A suggestopaedia-based method of guitar instruction

Abstract

Sight-reading is generally regarded by guitar teachers as a problem area of instruction. The aim of this thesis is to address the problem through a fourfold approach: 1. defining sight-reading in terms of its historical context ; 2. providing a rationale, and proposing an alternative method, for teaching sight-reading on the guitar based on a language teaching model ; 3. developing the proposed method ; 4. evaluating the proposed method experimentally. Music and language share many common characteristics. It is for this reason that Suggestopaedia, a method validated in language teaching, has been adapted for teaching the guitar with sight-reading skills as the central focus. Suggestopaedia has been chosen because it stimulates the whole personality, and all brain systems, of the learner.