Photo courtesy Arlen Nydam
Photo courtesy Arlen Nydam
Photo courtesy Arlen NydamCurriculum used by instructors worldwide
Music curriculum developed by a local nonprofit is being used in classrooms throughout the world to teach students to pursue excellence and be inspired by the arts.
Launched in 2008, Austin Classical Guitar's curriculum is used by more than 500 music instructors in the U.S. as well as Australia and Nicaragua, Executive Director Matt Hinsley said. Instructors can access material online and watch videos about how a classical guitar class should sound as students progress.
"It's important to teach kids classical guitar for the same reason that it is important to teach kids any enriching arts subject that will engage them, help them to discover themselves, discover their passion, discover what it means to refine something and pursue excellence, give them an opportunity to be proud of themselves, perform and build their self-esteem," Hinsley said.
Classes are structured in nine levels of advancement so that children of any skill level can improve, Hinsley said. For example, three different versions of a melody are available for instructors to teach, with each version being more difficult than the last.
ACG curriculum is taught at several Austin institutions, including Gardner Betts Juvenile Center, the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Helping Hands Group Foster Home and in more than 40 schools in the Austin area. Last fall the nonprofit added its curriculum to seven elementary schools in the area, and ACG expects to add curriculum to 10 more schools this fall, Hinsley said.
"With all of our courses, we are very interested in long-term relationships, as deep of an impact as we can possibly achieve. One way that we have been really successful with that is by integrating our instruction into the actual curriculum of the school," he said.
At Gardner Betts, ACG teaches youths ages 13–17 how to play classical guitar, and students may receive class credit from Austin ISD while incarcerated. Travis Marcum, an ACG instructor at Gardner Betts, said the course gives young people a chance to have a positive experience with an instructor in a learning environment.
"It ends up that they see success in the first day, and that success builds," Marcum said. "They are more willing to make a mistake and learn from that mistake without getting frustrated. They are able to take a little bit of criticism about their performance, about their guitar playing or even their behavior and understand that we can fix these things and move on. That it is a positive thing."
The nonprofit also offers teacher training at The University of Texas, and this summer the organization hopes to expand its teaching training programs to other cities, including St. Louis, San Francisco and Atlanta, Hinsley said.
Each year, the nonprofit awards scholarships to high school seniors to attend Austin Community College.
Francisco De La Rosa took ACG classes at Akins High School and received a scholarship in 2013 to attend Austin Community College to study music. De La Rosa hopes to become a music instructor and said ACG helped him to refine his knowledge and increase his confidence in music theory.
"As a musician, it really just strengthened me," he said. "They just gave me a lot of passion to be able to pursue a career in music."
Fast facts
ACG curriculum is in more than 40 Austin-area schools
Online teaching tools are used by more than 500 instructors
ACG grows its finances by about 29 percent each year
Curriculum launched in 2008
ACG awards scholarships to students
Upcoming concerts
Austin Classical Guitar hosts concerts featuring professional musicians at various venues, including Cactus Cafe, The Paramount Theatre and Glad Tidings Church. The concerts highlight different types of music, including flamenco, classical guitar and international music. All performances begin at 8 p.m., and pre-show dinners take place at 5:30 p.m. Tickets range in price from $7–$67. To view the entire concert schedule for 2014, visit ACG's website.
March 5—Flamenco guitarist Tomatito
March 27—Flamenco and classical guitarists Steve Kostelnik and Janet Grohovac
March 29—A preconcert dinner is hosted before a performance by Flamenco musicians Grisha and Jerome Mouffe
April 17—Classical guitarist Judicael Perroy performs at the Cactus Cafe
April 26—A preconcert dinner is hosted at Chez Zee Gallery before classical guitarist Xuefei Yang performs at GT Austin
May 29—Ukrainian guitarist Sergey Vashchenko performs at the Cactus Cafe
Austin Classical Guitar, 5900 Balcones Drive, Ste. 220, 512-300-2247, www.austinclassicalguitar.org
