What is the GMTP?
The Guitar Master Teacher Program (GMTP) is a comprehensive professional
development program for guitar teachers. It is devised for guitarists who seek to combine their performing skills
with a firm knowledge and advanced understanding of the principles of music education, recognizing such understanding
as a the most critical element for developing and maintaining a long and successful teaching career in today’s
fast-changing and diverse music culture and complex interdisciplinary field.
Who is the GMTP for?
The GMTP address guitar teachers who recognize the value of gaining today most
innovative educational knowledge on teaching guitar and related subjects; knowledge which is viewed indispensable
for entering the contemporary guitar education sector and for prolonging one’s teaching career to its full potential.
The GMTP is offered to: (a) schools that requires their guitar teachers to expand and deepen their current
understanding of teaching theories along with a broad range of related disciplines, (b) independent teachers
who aspire to apply for a teaching position in a school through a qualification that enhances their curriculum as well
as wider knowledge and experience, (c) guitarists who are planning to start their own guitar teaching practice.
How will I be taught?
The MGTP is conceived to offer its participants the opportunity to explore a vast array
of significant topics and cultivate the essential skills by engaging with a team composed of lecturers with an academic
background and well-established guitar teachers. Each lecturer and guitar teaching expert are allocated to a specific
area of study for which s/he possess a proven expertise. This will assure the participants that every aspect of the
program is well researched.
A characteristic feature in the design and delivery of the GMTP is the combination
of in-person lectures with distance learning that aims at making the course more compatible with the participant’s needs
and agenda. Lectures will take place during an intensive study period at the beginning of each year, which will take
place at a physical location. This will ensure that an in-person meeting take place – at the outset – between the
course team and the course participants, preceding any subsequent communication in remote, offering the advantage
that the latter grows out of the strong sense of reality initially established by the former.
Course applications will be assessed via written assignments and teaching demonstrations,
which will give the participants the opportunity to demonstrate their theoretical understanding and practical skills
developed during the course.
How does the GMTP differ from existing guitar teacher training initiatives in Italy?
The GMTP departs from existing guitar educational projects in that most teacher
training programs made available in Italy are largely centred on instrumental instruction devised for a particular
age or focused to conform to a specific music culture. The GMTP, however, is structured so to bear relevance to the
diversity of the music idioms that encompass the contemporary guitarist’s experience and engages with both pedagogical
and anagogical teaching methods. This prevents the course to remain modest in scope when situated in the context of
contemporary guitar education.
As argued in the about section of this website, guitar performers who transition directly
from performing to teaching (skipping any form of teaching studies) do not recognize music education as a necessary
link to their practice. In this conceptualization, educational theories are either ignored or even deemed to interfere
negatively with their teaching insights that derive from their own performing experience. This approach, however, shows
its limitations when applied to a variety of students and in different teaching settings. Owing to this, the GMTP
program supports the view that a sound understanding of the educational foundations is regarded a pre-requisite
that underpins the current definition of a Master Teacher. Therefore, one of the founding tenets of the GMTP is
to accompany the participants towards the transition from guitar instructors to informed educators who are able to
read and critically evaluate research-based literature and to conduct their own enquiries into issues related to
their teaching practices.
Lastly, the GMTP is currently the first and only guitar educational
program in Italy designed to support teachers to pursue a valid qualification specific to guitar
teaching; either in acoustic, classical, or electric guitar.
How will studying for the MGTP effect my teaching career?
You will:
- expand your understanding of all the major facets that characterize your field.
This will make you become a more effective teacher and will place you at the leading edge of the guitar teaching profession.
- engage with a team of guitar teachers and performers who examine and understand
current relevant knowledge in the guitar sector, and become exposed to different thought-provoking perspectives.
- recognize the needs of multiple and cross-cultural learning objectives,
developing the ability to assess different teaching approaches and design a curriculum of study according to the
specific educational settings, age, or music identity of each student.
- cross the boundaries of guitar instruction and broaden your areas of expertise by
cultivating your reflective and writing skills, which will allow you to construct and constantly innovate your
professional development and practice.
- develop the skills and knowledge required to pursue a teaching diploma that will
enhance your CV. The diploma is issued by a renowned University and mapped in the European Qualification Framework (EQF).
What are the MGTP learning outcomes?
The learning objectives are constructed in line with the level of qualification it leads
to (EQF Level 5, 6, 7) and their corresponding level of expected intellectual analysis and practical experience.
It is assumed that during the foundation phase (Year 1,2,3) the participants will gain a foundational knowledge
and experience over a broad range of subjects, which allows them to acquire a comprehensive perspective and orientation
in the profession.
Following a successful competition of the foundation phase, anyone willing to
progress to the Specialization phase will be required to focus only on a single topic, which will be investigated
it at a higher level of expertise (see the ‘program’ section for more information on each phase).
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