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  Principles
     General
     Teaching in a group

  I.  Holding Positions
     1. Sitting position
     2. Ancient Guitar Position
     3. Left Hand
        a) Placing the hand
       b) Mark and Press
     4. Right Hand
     5. The plectrum

  II.  Playing
       General
    1.Contents of playing
        a) Open string
        b) Open string and 1
        c) Open string + 1 + 2
    2. Music Creativity
       General
        a) Composing
        b) Improvisation
        c) Solo playing
       
  III. Music pieces
      
  IV. Two strings
       General
       The pieces

The New Music Educational Project - My Ancient Guitar

Mark and Press

The left hand is the hand that presses the string and thus shortens or lengthens it, changing the sound pitch - according to the fingers' position. The hand usually works as one unit. When playing we must use each finger separately without activating the whole array of hand muscles. This requires preparation and attention - so that the student does not use all his hand muscles each time he presses a string.
In order to relax the hand and use only the working finger an exercise has been developed exclusively for the fingers of the left hand. This exercise is called: "Mark and Press". While doing the exercise it is important to make sure that the left wrist (for left-handed students) remains relaxed and does not tighten with the movement of the fingers.

We will first perform the exercise with finger no. 1, and then proceed with all four.
The exercise must be performed slowly, each action lasting one half note [two bits] in order to allow the necessary duration of pressing.

On the left - Classical guitar - Mark and Press.. While we are doing the exercise we will observe the wrist and make sure it is relaxed and not stiff. Because of the significance of this exercise it is important to repeat it a few minutes at a time for a whole month, even after the students have begun playing.

1. Mark After positioning the left hand so that the fingers are rounded and perpendicular to the string we will mark, that is, we will touch the string lightly with the tip of the active finger and feel the string lightly touching the fingertip. This act is called Marking.			2. Press After marking we will continue and press the string with the marking finger.   The fingers should be rounded. While pressing we will not create opposing pressure with the thumb, but will rely on the mass of the hand as an opposing force to the pressure of the active finger.

The picture shows Mark and Press with the third finger

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