Good old Skt. Bonifacius grade school. Every class had 6 rows of eight studen6s (n 48 per class). And at that time (1944-1952) every grade had two classes....except ninth grade... for those who could afford to further their "catholic" education.

Some of these nun/teachers were "novitiates" barely older than the students! How does one maintain discipline in this situation? Solution?.....

PAIN !!!

As an eight to ten year old, my father tried to teach me to play the zither. "Rudi! Practice on these two a strings! Man, liker cheese cutters going through my fingers. I did not last long...and neither did my daughter who quit because of pain when I tried to teach her zither when she was in her teens.

Have any of you teachers out there tried, or had luck, transposing the initial lessons of either Kabatek or Darr to the "D", or even G or C strings on the griff, to avoid losing the student because of pain?

As they say in Manitowoc, keep 'er movin"

Rudi, da oida

Servus Rudi!

Why not use nylon guitar strings in place of wire for the two As?

Tom M
der Aelterer

I use "Let's Start - The Concert Zither" by Ilse. She starts on the c string, which is much more doable. I also teach my kids simple disney songs to keep them interested. You can find Ise's book here:

https://www.zither.com.au/products/

Just ordered "Let's Start"; this sounds great. Several other interesting items on the site, I was almost like a kid in a candy store.

Americans enjoy a really favorable US/Aus exchange rate right now. Students and teachers, current and potential, should really take a good look at this site and beef up their libraries.

Happy New Year to all,

rudi

Thank you! I purchased all of her books and they really helped me build my fundamentals.