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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

How to teach the basic principles – in a group

During the building stage we have recommended arranging the sitting in a "U" shape so as to enable the teacher to reach every student. During the playing stage it is recommended to keep this sitting arrangement, however, without the tables. Every lesson we will gather all the instruments to one table and hand them out only after an orderly opening of the lesson.

Each lesson will be divided into three units:
I. The Opening:
1. An outline of what we will do during the lesson (about 30 seconds).
2. Adding a concept/subject/idea/new experience - that is, learning (about 7 minutes).

II. The body of the lesson:
Learning the central subject of the lesson (for example, learning how to play with the first finger). This stage will include:
3. Learning to play - the whole class will learn as a group (for example, the position of the first finger).
4. Teaching the learning contents (for example, teaching the position of the left hand - see the detailed learning chart at the bottom of this frame).

5. Working on the material studied in pairs or groups of three, using very basic musical patterns (for example, when we learn how to produce a sound using the first finger we will combine this with the sound of an open string, and try to play a musical phrase).

III. Lesson summary - in playing
6. The working groups play for the class.
7. The whole class/group plays a closing piece, prepared and presented by the teacher. This piece should be attractive to the students, for example, an accompaniment to a well-known song or even a certain musical element taken from a larger piece.

How to teach playing in a group It is essential that every student learn the fundamentals of playing very well. Without such a solid base we will find it difficult to continue to the stage of playing pieces. A student who is not able to develop basic playing skills will not be able to participate later on. The subject of teaching to play in a group/class setting should be taught in teacher training courses. The object of this booklet is to complete the knowledge gained in these courses.

The first goal is to teach the students to play with each of the four fingers of the left hand: 01, 02, 03, 04 and concurrently strum the given note according to the rhythm notation: a whole note, a half note, a quarter note, an 8^th.

It is recommended to follow and document the individual progress of each student in an evaluation sheet. This will include a mark for each learning stage, which will motivate the student. It is important to remember that learning should be an experience of success for every student, and therefore marks will range from 90 to 100, and in certain cases marking will be delayed until the student's achievements have improved.

Note: You can easily construct and design the evaluation sheet according to his own understanding and professional judgment. The four following stages will precede marking the student's achievements:
a. A detailed explanation of the stage, including a demonstration.
b. A round in which the teacher will move from student to student teaching the elements of that particular stage individually.
c. Giving students an opportunity to improve (asking students if any of them would like further instruction before they receive their marks).
d. A marking round in which the teacher will move from student to student and give him a mark (It is possible to ask one of the students to write down the marks.

The evaluation sheet may include the following subjects:

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