Students Team Up to Learn 100 New Songs

Mr. Doug and Dr. Klondike have challenged their students to collectively learn 100 new pieces by the end of the semester. If they succeed, the guitar students will be treated to an exclusive celebration party.

In order for a piece to qualify as one of the 100, students must evaluate their own playing based on a set of criteria they set for themselves. Criteria can include accuracy, and musicality, among others. Each criteria is rated on a 5 point scale by the student, and any piece that scores twenty or over is placed on the 100 Piece Challenge board.

“It is so great to see all of our students working together, and challenging themselves to accomplish a goal,” said Dr. Klondike.

As the students work to complete the challenge they learn accountability and self-evaluation skills. For Mr. Doug the best part about the project is the “conversation that the rating process creates.” He notes that students are able to “objectively assess” and “focus on specific ideas” related to their playing.

As of this writing students have learned a total of 71 new songs ranging from classical repertoire to today’s popular music.