KinderGuitar, the popular national music education program for children, has awarded KinderGuitar New Mexico with its Best New KinderGuitar Program 2012 for “extraordinary efforts to build a musical community through educational excellence” and its director, Rodney Burr, with Best New KinderGuitar Teacher 2012 for “guiding and educating his students with passion and enthusiasm”.

 

Only a year ago, local musician Rodney Burr, an accomplished classical guitarist and passionate educator, completed his extensive training in early education, pedagogy, and KinderGuitar’s unique curriculum in order to earn KinderGuitar certification and begin using KinderGuitar as a specialized teacher for children. Over the course of the last year, Rodney’s KinderGuitar studio has developed a passionate following among Albuquerque’s parents and their children. As one happy parent stated, “KinderGuitar New Mexico has been a blessing to us. Rod is truly gifted with teaching children. His patience and encouragement have helped our son excel in music and actually enjoy practicing at home. The KinderGuitar curriculum keeps him engaged and always looking forward to the next step. KinderGuitar is certainly worth the investment!”

 

KinderGuitar was developed in the San Francisco Bay Area by award-winning classical guitarist Leonardo Garcia, who holds three degrees from Yale University and a degree from the New England Conservatory. The curriculum is specifically designed to teach young children (between the ages of 5 and 10) guitar and overall musicianship skills. By adapting, expanding, and integrating successful ideas and methods from pedagogues who have specialized in teaching children music, Garcia says, KinderGuitar’s systematic approach is age-appropriate and insures easy success for students while maintaining the flexibility to reach all types of learning styles and abilities.

 

“Rodney is a skilled and dedicated classical guitarist,” says Garcia, “and his infectious enthusiasm for building community and sharing his art through education fits in perfectly with KinderGuitar’s guiding principles. With his decades of experience, he is in a unique position to mentor young students embarking on their own musical adventures, and children will be lucky to have Rodney guide them through our curriculum. The awards his program has earned reflect his extraordinary program and dedication.”