Thanks to all who come regularly to learn a bit about my thoughts on the guitar. I hope all goes well with you for the next few weeks. I will be taking a break because my wife and I are expecting our first child and the holiday season is here. All the best, and I look forward to next year.
Happy holidays,
Chad
In the United States there is no national certification for guitar teachers. Looking at other countries (i.e. Canada or the U.K.), there are very specific requirements for guitar teaching, especially in the classical world. However, the classical world need not be the only genre where certification can be beneficial. We must first address the problems and then address the benefits for students and teachers alike.
There are basically two types of guitar teachers, those trained on a university level and those not. One is not better than the other. When it comes to teaching the non-university teacher might be more qualified to teach than the university student due to a natural teaching inclination. Throughout my time at the university I had one class of three credits in order to teach me how to teach (pedagogy). The rest of my classes were devoted to performing and musical understanding. My schooling gave me the knowledge but not the “know how†to become a successful teacher. Therefore, certification must include these two perspective types of teachers. One must be educated on the fundamentals of music or where their lacking musical training will cause hindrance in their teaching. The other must be educated on the fundamentals of good teaching practices. Of course, there will be any number of people that fall between these two areas in varying degrees. Certification can help teachers fill in the gaps and raise the level of expertise.
With a fully developed teaching certification there are obvious benefits to the student and teacher alike. The teacher will be assured that perspective students will know and trust in his/her expertise in guitar and music training. This is a common problem with teachers in an area due to the great fact that someone who knows enough guitar to play fairly well can through up an advertisement and charge a minimal amount to teach students. However, there is no guarantee that this teacher is really worth the money. They may be able to teach some licks but do not have the depth needed to produce effective results from each student. Certification will allow a teacher to advertise and charge according to their certified skill level freeing them from worry of being undercut by “fly by night†teachers that are just trying to make a buck until their recording contract comes in.
This idea works in tandem with the student’s benefits. The student will know and be willing to pay for a teacher that has been certified to teach effectively. The student will know that when paying for a lesson they are getting top level instruction from a qualified teacher.
In conclusion, there is a great need for certification in the guitar community. You would never go to a doctor or therapist to deal with your problems that is not certified to practice in those fields. You can get advice from a friend but that does not mean that it is sound or has research backing their advice. Why would you want to do the same for music? If you are paying for private lessons, then would it not be beneficial to know that the teacher can not only play at an acceptable level but also be able take you to the place you want to go in your guitar playing?
Anton Diabelli, born 5 September 1781, in Mattsee near Salzburg (Austria). While living, he was best known as a editor and publisher. However, he also composed and his most familiar composition today is the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations.
Initially, he thought his calling was to enter the priesthood. While studying to enter the priesthood, he also took music lessons with Michael Haydn. He moved to Vienna to teach the piano and guitar before becoming partners with Pietro Cappi to set up a music publishing firm in 1818. Eventually, the firm became known as Diabelli & Co. in 1824.
The firm became well known to the general public by arranging popular pieces that could be played by amateurs at home. The more serious musican became familiar with them through their publications of works by Franz Schubert.
Diabelli produced many works as a composer, including an operetta called Adam in der Klemme, several masses and songs and numerous piano and classical guitar pieces. Among these are pieces for four hands (two pianists playing at one piano), which are popular among amateur pianists.
The composition for which Diabelli is now best known was actually written as part of a publishing venture. In 1819, he decided to try to publish a volume of variations on a waltz he had penned expressly for this purpose, with one variation by every important Austrian composer living at the time, as well as several significant non-Austrians. The combined contributions would be published in an anthology called Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Fifty-one composers responded with pieces, including Beethoven, Schubert, Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles, and the eight-year-old Franz Liszt. Czerny was also enlisted to write a coda. Beethoven, however, instead of providing just one variation, provided 33. They constitute what is generally regarded as one of the greatest of Beethoven’s piano pieces and as the greatest set of variations of their time, and are generally known simply as the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120.
Diabelli’s publishing house expanded throughout his life, before he retired in 1851, leaving it under the control of Carl Anton Spina. When Diabelli died in 1858, Spina continued to run the firm, and published music by Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss. In 1872, the firm was taken over by Friedrich Schreiber, and in 1876 it merged with the firm of August Cranz, who bought the company in 1879 and ran it under his name.
He died in Vienna at the age of 76 on 8 April 1858.
