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I’ve also found that many “beginner” books progress too fast, especially for students with no note-reading experience, or students who just need a little more time to settle in.
Two of my favorite books for brand-new students are the Step by Step Harp Primer by Balderston and Small Tunes for Young Harpists by Bonnie Goodrich. I love that Step by Step has big fat notes, and begins with just steps and skips around middle C. It builds confidence from the first lesson.
I introduce Small Tunes after student has mastered the first handful of pieces in Step by Step. Small Tunes is one of the only books I’ve found that gives plenty of material to work with within a very small note range and with a small toolbox of techniques (second finger alone, thirds, connected 1-2, 2-1, 1-2-3, etc). This allows for enough time to really get a foothold on note-reading, good hand position, and basic technique, without resorting to boring exercises or drills. It also helps that the pieces are fun and have cute names. It does eventually progress to more advanced stuff- larger range of notes, placing back, bigger chords, contrary motion in both hands, grace notes, muffles, octaves, etc, so you can get a lot of mileage out of it.
My only complaint about Small Tunes is that the notes are tiny!
