For the second year in a row, Austin guitar students took top prizes at the Eastfield College Guitar Competition. The Eastfield competition is the largest youth guitar competition in the Southwest. The Austin kids dominated the field.

Ryan Voldstad, 15, (below, left) who won the high-school division last year and was ineligible to compete in that division, competed in the Jr. College division and won 1st place. He performed Francisco Tarrega’s “Themes from ‘La Traviata’”. Ryan recently was given the “Outstanding Performer” award at the UIL solo and ensemble competition. That was the second time he received that award. Ryan is also a member of Austin Bella Corda guitar ensemble. The son of Peter and Ann Voldstad, Ryan attends Westwood high school. He began his studies in the Childbloom Guitar Program at age 8. His teacher is Slobodan Vujisic.

Eliot Wilde, 15, (below, center) came in 1st this year in the high-school division. He performed J.K. Mertz’s “Hungarian Fantasy”. Eliot is homeschooled. He came in 4th last year in this division and won the pre-high school division in 2006. Eliot is also a member of Austin Bella Corda.”The son of David and Linda Wilde of Georgetown, Tx., Eliot began playing guitar at age 6 in the Childbloom Guitar Program. His teacher is Kevin Taylor.

Mark Lindberg, 15, (below, right) garnered a 3rd prize in the highschool competition. He won 2nd place last year in the MidAmerica Guitar Competiton in St. Louis. He is also a ‘08/09 member of the Austin Bella Corda. Mark is the son of David and Jo Lindberg of Austin. Mark is homeschooled. He began playing guitar at age 6 in the Childbloom Guitar Program. His teacher is Slobodan Vujisic.

CHILDBLOOM GUITAR LESSONS - By Diane Wheeler (June 10, 2008)

Early last fall my 6 year old son and I were on a camping trip with some friends. There were a bunch of kids playing tag and one of the boys tripped over a huge tree root and went down, hard, on one knee. He was upset and crying, and his dad picked him up to sooth him. But, after a moment or two, this boy asked for - - - his guitar. He started to play softly, to himself and kept playing for a while until he had really calmed down. That was something I hadn't seen before, and perhaps equally unusual was that he was playing a beautiful classical piece I'd later learn was called "The Ladder", and he was playing it well. I knew this boy could have been some kind of virtuoso or young musical genius and that not every child could pull off Bach or Mozart at 6, but there was something else. There was a visible kind of relationship he had with the instrument, and the music, that made me really curious. I wanted to know where he studied and if I could get some of that for my boy!

Our friends' father filled me in. A little school up on 40th and Medical called The Childbloom Guitar Program. His son had been playing for just about 6 months. That's right. Months. Not years. At this age he had a half hour lesson and a few short practice sessions a week. No horror stories of a child who'd been forced to practice since he was two, or locked away for hours a day…I wanted to know more. What was this school? What was the method? And who created it?

Back in town I called, and talked to Mr. Kevin Taylor, the Founder of this school and, I would soon find out, the man behind the curtain. I had a lot of questions.

He thought a good way to find out a bit about the music was to hear it, and he invited us to come to a performance of his group called the Austin Bella Corda. The group is comprised of 8 Childbloom Guitar students between the ages of 11 and 16. They play a repertoire of music entirely composed for them by Mr. Taylor…Intriguing. We had nothing to lose and it seemed a good way to gauge my son's response to the music, and to the idea of playing music. And it was fantastic. It was one of the most compelling classical acoustic performances I had ever seen. I don't mean youth performances. I mean one of the best…period. And not only did I enjoy it, my 6 year old was completely rapt……He even refused to leave at the intermission though he was so tired he was nearly asleep in my lap.

I set up a first session for him to meet the teacher, and suss it out. As usual with new things it was a struggle to get out the door. "Mom, I don't want to go anymore. I don't want to play guitar. I don't like music anyway …" But we went, and when we got there Mr. Kevin took control. Speaking in a deepish voice, in a particular kind of way he had my boys' attention in about two seconds flat.

At that first lesson I was amazed at how much transpired. All of a sudden my son knew how to sit in a proper playing position with this clumsy instrument. He knew what strings and frets were. He played a few notes of a first song, moving his fingers around delicately at first but then with increased confidence. And he was hanging on every word his teacher said because his teacher was talking to him as if he could absolutely do it. No question.

A half hour after we walked in we walked out and all my boy kept saying was…."When can we do that again?" OK - so far so good. We've all been there with lessons and things and the thrill wears off, or the actual practicing loses its glamour, or they get distracted by the next thing….but no………That didn't happen here. At the end of the lesson Mr. Kevin and my son made a deal. It was between them and I could see Mr. Kevin took it seriously…. And in response so did my boy. We went home armed with a music and exercise CD from Childbloom and a sheet of paper with the frets and notes of a first song on it. My boys' instructions were to listen to tracks 31-35 and practice the first 4 notes for next week. 4 notes! So achievable I thought. And it seemed my son felt that too.

The first time he listened to the CD I was impressed again at how intent he was. There was Mr. Kevin's voice talking to him and telling him what the journey was going to be, and that sometimes it would be fun and sometimes hard, and that he could do it. And he did. And he kept on doing it, a little more each week. Building his knowledge, his confidence, and yes, his relationship with the instrument and the music, bit by bit. Always stopping just short of pushing him too hard.

This was some kind of wonderful going on….

Cut to less than 6 months later. My boy is at the part where he is now learning "The Ladder." Who'd of thought?….His guitar is always out, usually on the couch. It's not always easy, but he's gotten through the resistance that has come up. His weekly lessons with his teacher have successfully kept him plugged into his own progress and accomplishments and have kept demystifying the process so it remains attainable. And his agreements kept him accountable. At home he practices on his own without being asked most of the time. I sit with him when he practices and I play my own guitar. He has become my teacher. (He's a little bossier than Mr. Kevin, but he's young yet.)

At the lessons each week he always learns something new. Whether it's how to play something better….or practice things that will help his finger muscles, or warm him up, or use a new finger combination, or learn a new song…I feel like it is something he will do for years. Learning about music as inherently as he has been learning to read and write and draw.

In the last six months I've had half dozen occasions to recommend this program to friends, and each seem to be having the same positive experience we are having.

So I found myself with a need to know - why? People have been teaching music for hundreds of years but not always creating such a positive experience for the kids….So, Why? What was the unique factor here?

I spoke first to Dr. Robert Duke, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director of the Center for Music Learning at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, at The University of Texas at Austin. He was able to paint a very clear picture for me.

“Children connect positively to their own abilities when they have the actual experience that effort equals achievement. And achievement means progress (not necessarily winning). Kids recognize that progress, if achieved, feels good and nothing is more motivating than personal accomplishment regarding something that matters to the learner.”

Then I reached out to Dr. Harold D. Grotevant, Ph.D. in the Dept of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His son had studied at the Childbloom program with Kevin Taylor some 25 years ago. I was interested to get a perspective from a parent who could look at the experience through an experts eye as well. His son had started with the Suzuki method as very young boy. The method seemed to assume all children learned alike yet it didn’t work for them. They found Childbloom when his son was about 7 years old and kept at it for many years and it was a wonderful fit. He told me that what he saw as the magic ingredient was that Childbloom’s approach was to fit the instruction to the child. The teacher identifies the child’s strengths and interests, and builds on that.” He noted that “the curriculum certainly has goals….but the teachers listen to each kid and figure out how to get there.” Kevin Taylor’s personality played into it as well as far as he was concerned. “He is low key, he is a good listener and he does have high expectations…and he is not a push over…but he efforts to put the control in child's hand - in an understated way and he educates that approach to all his instructors. That builds the children's trust in their teachers. Even on a bad day…the kids learn that it is ok, that everyone has a bad day now and then, and you just keep moving forward. Dr. Grotevant also noted that “Parent’s are advised to participate, yet not to push; create the time for practice and to let the process be driven by the child's internal motivation.”

I asked Dr. Grotevant if thought the work/method paralleled any particular school of psychology? He said that "the Childbloom method is based in part on the developmental theories of Jean Piaget". Kevin Taylor had studied Piagets work in depth to hone his own interests and instincts as he created his program. Piaget outlines predictable ways in which children learn at different stages of development. Kevin's approach is developmentally sensitive. He knows that 5 year olds, 10 year olds, and 15 year olds not only have different physical capabilities to handle the guitar, but they also have different ways of thinking about what they are doing. He taps into their way of understanding. His approach also draws from the work of Montessori, who believed that children are inherently curious and motivated to explore the world. He also draws on behavioral theories which emphasize the importance of positive reinforcement -- make sure that kids know when they are doing something right; don't just give corrective feedback when they do something wrong.

So, the program is built on a unique blend of Kevin's interest and deep understanding of children; his intuitive, perceptive personality; and his knowledge and love of music. And hopefully there are other wonderful individual teachers out there who vex our children and teach them well, with love and real inspiration and I asked Dr. Duke if he thought that this combination …the part that was seemingly so dependent upon an individual teacher, in this case Mr. Taylor, could be taught? His response? “Absolutely. Especially when an individual is taught to understand the notion that creating a positive learning experience is a skill not just an attitude. And that teaching anything that is interactive (I.E. teaching where each person, young or old, comes with expectations, characteristics and personal histories.) means you are dealing with a lot of variables. Being able to identify the variables and tend to those is a skill. Five children in a room for a skilled teacher means teaching 5 private lessons at the same time. One size does not fit all. People who understand behavioral changes get that. I would say that the largest proportion of variance in learning has more to do with teacher than curriculum. The curriculum + the teacher = the student experience." He said that the learner also needs a teacher to create, at the beginning, the core experience of what they are learning to do. So, what was Kevin Taylor able to pass on to his instructors and how? I went back to the source to find out….. "Training other teachers in this method requires much more than the typical music education in technique and curriculum." All Childbloom teachers (and they now exist in 20 states nationwide) are trained in the child development models of Piaget-Bruner. Childbloom has created an Internet group for dissemination of this and ongoing developmental information. Mr. Taylor has created an extensive database which can track instructor/student ratios to see when teachers are thriving and when they are not. As an additional tool with those out in the field Mr. Taylor reviews periodic videos of instructors to view, and critique if need be, their techniques, and does master-classes with students in all other areas to assess their progress, technique and musicality and to give feedback and or redirection to them and to their instructors. He has created a dynamic system far beyond the experience of other group or one-on-one approaches.

Allyssa Santoyo studied at Childbloom from 8years old until she was14, in Boise, Idaho with a teacher named Kelli Larson. Her mother found Ms. Larson through an advertisement and had responded to it because it said the school specialized in children. Allyssa continued with music and eventually decided to do the master class / teacher training with Kevin Taylor and Kirk Hanser. Now, along with working toward her degree in music performance from Webster University of St. Louis, she is also a certified Childbloom instructor. She has also added child psychology into her degree work at university. She tells me that she, "Loves children, loves guitar, loves teaching and loves the Childbloom method." She said, "The experience works so well because it engages the children and, besides Suzuki really, no other methods prove to do so, so well. All Childbloom teachers are taught to engage the children. It is the core of the method. There is no homogenizing the kids...It is a toolbox approach. Each child is different."

In 1994 Slobodan Vujisic, a Serbian native and then professor at Josep Slevenski School in Belgrade, the state music conservatory for young guitarists, came to this country and sought Mr. Taylor out. He went through the training and has been a Childbloom teacher for the last 15 years. I asked him what the major differences were between his teaching experiences before and after and he told me, "There is no comparison. The training in child development, this was not something I had done. There is also a huge benefit to the group experience. Guitar, by nature, is a very solitary instrument…and this approach brings the children together. The ensemble experience is potent both for the social aspect…(It is, after all, fun to play together!) and also important for the young students to learn about rhythm….As well to have the intermittent release from attention, which means it is a less pressured environment. It is very joyful and age appropriate learning. The Childbloom approach is unique combination for very young players….and then the approach evolves as the children grow."

As I write this it all seems obvious and intuitive, yet…this isn’t the way so much music is taught. At least not on a large scale level. This is a true educational Gem and I wonder what Childbloom could do to transform young people’s relationship with music if it were to grow to an even greater national level. I hope that many more children will find their way to this school, and find their way along the strings with as much confidence AND joy.