Chandler Dillingham

Five Lessons Plan Reflections

Strings 376-3

Northwestern University
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Lesson One, 4/3/21, 4:30 PM, Zoom

Teacher: Chandler Dillingham

Student: Harrison Dillingham

This was a very exciting lesson that involved the fundamentals of classical guitar positioning,
reading, and performance.

Harrison’s prior experience on the classical guitar provided him with the necessary tools to hold
the instrument and understand how to create a sound. He successfully learned to read three notes
(e.g., E, F-natural, and G) on the first string and learned the basics of rhythm (e.g., quarter notes,
half notes, and quarter note rests). Finally, he presented an excellent rest-stroke technique.

Harrison struggled with keeping the guitar in place during the lesson. Therefore, it was
recommended to obtain rug pad grippers so that his guitar would stay in place. Also, his
right-hand pinky would get tense in faster sections. This will be a longer-term goal during these
five lessons.

The next lesson will incorporate a review of notes on the first string and incorporate notes on the
second string.

Lesson Two, 4/11/21, 4:30 PM, Zoom

Teacher: Chandler Dillingham

Student: Harrison Dillingham

This was an engaging lesson that focused on reading standard notation and improving the
student’s rest-stroke technique.

Harrison was extremely prepared with his exercises from the first lesson, exhibiting mastery in
reading three notes (e.g., E, F, and G) on the first string. This lesson also featured three new
notes (e.g., B, C, and D) on the second string. Harrison could read the notes with and without the
guitar.

Harrison needs to work on his counting. While he can count back the correct rhythmic figures for
each measure, he has a habit of pausing for one to two beats after each measure. This will be the
focus of the next lesson.
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Lesson Three, 4/18/21, 5 PM, Zoom

Teacher: Chandler Dillingham

Student: Harrison Dillingham

This was a very focused lesson that continued to review the notes on the first two strings while
introducing the notes on the third string.

This lesson looked to improve on Harrison’s sight-reading abilities with a short piece from the
second lesson plan, “Lightly Row.” Harrison spent a decent amount of time working with new
rhythmic figures (e.g., half notes) and paying attention to his counting. Harrison also learned to
read two notes (e.g., G and A) on the third string.

While Harrison successfully repeated the correct rhythmic figures of all musical excerpts away
from the instrument, he is still struggling with his inconsistent counting patterns while
performing with the instrument. This will continue to be a focus in subsequent lessons.

Lesson Four, 4/25/21, 4:30 PM, Zoom

Teacher: Chandler Dillingham

Student: Harrison Dillingham

This lesson aimed to provide the student with many examples of reading notes across the three
strings.

Harrison successfully played his first one-octave scale of G Major. He also learned another
musical excerpt from Charles Duncan’s method book, “Yankee Doodle.” Harrison exhibited a
strong ability to recite the correct note names and rhythmic figures away from the instrument and
it translated into his playing. He also introduced the concept of alternating across two strings,
using an example from Dionisio Aguado’s method, “Lesson 6.”

Harrison has struggled with rest-stroke across three strings and maintaining a relaxed pinky
finger. He also struggled with holding the guitar in place, and he obtained dish towel grippers to
resolve this issue. We will continue to address these problem areas in our next lesson.
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Lesson Five, 5/2/21, 4:30 PM, Zoom

Teacher: Chandler Dillingham

Student: Harrison Dillingham

This lesson looked to review earlier material, reflect on the student’s progress, and address
underlying technical issues that prevented the student from performing these excerpts at a higher
level.

Harrison successfully performed the two primary excerpts from earlier lesson plans, “Lightly
Row” and “Yankee Doodle.” Harrison also showed his progress on the G Major Scale and an
exercise from Aguado’s method book, “Lesson Five.” Finally, he was able to pay attention to his
pinky while performing a rest-stroke technique across the three treble strings.

Harrison will continue to practice these principles from earlier lessons, and he will start to learn
the notes on the three bass strings. Harrison will apply these principles to perform melodies from
film scores and will try to read the guitar notation before using tablature or YouTube tutorials.