Guitars not Guns get off to a good start in Monterey County
Greetings: I want to thank everyone who was able to show up at our kick off meeting this past Monday at Rancho Cielo. http://www.ranchocieloyc.org/index.html I would also like to give a recap of the meeting for all interested parties.The meeting was held at the conference room at Rancho Cielo.
In atendance were;Frank Darling; State President and President of the Contra Costa Chapter of Guitars Not Guns - Randall Davis: Vice President of the Contra Costa GNG Chapter - Trisha Alcocer:: Recreation Director of Rancho Cielo - Roberta Valdez: Associate Director for Service Learning Institute at Cal State University Monterey Bay - Jim Hanson: Guitar Instructor Richard McLaughlin: - Guitar Instructor Dennis Piedrafita; - Guitar Instructor Tim Patchin: - Guitar Instructor Brian Gingerich: Monterey Mattress Todd Kruper: Monterey County Chapter Vice President Deirdre Bascou: Monterey County Chapter Treasurer - Steve Vagnini: Monterey County Chapter President
Introductions were made around the table. Everyone expressed their commitment to helping children through the gift of music. Trish Alococer talked about the needs of Rancho Cielo and she also expressed how she would be able to hook us up with other after school programs in need of what GNG does. Roberta Valdez of CSUMB talked briefly about the In Sevice Training Program at CSUMB and how she could/would ultimately be a source of instructors.
Frank said that he would be able to provide CSUMB with a copy of their General Liability Insurance Policy which should meet CSUMB's needs. Steve, Todd and Deirdre all expessed their commitment to raising funds and providing the organizational structure for the newly formed chapter.
Both Frank and Randall talked in length about how the Contra Costa Chapter first started off and stressed that we were off to a good start. They told us that GNG did more than teach kids how to play guitar - we teach children responsibility and we help them build self esteeem.
Randall talked about the structure of the class and he shared copies of the two insturctional manuals. Courses are basic and last 1 hr. The first 15 minutes of the class usually involves tuning guitars and getting settled in. Each program consists of 8 classes. A good format (and our group agreed) is to have 3-4 instructors with 10-12 children. Classes and lessons are pretty basic and designed to get the children interested in music. The last class is a party for the students and their parents and upon completion of the 8 week course the student is told that they get to keep the guitar. I will be glad to go into further detail with any prospective guitarists to further elaborate on details that Randall shared with us.
It was agreed by our frist 4 guitar instructors (Jim, Richard, Dennis and Tim) that we would start our first class on Tuesday March 2 from 2:30-3:30 at Rancho Cielo. *** Trish has subsequently told me that it would be better for the Silver Star Program to be held on Mondays. Does this still work for you Jim, Richard, Tim and Dennis? Trish also shared with me that their Tuesday and Thursday instructor will no longer be able to hold classes so I am going to try and enlist another 3-4 instructors right away to start an evening class.
Insturctors will need to get live scanned. It was first believed that the City of Sand would provide this service but Todd found out today that this is not the case. I will email the instructors tommorow with locations where you can have this done. There will be a fee which GNG will pay for.
Brian Gingerich of Monterey Mattress displayed some guitar samples and he told the group that he would be willing to donate guitars to the groups. We will have guitars availabe at the first class which will either begin on March 1 or March 2.
Again thank you for attending or expressing interest in this wonderful cause. Together we can and we will make a difference.
Sincerely, Steve
These are beginner lessons and you only need to know six chords. Our class size is normally 10 students with three teachers. One teacher at the front of the room and two teachers that move among the students to help those that need help.
