Reply #8: That's the balance you have to achieve as a teacher, isn't it?

[Ron Green]

You have to let them see some progress, so they don't just give up, but at the same time you have to show them what a long hard road it is to master an instrument. It's sad, in a way, that "Red River Valley" is no longer in favor as a popular tune, because that's how you learn fundamental harmony. Kids who learn grunge or alt-rock progressions are learning retrograde changes that, while serving them for this narrow style of music, won't give them much of a harmonic foundation for later.