I first got interested in folk music around 1952 or so, and took my first folk guitar lessons from Walt Robertson. Then, in 1955, I started taking classic guitar lessons. A couple of friends asked me to help them get started on the guitar, and within a couple of years, I was giving guitar lessons a couple of afternoons and evenings a week.

In 1959, I met Barry Olivier in Berkeley. I had heard that he was teaching ten week courses in folk guitar to groups of ten students per class. I was doubtful that this could really be done, but Barry invited me to sit in on a couple of classes, and I was downright amazed. At the end of the first evening, he sent his pupils home able to play two chords and sing two songs, one in 2/4 and the other in 3/4. In subsequent classes, he added chords, added songs, right hand techniques and such. Barry generously gave me some of his teaching materials, a whole course syllabus actually, and spent time explaining to me how he went about it.

When I returned to Seattle, I began teaching folk guitar classes (groups of ten or twelve) at the University of Washington student YM/YWCA. Shortly afterwards I was asked to teach the same classes at the downtown YWCA, and at the Kirkland Creative Arts League. Busy time. I taught classes three evenings a week, took private pupils in folk and beginning classic guitar during the days, and sang a regular gig on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, along with out-of-town concerts and such.

My class teaching improved considerably after I attended a workshop conducted by Bess Lomax Hawes at the 1964 Berkeley Folk Festival. She was teaching groups of up to 60 in Los Angeles and had been doing so for years.

It tickled me pink when some of my students started performing at coffeehouses and other places.

How can I help?

Don Firth