Robert M.

A native Oklahoman, Bob holds the Bachelor of Musical Arts (1990) and the Master of Music Theory (1992) from the University of Oklahoma. A professional guitar player since the age of sixteen, Bob continues to perform locally and regionally with Street Kings—a classic rock band. He has taught guitar at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma; at the Fine Arts Academy in Norman, Oklahoma; and at Becker Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1996, Bob’s guitar pilot program at Becker had over 150 students in its first year, and has since expanded to many other schools in the Clark County School District including the famed Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. He is the author/co-author of the CCSD class guitar curriculum, which includes teaching strategies and implements the National Standards for Music. In 2000, Bob conducted the first guitar ensemble ever to appear at a national meeting of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), held that year in Washington D.C. In 2001, he received the Sandra Babich Outstanding Teacher Award for his work at Becker Middle School. Becker also received the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Schools award that same year. In addition, he was recognized as a “Music Warrior” in Music Inc. Magazine’s summer 2000 NAMM issue for his outstanding contributions to guitar education. Bob is the author/co-author of Essential Elements for Guitar—A Comprehensive Guitar Method, Books 1 & 2 and Guitar for Kids Method and Songbook for the Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. These method books are designed for classroom guitar teaching and are written in the same format as Hal Leonard’s award winning band and orchestra methods. He has taught classroom guitar workshops all over the USA, Canada, and the UK since 1997 drawing from his experience as a classroom guitar teacher. In January of 2007, as Director of Music Education, he was the recipient of the first-ever Fender Musical Instruments Chairman’s Award. This award recognizes key individuals, within the company, for over and above excellence in illustrating Fender’s Vision, Mission, Goals and Values. Bob currently serves as a senior member of the Teaching Guitar Workshops Teaching Team, an effort sponsored jointly by members of the Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA), the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). The organization has marketed and promoted classroom guitar instruction to teachers and school districts in the USA and Canada since 1995. Bob now lives in Norman, Oklahoma where he teaches over fifty private guitar and bass students a week. He champions and promotes a multi-styled, multi-technique teaching approach—building a foundation that can serve as a springboard to any style of music students want to pursue.