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Do you teach ukulele? I do too so I’m sharing a new ukulele song and some of my ukulele teaching tips and strategies to help you reach all students.
Keep reading to get the song teaching ideas-
Here’s the style I purchased for my students.
My Dad’s club bought me 32 ukulele’s!
KALA MK-SK MAKALA DOLPHIN SERIES SOPRANO
One of my ukulele teaching tips and strategies is to involve my students in composing their own song.
One way I do this is to have them experience how to compose a very simple song.
I find that this activity works really well when teaching ukulele.
Not only does this help my students learn to play the ukulele because it helps them make connections and they have a personal interest in the song they are learning to play.
Here’s how I did it:
I had just taken a trip to Hawaii, and the Ukulele is from Hawaii, so I asked the question;
“Who’s been to Hawaii?”
A couple of students raised their hands.
I asked; “Who like the beach?” most raised their hands.
Just to make sure everyone was included, I asked; “Who’s been in a pool, a river or a lake?” (Since I’m in Arizona, then most likely everyone has done one of those things.)
I then told a short story about how chickens are strutting around everywhere in parking lots by the hotels, MacDonalds and along the road.
This was very funny to me, so I grabbed the idea of chickens and Hawaii and made up this little song with the help of my students.
“If I had a chicken, then I would go over to Hawaii where it doesn’t snow.
Then my chicken could play all day.
And, all the people would stop and say;
‘ti-ti ti-ti ta
ti-ti ti-ti ta
ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti
ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta’.”
First, play the song on the steady beat.
Secondly, sing and play on the beat.
Third, implement a strumming pattern.
The reason I added in the ti and the ta was because we were actually learning some strumming patterns.
HERE’S THE STRUMMING PATTERN:
STRUMMING for “ti-ti ti-ti ta Z”
Down Up Down Up Down
Down Up Down Up Down
Have students practice without singing. Try dividing the class up and have some sing and some play.
Challenge students to sing and play together!
Help students discover the rhyming words.
As you can see, I used easy to rhyme words like “play” and “go”.
That way I could create a song quickly.
All those ideas jumbled together to come up with a pretty cute little song.
I then had the students call out their favorite animals and we changed the verses.
Next we tried out different animals.
Finally we came up with the verses included in this song.
Chicken- ti ti ti ti ta
Elephant- boomba boomba boom
Monkey- ee ee ee ee oooo
Get the teaching video, music tracks, presentation and lesson in the resource.
You can use this resource in GOOGLE APPS!
If you’re interested in purchasing this resource you can find it here:
Get the full ukulele teaching tip ideas from this blog post:
It’s true that teaching ukulele is very different from teaching singing or how to play a drum.
I’ve played string instruments and so adapting to the ukulele was pretty easy.
That’s why I’m sharing my ideas today. Keep reading to get the tips to help you work with your students.
Get the full teaching tip ideas from this blog post:
I’ve found that it’s very difficult for some students to learn to play stringed instruments.
Some of the reason’s students struggle are due to reading development, fine motor skill development and attention span.
Nevertheless, there are some different strategies you can try to help these students.
Remember, it’s okay to go slow and repeat teaching concepts using various strategies. Students thrive on repetition! This ukulele teaching tip and strategy applies to learning all music concepts.
Get the full teaching tip ideas from this blog post:
Most of all I want my students to have confidence to keep trying, keep learning and to make music together.
This teaching ukulele tip can be the most challenging one to implement because every class is different, and every child is different.
Get the full teaching tip ideas from this blog post:
Looking for more ideas on how to teach songwriting?
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My favorite ukulele resources is “I Like a Pineapple”. It comes with teaching presentation, video and music tracks. You’ll be able to leave this lesson for a substitute and use it in google apps.
Here’s another ukulele song you might want to use in your music classroom.
“I Like a Pineapple”
FREEBIE: “I Like a Pineapple” Ukulele Song with chords and Lyrics
Most of all I hope that these ukulele teaching tips and strategies help you with your music lessons.
Please share this post with your teacher friends.
Hi there! I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create. My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.
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