Guitar

Level three guitar students expectations

It is appropriate for performers to interpret music, whilst maintaining their individual musical integrity to showcase their unique talents.

Correct posture and hand position clearly enhance the students in creating convincing tone, fluency and sound projection (including wise amplification choices).

Standing creates opportunity to enhance presentation with greater movement and the student shows they are comfortable with variety in their levels of delivery for their chosen style.

There is convincing security of fingering, alternate fingering, selection of string/fret positionings, timbral range, and work across the fretboard.

The two performance programmes will allow players to demonstrate a convincing range of the technical skills above, together with the ability to sustain the delivery and communication of extended pieces of music. Errors hardly detract (some of hesitation, fumble, slip or stop) from a convincing performance. Ideally the student’s programmes will allow them to perform technically advanced pieces together with more expressive pieces.

Individual pieces within both programmes will be well rehearsed with attention to accuracy of the score/presignalled intentions, including articulation, dynamics, phrasing together with integrated Palm mute, cloth mute, temporary hand string arrest, capoing.

Contemporary and jazz genres are likely to include students’ own musical interpretation, including improvisation.

Students performing at Achievement level may make occasional errors which do not detract from the overall performance. Achieved appears less confident than Merit

(effective) or Excellence (convincing) students.

Performing less technically challenging pieces (appropriate to this level) with expressiveness and musicality may benefit judgements for less, as well as more experienced players.

To gain Merit, guitarists will perform confidently and consistently. The pieces will be well rehearsed, played with precision (highly accurate) and demonstrate interpretive understanding of different genres or within a genre. For example, there will be a clear demarcation between a performance of a Carlos Santana solo and an unknown street rag/blues troubadour, compared to a performance of a massive pop hit. Learning and playing different genres will allow students to communicate eachcomposer’s intentions through breadth of experience. Those students gaining Excellence will do this with imagination, musical expression and a sense of ‘ownership’ of the music [in their clear intentions description prior to the performance].

Musicality

In a fifth year of lessons, guitar students could be expected to have gained a level of technical proficiency which affords a degree of confidence for self‐expression and contemporary relevance. Musicality will be evident in the astute use of dynamics, phrasing and any equipment along with pre‐signalled interpretative aspects. Ability to capture the style/mood/delivery of the guitar music and communicate this to an audience will create an effective (M) and then a convincing (E) performance.