How do you teach Ukulele during a pandemic?! Let’s talk about that!
I love teaching Ukulele! It’s one of my favorite things to teach my upper elementary students, but I was struggling with how I could teach it meaningfully and safely. I definitely credit the initial inspiration for the idea of doing a Ukulele Mini Unit to Gina over at @musicpluscoffee, which worked perfectly to allow my students to still get a positive experience playing a new instrument.
As I approached teaching Ukulele this school year, I knew I needed to consider the health and safety of my students, with also the understanding that I could not sanitize my ukuleles too aggressively, being that they are wooden (as opposed to plastic). Ultimately, I decided to do 3 lessons per class at different times throughout the school year, with each student in that class being assigned a specific uke and allowing for a quarantine period after with a light sanitizing by me.
My next task – how can I jam pack these 3 lessons so that the kids get the most that they can get with the ukulele? Here’s what I came up with!
Lesson One: Introduction and First Chord
- Getting your Ukulele Procedure
- My classroom setup has the Ukes in magazine holders, which has worked very effectively for storage!
- How to Hold the Instrument
- I mirror the students when teaching how to hold them
- Steps for how to teaching how to hold
- Take your Left hand, hold the instrument, tilt the instrument and bring it to your belly
- Next, activate your “Seat Belt” (bring your right arm/hand around the instrument)
- Rest (for now) your first finger on your left hand on the Nut at the top of the neck
- Pro tip: Utilize your Document Camera tilted up to project yourself bigger on the screen and allow for up close showing of chord shapes, etc.!
- Open Strings (Aardvarks Eat Cool Grass)
- Inspiration for the First Lessons came from Aileen Miracle on TpT!
- Talk about strumming/plucking with your thumb and emphasize barely touching the strings and echo various rhythmic patterns on each string
- C Chord
- Teach the students the numbers for their fingers (1 – Pointer, 2 – Middle, 3 – Ring, 4 – Pinky)
- I use the terminology clamp or pinch to prepare by asking students to touch their first finger to their thumb, then second, then third
- Then, again using Aileen’s slides to teach a bit about fret spaces, we clamp the 3rd finger in the 3rd fret of the 1st string (A string)
- Pro tip: Help the students find the A string by telling them it’s the furthest from their chin! Or the one closest to their lap!
- Row, Row, Row your Boat is a great one-chord song that we’ll play if we have time!
- Practice, practice, practice!
Lesson Two: Emphasis on Melody / Tab
- Fret Space Review
- Practice warming up by plucking individual strings and their C chord that we learned during the previous class!
- Big reminders on technique! It’s always necessary to emphasize that their thumb on their left hand is on the back of the instrument!
- Playing Melody/Tab
- I love to mix the concepts of being able to play chords and melodies/tab!
- Song Practice: Hot Cross Buns
- I have the students use their ear to figure out how to play Hot Cross Buns on the ukulele!
- To get them started, I tell them to use the A string only and have them find the 4th fret to play the first note, followed by the 2nd fret and then open A string (4-2-0).
- I then let my students figure out the rest of the song! My students were SO proud of themselves when they figured out the entire song and it took up pretty much the entire 30-minute class for them to do so!
- They even started to figure out other songs on their own! Super fun!
Lesson Three: Put it all together!
- A minor Chord
- Lead the students to use their 2nd finger on the 4th string (G; “Closest to your chin!”) on the 2nd fret
- Emphasize the rounding of the fingers and hand by connecting to a “rainbow”, which is what it should look like if you are rounding your hand/fingers
- Chord Change Practice
- Practice changing between C and A minor by utilizing this video from Bernadette Teaches Music
- Song Practice: Best Day of My Life (C, F, and A minor)
- I’m a huge fan of incorporating pop music into my lessons, as I find that it really helps with students’ buy-in! I told my students that, while this song also uses F, that they will just be in charge of C and A minor!
- Before we play it, we practice the chord changes by standing up and stomping when the chord should change
- Next, we utilize my Chord chart and lyric sheet, which you can find here to lead the students through each section of the song
- I do find it meaningful to have the students be able to play the songs without using a play-along video first and, once they can successfully play it without, then the “cherry on top” is playing with a play-along video!
- Here are a few awesome Play-Along Ukulele Channels:
I found that this Ukulele Mini-Unit gave my students an engaging and satisfying introduction to the ukulele to help inspire them for the future! Let me know if you found this helpful for your planning or if you have any ideas for introductory ukulele lessons!
