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GUITAR INDUSTRY SPECIAL GUITAR & UKES IN SCHOOLS
ROCKIN’ THE CLASSROOM
Guitars are no
longer strangers
to school music
programs. In fact,
the rise in school
guitar instruction, along with
the popularity of the ukulele,
has made these new wave string
programs the coolest classes
in school.
Matt Gerry, music teacher
at Salina South Middle School
in Salina, Kan., said he’ll teach
four sections of his guitar class
(more than 100 students) next
year. He added that the program
has grown so rapidly that he
has a waiting list of another
100 students.
“The guitar class is very
popular,” he said. “The students
always amaze me at the
amount they learn in a single
56 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2012
semester. I have expanded
the instruction into the summer
where, through our local
parks department, I teach guitar
classes to all ages.”
And the impact from these
programs on MI retailers’ bottom
lines has been evident.
Greg Weast of Columbia River
Music, located in The Dalles,
Ore., rents both ukuleles and
guitars to schools in his area
and said he’s noticed residual
sales for both instruments.
“That is one of the beauties
of having ukes in the classroom,”
Weast said. “The kids
will often move up to a guitar
or much nicer uke.”
GAMA’S INFLUENCE
As the number of schools
adding guitar and ukulele
programs increases, the Guitar
and Accessories Marketing Association
(GAMA) is one group
looking for more schools to get
involved. GAMA is entering its
17th summer of hosting workshops
for school music educators
to enhance, or start, classroom
guitar programs.
Rob Sulkow, association manager
for GAMA, said that Teaching
Guitar Workshops (TGW)
not only instructs school music
educators how to play but focuses
heavily on teaching them
how to conduct a strong guitar
class, especially since many are
teaching a large group of students
at once, which is different
than teaching one-on-one.
“A lot of what we teach is
classroom management and how
to hold a substantive guitar pro-
Students in Salina South Middle
School’s guitar class
gram in which children learn to
play and gain a strong musical
competency,” Sulkow said. “We
are not necessarily interested in
teaching educators to be great
guitar players. We want them
to be great guitar teachers [and]
focus on the end product, which
is the student.”
The workshops are held in
various cities across the United
States and Canada and are
taught by a group of educators
representing the elementary
through college level. To date,
the program has reached about
3,000 teachers. According to
GAMA, each teacher reaches
an average of 65 students every
year. A GAMA-conducted
survey of the teachers revealed
that approximately half of their
students end up purchasing gui-