One of the first things you need to teach you students isn’t
about the dots on the page or where their fingers go. It’s how to look after their instrument.
I tell students that musical instruments are taonga,
treasures. And I start this from the
very youngest students – when we are playing on buckets! If you treat an instrument well, it will
treat you well.
The first lesson should include some time spent on basic
care of the instrument. Where to store
it, how to place it on a table when not playing (e.g. if they need to go to the
toilet in the middle of a practice session), how to transport it, basic
cleaning.
Emphasise that unless their parents are qualified instrument
repairers they are not allowed to touch it!
Siblings are not to touch it. Neither are friends.
Clean hands before playing.
If they’ve eaten something before playing a woodwind instrument, at the
very least rinse out their mouth, if not brush their teeth.
Woodwind players need to learn to not store their cleaning
cloth in the case. String players need
to learn about how to not touch the hair on the bow and how to tighten/loosen
it.
Obviously there are more specific things for each the care
of each instrument and you need to judge when to teach them. But it is vital that basic care is taught
from the beginning, and reinforced in each lesson after.
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