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Starting a Ukulele Program: First Steps

Last January, I started a Ukulele program at my school. Ukulele was a completely new instrument for me. I had to learn everything from scratch. This blog post is primarily for teachers who are looking for a place to start. 

INSTRUMENT BASICS

Parts of Ukulele

First, learn the proper names of the instrument parts: you'll need to teach it to your students, and refer to it in your lessons. The website www.gettuned.com has a helpful and detailed resource. I used it to familiarize myself with the instrument beyond the basics-I like to know much more than I'm teaching. My friend Jennifer Bailey has a great introductory resource with a diagram of the instrument that I find very helpful. 
Credit: Jennifer Bailey, Sing to Kids

Holding the Ukulele

Spend plenty of time learning how to properly hold the ukulele. Get used to walking around with it. Once you begin teaching, your comfort and ease with the instrument will greatly contribute to student success.

Right hand(strumming hand)
  • "Hug" the body of the ukulele with your right forearm. Hold it snug to your chest, with the head of the ukulele tilted up at about 45 degree angle. 
  • Rest the right thumb on the strings above the sound hole, closer to the fretboard. This is the best place to strum, as opposed to guitar. Wrap the rest of your fingers on the side of the body of the instrument as pictured below. 
    • This position sets you up for strumming with your thumb while having a solid grip on the instrument. Once you get comfortable holding the ukulele and strumming with your thumb, you can try strumming with your pointer finger.
Left hand (fretting hand)
  • Wrap your left hand around the neck of the instrument, right under the nut. Your knuckles should be facing away from you. Your fingers should be relaxed, curved, and parallel to the fret boards.
  • Relax your left wrist, arm, shoulder, and elbow. Keep the left elbow close to your side, but do not tuck it in completely. The goal is to avoid tension, and to set a healthy shape for playing chords later.
  • Your left wrist should be lined up with the left forearm.

Holding the Ukulele While Seated
I don't like to teach ukulele in a seated position: it seems to create more problems than benefits. I always start in a standing position, and hope to develop healthy habits from there. If you decide to start in a seated position, use the same techniques as when standing, and be aware of these common mistakes. 
  • Place the bottom of the body of ukulele on your right lap, close to you (students tend to keep the ukulele further away from them when seated because they don't need to use their body to hold the instrument).
  • Keep the ukulele facing out (students tend to place the instrument flat on their lap and look at the strings when seated, which creates tension in the left hand, wrist, and fingers).
  • Keep the ukulele upright, with the head of the instrument tilted up (students tend to point the head down, or hold it parallel to the floor).
Here's a video I made for my students. The first 56 seconds of it focuses on holding the instrument. 

Tuning the Ukulele

The tuning was an adjustment for me as I was used to playing guitar.
  • If you hold the ukulele with left hand on top, then the string closest to the floor is the 1st string; it is tuned to A above middle C.  
  • The 2nd string is tuned to E above middle C. 
  • The 3rd string is tuned to middle C. 
  • The last sting, closest to the ceiling, is the 4th string, and is tuned to G above middle C 
    Credit: Dancing Crayon Designs
New ukuleles lose their tune almost as soon as you are finished tuning it! It took me two weeks, tuning the instruments twice a day, before the strings began settling in. The bonus was, I became very good and very quick at tuning! Eventually, I only needed minor adjustments once or twice a week as long as the weather cooperated (drastic changes in temperature and humidity affect the tuning). Beware of students' attempts to tune the ukuleles when you are not looking. My solution to this problem was spending more time educating my classes about the tuning process. 

Demonstrate tuning for the students

My students are completely enthralled when I tune the ukulele in front of them. It has become part of our routine; my classes look forward to it. Students love to participate in the process, and get very excited when the tuner turns green. Before I begin, I loosen the strings on purpose. My class can see the tuner while I'm adjusting the strings. Their job is to tell me when it lights green. I narrate the process, explaining which string I am manipulating, and what note name they should be looking for. I think it helps students realize that tuning the ukulele is more complicated than simply turning the pegs, and in turn, they are less likely to play with the pegs.

More Tuning Resources

Youtube Tutorials

Tune with Cynthia

Tune with Mrs. Sigmund

Strumming

When researching tutorials on YouTube, I found two different strumming techniques: strumming with the thumb, and strumming with the pointer finger. I decided to start with the thumb because it gave my students extra support while holding the instrument.

I like Cynthia's idea of plucking each string first. It gives students a physical feel for where each string is. It also helps with strumming later. We begin slowly, then speed up,  eventually turning plucking into strumming. The goal is to strum through all four strings. Often, students will sound one or two strings instead of strumming through all four. We say, "strum all the way to the floor". 

One habit I noticed when watching Cynthia's demo and my own videos is collapsing the left wrist onto the neck of the ukulele. I also saw many of my students reverting to that. Keep that in mind, and remind your students to keep the wrist lined up with the arm as they hold the neck of the ukulele. It will help with chord changes later.

Here is an exercise in triple meter I use with my classes when we learn to pluck each string. Students pluck open strings (top staff), while I accompany on piano, guitar, or ukulele (chords and tabs). 

Handing Ukuleles Out

When I look back at the first time I tried this in class, I laugh. I handed all of the instruments out, and completely lost control of my classroom! My students really wanted to follow directions and do well, but their curiosity was too great to resist. As a result, I could not help them with executive skills. After a few tries, I developed the following sequence that worked well:

Holding the ukulele

First, I demonstrate and explain how to hold a ukulele for the class. Students practice without the instrument. Next, I invite individual volunteers to demonstrate holding the ukulele for the class (I choose students who show understanding in their body). After several individual demonstrations, we form a circle, and pass the ukulele around. The goal for students is to hold the ukulele properly. As each student holds the ukulele, I sing for the class, engage students in moving to beat functions, insert rhythm and tonal pattern echoes between song repetitions, all while helping individual students adjust to the instrument. (I usually sing songs that we will learn later in our ukulele unit). Once students have had a chance to practice holding the ukulele, I play a one-hand challenge: students can only hold the instrument with the right hand. This way, they learn to tuck it between the forearm and the chest.

Open String Exploration

Next, I demonstrate plucking each string as described in the strumming section above. I repeat the process, starting with individual students in front of the group, then passing the ukulele around the circle, allowing each student to practice. It doesn't take as much time as it may seem. I have 24-26 students in each class, and it only takes about 5 minutes to complete the rotation. I add singing, moving, chanting, and improvising to keep the pace moving, and to keep students engaged.

Ukulele Lab

Once we have practiced several skills in a controlled environment, we move on to a "ukulele lab": students practice their skills independently in small circles, passing one ukulele around.
I explain what each circle is responsible for (for example, holding, plucking, strumming), and encourage students to help one another. I say, "each person in the circle is responsible for the whole group. It is everyone's job to make sure their group is successful". I display the task list, and set specific amount of time per task (for example, 3 minutes for each task for a group of 3). I ask students to recall all of the basics, then split students in small "ukulele circles", and we begin our "ukulele lab". I circulate to help when needed, keep the time, and announce when to stop and begin a new task. Between tasks, I'll ask if there is something students discovered during their practice that they'd like to share with the class. "Ukulele lab" has worked really well, giving students time to observe one another, placing a sense of responsibility and ownership for student progress, and helping build a community of learners. And, of course, it allows me to help more students individually while keeping the entire group engaged and on task.


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