Guitar
Vernon Hills offers the following guitar class:
Guitar I is an introductory guitar class open to students of all grades. Students will be taught the basics of acoustic guitar, including notereading, chords, and scales. No prior experience is necessary. $25 course fee covers use of the schoolsupplied instrument and workbook. Students wishing to use their own acoustic guitar must have it preapproved by the instructor.
About the Instructor
Guitar instructor David Ness comes to Vernon Hills High School with a wealth of professional performance and teaching experience. Chicago Jazz Magazine said, “There is no denying his superlative skill on the guitar.” His two critically acclaimed recordings, “Sketches” and “Layers,” include collaborations with Chicago artists on original compositions written by Mr. Ness.
A music educator for 25 years, Mr. Ness has taught guitar and music theory at Carthage College, the College of Lake County, and the Music Institute of Chicago. His students have gone on to study guitar at colleges and universities across the United States. A sought after specialist in jazz pedagogy, Mr. Ness taught graduate courses in jazz pedagogy at Northwestern University. As director of the Carthage jazz ensemble, Mr. Ness created a guest artist program that hosted international artists and Chicago favorites such as Antonio Garcia, Nicole Mitchell and Victor Garcia.
For 2002–2014, Mr. Ness was a teaching artist with the Music Institute of Chicago’s acclaimed Arts Link program, providing professional development to teachers and students in Chicago Public Schools. Mr. Ness utilized his experience in classical and jazz music to present arts integration residencies to schools in underserved neighborhoods.
Mr. Ness studied classical and jazz guitar with Fareed Haque and classical guitar with Anne Waller and Mark Maxwell.
Degrees: Bachelors of Music (Guitar Performance) Northern Illinois University
Masters of Music (Jazz Pedagogy) Northwestern University
Mr. Ness’ website can be found at: www.daveness.net
Email: david.ness@d128.org