The Incredible Four-String Band - Teach Your Primary Kids The Ukulele
Throughout history, the humble uke may have been perceived as a mere comedy or novelty instrument, but this in itself is partly responsible for its success in schools. Comedy and novelty don’t take themselves too seriously; comedy and novelty are prepared to make mistakes. I started with zero experience. I’m a pianist and can read […]
- by Sam Dixon
Throughout history, the humble uke may have been perceived as a mere comedy or novelty instrument, but this in itself is partly responsible for its success in schools. Comedy and novelty don’t take themselves too seriously; comedy and novelty are prepared to make mistakes. I started with zero experience. I’m a pianist and can read music, but had no familiarity with stringed instruments before teaching myself, along with the kids. What’s essential is being able to tune the darn thing, as they are forever going out of tune. I use a school piano or recorder to sound the notes of the four strings (G, C, E, A), but if these instruments are not to hand I either ask the gifted child with perfect pitch or use the internet (just search for ‘online ukulele tuner’). A good sense of rhythm is needed to demonstrate different strumming patterns. I start with a steady four-beat down-strum, then add an up-strum to create quaver patterns (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and = Down Up Down Up Down Up Down Up). We practice playing them ‘straight’, then with a ‘swing’.
This is a chord…now form a band
Starting with chords rather than individual notes also means that kids get the instant gratification of being able to play along to popular tunes really quickly. I began by teaching them the three chords of C, F and G7 over the first term, which opens up a heap of popular songs (‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘When the Saints go Marching In’, ‘Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)’). It usually takes another term – of weekly half-hour lessons – to consolidate moving between chords and memorising the song structures. After that, you can move on to finger picking the individual notes of the C major scale. Up to this point the children have been learning by ear, but introducing written notation with simple melody lines is great for teaching how to read music in the treble clef. Once the kids can locate C (open string), D, E (open string) F and G, they can play ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Frère Jacque’, ‘Ode to Joy’ and ‘Hot Cross Buns’. You can then put your first concert – just hope no one requests ‘Free Bird’…
How to start your ukulele band
1 Source your instruments I recommend the Mahalo Soprano ukulele, which I purchased online.
2 Spend some time working out how to tune them (And how to tune them quickly in class)
3 Lesson 1 – Introduce the ukulele, naming each part Ask the children to make a labelled drawing, including the letter names of the strings. Draw around their hands and label how the fingers are numbered. Watch an online video of someone cool, such as Jake Shimabukuro playing ‘Thriller’
4 Lesson 2 – How to hold the ukulele Spend some time plucking individual open strings (not pressing any frets) whilst naming them and play some copying games. Learn a basic strum pattern – check out Ukulele Mike’s demonstration on YouTube
5 Lesson 3 – What is a chord? Explain that groups of notes played at the same time make a chord, and that the pitch of each string can be changed by shortening it. Demonstrate how the A string sounds higher by pressing the third finger of the left hand on the A string at the third fret; it now sounds the pitch of ‘C’. If you strum down across all the strings, you now have all the notes needed for the C major chord.
Sam Dixon’s songs and free music teaching resources can be downloaded at www.songchest.com
Forget Glee club, leave out the barbershop quartet and walk quickly past that flugelhorn shop – here’s Sam Dixon to explain why uke’n do it…
If you need any more convincing that ukuleles are hot right now, check out Tamaine Gardner playing her Mission Impossible / James Bond / Tico Tico medley. I started teaching the ukulele in school around five years ago when they weren’t really ‘on the scene’. I can’t remember what gave me the idea – maybe that my ears were bleeding after yet another Y3 recorder session… It’s easy to see why the ukulele has since become so popular. Not only can you hold them at a 45° angle and pretend you’re Jimi Hendrix, but they’re cheap, have just four strings, come in bright colours and (if you start with chords) you can get playing very quickly. They are already child-sized, and they won’t make your ears bleed.
Comedy and novelty
Throughout history, the humble uke may have been perceived as a mere comedy or novelty instrument, but this in itself is partly responsible for its success in schools. Comedy and novelty don’t take themselves too seriously; comedy and novelty are prepared to make mistakes. I started with zero experience. I’m a pianist and can read music, but had no familiarity with stringed instruments before teaching myself, along with the kids. What’s essential is being able to tune the darn thing, as they are forever going out of tune. I use a school piano or recorder to sound the notes of the four strings (G, C, E, A), but if these instruments are not to hand I either ask the gifted child with perfect pitch or use the internet (just search for ‘online ukulele tuner’). A good sense of rhythm is needed to demonstrate different strumming patterns. I start with a steady four-beat down-strum, then add an up-strum to create quaver patterns (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and = Down Up Down Up Down Up Down Up). We practice playing them ‘straight’, then with a ‘swing’.
This is a chord…now form a band
Starting with chords rather than individual notes also means that kids get the instant gratification of being able to play along to popular tunes really quickly. I began by teaching them the three chords of C, F and G7 over the first term, which opens up a heap of popular songs (‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘When the Saints go Marching In’, ‘Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)’). It usually takes another term – of weekly half-hour lessons – to consolidate moving between chords and memorising the song structures. After that, you can move on to finger picking the individual notes of the C major scale. Up to this point the children have been learning by ear, but introducing written notation with simple melody lines is great for teaching how to read music in the treble clef. Once the kids can locate C (open string), D, E (open string) F and G, they can play ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Frère Jacque’, ‘Ode to Joy’ and ‘Hot Cross Buns’. You can then put your first concert – just hope no one requests ‘Free Bird’…
How to start your ukulele band
1 Source your instruments I recommend the Mahalo Soprano ukulele, which I purchased online.
2 Spend some time working out how to tune them (And how to tune them quickly in class)
3 Lesson 1 – Introduce the ukulele, naming each part Ask the children to make a labelled drawing, including the letter names of the strings. Draw around their hands and label how the fingers are numbered. Watch an online video of someone cool, such as Jake Shimabukuro playing ‘Thriller’
4 Lesson 2 – How to hold the ukulele Spend some time plucking individual open strings (not pressing any frets) whilst naming them and play some copying games. Learn a basic strum pattern – check out Ukulele Mike’s demonstration on YouTube
5 Lesson 3 – What is a chord? Explain that groups of notes played at the same time make a chord, and that the pitch of each string can be changed by shortening it. Demonstrate how the A string sounds higher by pressing the third finger of the left hand on the A string at the third fret; it now sounds the pitch of ‘C’. If you strum down across all the strings, you now have all the notes needed for the C major chord.
Sam Dixon’s songs and free music teaching resources can be downloaded at www.songchest.com
