LESSON PLAN: Holding the Guitar
Objective
Students will be able to pick up and move their guitars safely and hold them comfortably while learning to understand the cues the teacher uses for silencing guitars or putting them away.
Resources
Guitar stands or cases, teacher demonstration, student demonstration.
Vocabulary and Terms
“Quiet guitars”, “Table Top”, “Put guitars to sleep”, “Playing position”, strum, neck, body, headstock.
Procedures
- Tell students that musical instruments are fragile and sensitive—they need to be handled carefully so that many students can enjoy using them for years. It may be a good idea to number the guitars and assign students to numbers, making them responsible for the care of each one.
- Ask students to watch you pick up your guitar and place it on your lap in playing position (Figure A)
- Show students what it means to strum the guitar gently with fingers or a pick, not to pull hard on strings, etc. Tell them that breaking a string is easy if we’re too hard on the guitars.
- Tell them that when you say “Quiet Guitars” they have to place their strumming hand over all 6 strings to mute them (Figure B)
- Next tell them that when you say “Table Top” you mean for them to place their guitars on their laps with the strings facing down (Figure C).
- Demonstrate that when picking up and moving guitars around they need to watch the neck of the guitar so that it doesn’t hit anyone or anything.
National Core Arts Standards (Music)
Example: Harmonizing Instruments MU:Pr5.1.H Rehearse, Evaluate, and Refine. Common Core Correlations: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.