Higher Education Summit: Guitar in Music Education Programs

Presented by the NAfME Council for Guitar Education and the Guitar Foundation of America

Based on recently collected data, 38% of those who teach guitar in secondary education consider themselves guitar specialists. Only 7.7% of those surveyed stated that their pre-service training prepared them for a career in guitar education.

Guitar classes and programs are growing nationwide. Music educators are finding themselves assigned to teach this instrument with little to no preparation. This data-driven session will address the need to support music education majors as they prepare to go into the workforce.

Target Audience: University/College Music Education Professors, Guitar Professors, Music Department Administrators, Secondary Guitar Educators, Music Education Majors and all who have a vested interest in music education programs.

Featured Panelists:

Brian Head, Moderator

GFA Artistic Director

Brian Head enjoys a multifaceted career as a guitarist, composer, teacher, and leader frequently performing and recording with symphonic and chamber groups including the LA Phil, LA Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Long Beach Operas, and new music series such as Green Umbrella, Jacaranda, MicroFest, and Hear Now.  His compositions have been performed on six continents and throughout the U.S. in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.  He has been part of Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated recordings as player (Frank Zappa 200 Motels with the LAPhil), composer (Guitar Heroes by LAGQ) and producer (Mak Bach by Mak Grgic). Brian is currently Professor of Classical Guitar and Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music where he also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. From 2004 until 2010 Brian led the Guitar Foundation of America as its president. In June of 2010, he was elected as the first Artistic Director of the GFA. Brian can be reached at: brianhead@guitarfoundation.org.

Martha Masters

GFA President

Martha Masters first achieved international recognition in 2000 when she won first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition. That same year she also won the Andres Segovia International Competition in Linares, Spain, and was named a finalist in the Alexandre Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities in Lodz, Poland. Since then, Ms. Masters has been active as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist around the world. Masters received both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Manuel Barrueco, and completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California as a student of Scott Tennant. Ms. Masters is on faculty at Arizona State University and is President of the Guitar Foundation of America. She has released seven recordings (Naxos, GSP and independent releases), and has published three books with Mel Bay Publications and Alfred Music.  For more information, visit www.marthamasters.com.

Kevin Vigil

Chair NAfME Council for Guitar Education

Kevin Vigil (Dr. V) holds degrees from Shenandoah University (DMA), Yale University, (MM) and the University of Memphis (BM). He joined the faculty of Heritage High School in 2005-06. He was named the 2014 Shenandoah University Teacher of the Year for Loudoun County Public Schools and presented with a Sir Winston Churchill Commemorative Crown by Churchill Fellow Helen Sanderson for his work in guitar education (2017). In 2020, Dr. V was chosen as the Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Arts at Marshall University. His articles have been published in several national and international journals and he is nationally sought-after as a clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor and presenter. He currently serves as the vice-president for the Virginia Guitar Directors Association and chair for the NAfME Council for Guitar Education.

Ruth LeMay

NAfME Collegiate Advisory Council & Council for Guitar Education

Ruth LeMay is a K-12 urban music educator, university professor (University of Wisconsin River Falls), disability advocate, inclusion protagonist, lecture and President and founder of 3 Strings, Inc (3strings.org), a non-profit organization committed to making playing a musical instrument a reality for all. Ruth’s remarkable career spans over three decades in music education and covers a wide spectrum of musical domains including: guitar, pop music, handbells, music theory, adapted music, choir director, and band, catering to people of all ages. Ruth holds degrees from the University of South Dakota and University of MN in Music Education and Choral Conducting, respectively. Ruth embodies a fusion of academic knowledge and practical experience. Further credentials include Orff Certification, Neurological Music Therapy Allied Professional (NMTAP), council member for NAfME Guitar Council and the NAfME Collegiate Advisory Board. Ruth’s work was recognized in Soundboard magazine’s Fall 2022 issue, where she shared insights on “Creating Music for a Neurodiverse Population.” In Ruth’s words, “everyone deserves to make music.”

Chuck Hulihan

GFA Director of Education

Chuck Hulihan, has enjoyed a career as a guitarist, educator, conductor, voice talent, arts administrator, and classical music radio host. Since 1999 he has directed the guitar program at Glendale Community College, producing concerts featuring world premieres by many of today’s guitar ensemble composers. Chuck is one of the most prominent and prolific conductors for guitar ensembles in the United States, regularly collaborating with composers across the globe on new works for guitar ensemble. He has conducted the All-Arizona Guitar Ensemble, Arizona Guitar Orchestra, Guitar New Mexico Festival Orchestra, GFA Youth Guitar and Community Guitar Orchestras, All-State Ensembles in Nevada, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and the NAfME All-National Honor Guitar Ensemble. He serves as the GFA Education Director and Director of The Bridge: GFA’s Teen Academy for the Guitar Foundation of America and is a board member for the Phoenix Guitar Society.

Rob Pethel

NAfME Council for Guitar Education

Robert (Rob) Russell Pethel is a musician, educator, and content creator based in Atlanta, GA. Rob holds degrees from Georgia State University (Bachelor of Music, Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning) and Auburn University (Master of Education). Rob has been an educator in Atlanta Public Schools district since 2008 and has taught general music, guitar, Spanish, band, music technology, and esports. He is also active in professional development (Teaching Guitar Workshop: www.discoverguitar.com), serves as the Southern representative on the NAfME Council for Guitar Education, and is the creator of www.BlueGuitar.us. His professional portfolio can be found at www.RobPethel.com.

Robert Trent

Radford University

Robert Trent Currently, he is full Professor of Music (Guitar and Renaissance Lute studies) at Radford University where he teaches Applied Guitar, Functional Guitar for Music Educations/Music Therapy students, Guitar Harmony/Sight-Reading, Guitar Literature and Pedagogy, and is Director of Radford University’s Annual International Guitar Festival and was named Radford University’s “Distinguished Creative Scholar (2020)” and “Dalton Eminent Scholar (2021). His students are performers, educators, producers, recording artists, and administrators at all levels in the U.S., Latin America, and in Asia. He has performed on the continents of North and South America, Europe, and in Asia, performing on modern guitar, Renaissance lute, archlute, and historic instruments of the nineteenth-century, in particular the 10-string Scherzer. A first prize winner in numerous National and International competitions including; the Webb National Guitar Competition, the Masterworks Young Artist Competition (which was for all instruments), and the chamber music prize at the International Competition “Arturo Toscanini” in Italy in Period Instrumental performance.