Why Guitar Competency??

In the past I've done blog posts with the theme “Why Music?” For this post I'd like to speak to music therapy (MT) pros and students about playing guitar and musicianship and pose the question “Why Guitar Competency?”

Last year I wrote about a hospice family where the son told me that “over the past many months the only joy my mom has experienced was during the music therapy sessions...” The patient was a piano player who loved church music and popular music of “her day,” i.e, music from the 1930s-50s. I went on to say that if I was not a competent musician and proficient on guitar those times would not have been possible. Similarly, this past week, I realized that on Monday alone I had played on my guitar classical music by Matteo Carcassi, Let It Go from the hit movie Frozen, Bruno Mars music, had to learn Needle And The Damage Done by Neil Young for a song writing project, played and sang classic hits by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, played calypso music by Harry Belafonte and more... To play so many diverse styles a certain level of experience and competency has to be achieved. The point is NOT to alarm you if, at this time, your repertoire and knowledge of various styles of music is limited or you are constrained on the guitar or piano. The point is that you are aware of your limitations and that, over time, you continuously work on expanding your knowledge, musicianship and repertoire. Know that I did not wake up one day with all of this covered. I've been playing guitar professionally my whole adult working career. That lets me now share with you the benefits of guitar competency.

If you haven't checked out the three CMTE guitar competency courses offered by The Creative Clinician, don't hesitate.
 
My guitar courses (by David Putano, MT-BC) have been have been organized with an important philosophy in mind, that is, learning how to play the guitar as a rehearsal pianist plays. What I mean by that is when we experience a rehearsal pianist at a choir or theater rehearsal, they are able to play any style of music, with no shortcuts, as the composer intended. I have geared all of my guitar competency lessons and courses with this philosophy. Looking back on my music therapy career to date, I can't tell how important being a good musician, a professional musician has been. It has been instrumental (excuse the pun) in getting me jobs as well as adding greatly to job security.

When you purchase a guitar course from the The Creative Clinician you also receive a FREE, one year professional membership to guitarlplayikeapro.com, featuring 250 guitar lesson videos, with many music therapy clinical tips. Lessons are video based, able to be accessed 24/7.

So, as you improve your guitar playing, benefit from a wide variety of pertinent, interesting and professional courses offered by The Creative Clinician, receive CMTEs. Join us!