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The state of guitar education in the United States
- Source: Journal of Popular Music Education, Volume 3, Issue 2, Jul 2019, p. 245 - 260
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- 01 Jul 2019
Abstract
Guitar education has emerged as a discipline in K-12 institutions alongside ‘traditional’ music education such as band, orchestra and chorus in recent decades. Despite the substantial body of literature containing practical advice on teaching guitar, research-supported scholarship is lacking. The purpose of this study was to provide an evidentiary-based understanding of the professional profiles of guitar educators. A large sample (n = 1269) of guitar educators participated in the Guitar Educator Questionnaire (GEQ). Findings from the GEQ suggest a low per cent (7.9%) of music educators who teach guitar class consider themselves to be ‘guitar specialists’. A substantial number of respondents (68.5%) indicated that they rarely or never participated in guitar-related professional development, and 76.1% of respondents reported that their pre-service training provided little or no preparation for a career in guitar education.