Statement of Purpose

The study of guitar is a pursuit, which must assume an extremely high priority in the mind of any student who undertakes it.  Competence on the guitar can be achieved only by dedicated and persevering study, sustained by a sincere commitment to the instrument.  Every guitar student should have an overwhelming drive to continuously learn about the instrument and its music.  This program of study is a carefully arranged progression of experiences, which are designed to develop the student’s musical and technical potential.  Private lessons and master classes, along with guitar ensemble performance, recital attendance, listening assignments and many other musical experiences offered at Millikin all contribute to the student’s education.  Every student of the guitar must accept the necessary responsibilities if the goal and satisfaction of successful performance is to be achieved.  In addition, Staley Library has considerable holdings of guitar music, methods, records, texts, CDs, videos and periodicals to help in attaining this goal.  It is imperative that students take an active interest in the history, education and performance technique of the guitar.  The successful student will use these resources, to become knowledgeable about the past as well as what is happening currently in the guitar’s many professions.

Finally, each student is expected to practice scales, finger exercises, arpeggios and technical studies every day.  Guitar students must acquire technical proficiency in order to perform the music.  The more advanced the technique the more one is able to deal with the finer subtleties of musical expression.  Similarly, in order to improve music reading skills, students should check out music from the library and sight-read every day.  Practice makes perfect but only if practice is perfect.