Individual Teachers
Teaching a young first-time student is a challenge:
- A child may be willing to try the dulcimer, but their parents hesitate to buy an instrument until they’re sure the child really wants to stick with it.
- Lessons cost money (and teachers have to eat too!), but it can be a tough expense for a young person.
We have a couple ways to help:
- We hope to get players to donate under-used instruments, either to a child or to a teacher to use as a starter instrument.
- We encourage you to explore ways to provide partial scholarships. For example, Erin Mae regularly funds student scholarships through Patreon.
Classroom Teachers
We know some of your challenges, but want to hear from you:
- A teacher might be willing to teach dulcimer, but doesn’t play the instrument themselves.
- It’s expensive to set up a classroom with an instrument per student: pushing a thousand dollars even using cardboard dulcimers.
- Teachers often have to follow a curriculum that demonstrates the approach covers state requirements.
We can encourage others to support you, but need to hear from you! What do you need? What creative ways have you found to meet those needs?