavern Gaynor Elementary School is to have ENOUGH guitars so that the students don’t have to take turns with another student in their one music class per week.

 

What will be done with my students

Fourth and Fifth graders will start a unit on guitar in the early Spring. They will review the basics of holding the guitar correctly, taking care of it properly and plucking and strumming techniques. This should be a review since most of them played ukuleles last year. (Thank you, Champions for Learning for the ukuleles!)

As the students progress, meeting only once a week in music class, they will explore a variety of simple melodies that they can play on one string. The guitar is bigger and has more tension on the strings than a ukulele.

Then the students will try their hand at fingering chords while they strum several or all six strings. Advanced students can work on the chords for all six strings using 3 fingers in their left hand. Most students will be challenged to play a chord with 3 or 4 strings, using one, two or three fingers.

Finally, the students will work to play three different chords, at their level, to experience playing the progression of the 12 bar blues and simple Rock songs! It’s amazing how many songs they can play with just three chords!
 

Benefits to my students

Playing a musical instrument has an amazing affect on each student's brain! It's like an exercise for the brain when they physically hold the instrument, do one thing with one hand, something totally different with the other hand, read some sort of musical notation and try to keep a steady beat! I can't wait to see them struggle...and then succeed!

Hopefully each student will consider playing a musical instrument in middle school or maybe even continue with their new confidence on the guitar! 

Budget Narrative

These are smaller guitars that are made specifically for students in a classroom setting. The nylon strings should be much more gentle on the students' fingers. The brand, Yamaha, has provided years of quality products in the musical instrument industry! 

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