new teacher with new student-where to start!?

[Seoid OC]

Any help/advice/tips much appreciated!

[unknown-user]

I’m a music teacher and I’ve taken up the harp as a retirement gift to myself. My teacher, who is wonderful, started me on articulation of fingers and thumb the first time I met with her. I didn’t feel overwhelmed with using all fingers because the articulation task was my focus point.

She also had me work on the postion of my hands, arms, and fingers, and she pointed to individual strings as I articulated them. I didn’t have any printed music for the first couple weeks, so I was just responsible for position and articulation, I think it gave me a degree of early confidence to begin that way.

[patricia-jaeger]

Seoid, Those are good suggestions above.You don’t tell us the approximate age of your new student, but what you have done so far seems fine for any age. With more than 50 years of music teaching behind me, using first the easy folk songs, and then graduating a student into what seemed appropriate for each individual, but

[Fairy Reel]

The hardest finger for me was the 4th finger, so a) just introduce that slowly.

b) I quit taking from one teacher because she was holding me back. Don’t be to down on your relative–she was probably a little nervous.

c) does she have any other musical experience? Start teaching her how to read notes if not; that will break up the periods at the harp and might make you both more relaxed when you’re on more familiar ground.

d) When I show my cousins how to play something, I try to make them use at least their index finger and their thumb. They feel more like they’re ‘really’ playing.

All suggestions! Good luck! Have fun!

[Author]

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