Buying 30 ukuleles for junior high general music classroom

Recstar, have you decided which brand of tuner you're planning to get?

Because while most people really like them and they're cute, Snarks are rather delicate and it's easy to break one off twisting the neck to a good viewing angle. (Been there, done that.)

reverb.com sells a nifty little tuner dirt cheap ($4 shipped). They seem to be every bit as accurate as Snarks, but less likely to break. Catch is, it's a loss leader, limit one.

But it wouldn't hurt to contact them and see if they'd be willing to make an exception and cut a deal for your school. Oh, and they're located in Chicago, too, so maybe they'd be more willing to help you since you're local.

https://reverb.com/item/204704-reverb-clip-on-tuner-limit-1

itsme said:

Recstar, have you decided which brand of tuner you're planning to get?

Because while most people really like them and they're cute, Snarks are rather delicate and it's easy to break one off twisting the neck to a good viewing angle. (Been there, done that.)

reverb.com sells a nifty little tuner dirt cheap ($4 shipped). They seem to be every bit as accurate as Snarks, but less likely to break. Catch is, it's a loss leader, limit one.

But it wouldn't hurt to contact them and see if they'd be willing to make an exception and cut a deal for your school. Oh, and they're located in Chicago, too, so maybe they'd be more willing to help you since you're local.

https://reverb.com/item/204704-reverb-clip-on-tuner-limit-1

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Mike from uke republic was gracious enough to offer us a nice bulk discount on some kala clip on tuners - apparently the mikes (mainland and uke republic) are some classy fellows!

The reverbs are limited to one per customer - I'll definitely refer my kids to them if they want their own.

Great to see this all coming together for you and your all of the kids at your school. The school year should be a blast for all of you!

THEY ARE IN! Thank you Mainland/Mike, they are BEAUTIFUL. The kids have been very excited, but they are going to absolutely flip when they see them in their hands.

I am going to let the strings stretch out a bit through next week - I have some student helpers that will be coming during lunch periods and just strum them repeatedly.

Of the 30 ukes sent, 18 are gloss, 12 are matte - would you say the kids should be using the gloss ones over the matte ones, as it appears gloss may be a little more impervious to scratches? My class sizes range from 16-26, so should most of the ukes being used be the gloss ones?

Let the kids pick the ones they like. I'm sure some would prefer gloss over matte and vice versa. Just like us -- everyone has a preference. It doesn't matter whether you use gloss or matte.

Good call sukie! It's actually closer to 16 gloss 14 matte so it works out well, we can do every other

Recstar24 said:

- would you say the kids should be using the gloss ones over the matte ones, as it appears gloss may be a little more impervious to scratches?

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It doesn't really matter. As sukie said, let the kids decide. Or just pass them out randomly.

If anything, I'd say gloss is more prone to fingerprints, so you might want to teach them to wipe down an instrument when they're done playing. Wiping down the strings will also keep them "fresher". But then, I'm like that.

Maybe look into getting some microfiber or flannel type cloths to have on hand.

I think it is so cool that you have this opportunity in your class! My daughter joined a uke club at her school. It has sparked an interest within our household. Everyone in my house now plays the ukulele. You just never know how much your uke program can impact these kids! I look forward to hearing more about it!

Definitely let them pick their own if you can. It's amazing how quickly a student can get really friendly with a favourite instrument. I've had them offer to buy them just so they could get to keep their own favourite Uke. It's almost like the Uke picks the player. Lol

sukie said:

Let the kids pick the ones they like. I'm sure some would prefer gloss over matte and vice versa. Just like us -- everyone has a preference. It doesn't matter whether you use gloss or matte.

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Let the kids' ears pick the right uke for themselves. It might take a little time but I bet it will be worth it.

We started the ukulele today! Things went pretty smoothly. Our tuners landed later this afternoon, so I ended up tuning every one by hand at the piano, I was impressed I only took maybe 5 minutes max! Next week with the tuners should be a fun activity!

If anyone has any resources with pictures on "how to tune" that would be great! I can obviously teach them myself no problem, but sometimes it helps to have a visual.

The room was setup based on James Hill's recommended method - 2 to a stand with clear aisles in between. I took the time to pair up kids based on behavior and musical ability. We started with some open string echo plucking, then went into some music of just open strings from UITC. Went extremely well!

Unfortunately, one kid was pretty nonchalant about his uke and ended up dropping it on the floor it was clear it was due to negligence and I've already emailed mom. I had him put it away, and we discussed it at the end of class. Here's hoping he figures out how valuable it is to replace them - kids had to get a parent signed permission slip in order to play!

Fun times! Looking forward to teaching the kids how to tune themselves, then going further into UITC. I will make sure to slip in some fun tunes as well, once we get to the 3 basic chords of C F and G.

Hey Recstar,

Congratulations on your funding for your classroom set! I acquired mine last year and my students and school support and love the ukulele as much as I do now!!!

To give you a few tips based on what you requested:
1. I would suggest getting various sizes. Soprano ukuleles are going to work for 85% of students, depending on age of course. I teach elementary music, ukulele to grades 3-5. I have 25 sopranos, 3 concerts, and 2 tenors. This is a great balance for my classroom, as most students find the soprano a good fit, then I have the larger sizes for those who need them.

2. It def is a cheaper alternative, however it was important to me to purchase ukuleles that could feasibly be purchased by my students and their parents. I teach in a Title 1 school, with families not having extra money to spend very often. I recommend the Makala Dolphin (or Shark) ukulele for a quality beginner ukulele. Since your budget is $100 per uke, you could afford cases and electronic tuners for each if you wanted.

3. Austin Bazaar is a great vendor, whom I have used. Unfortunately, they are not wide spread. Look into some local dealers where you live, personal relationships with music stores with spawn great service.

4. I use my own curriculum I have been gathering from various sources. The thing you need to decide first is what your focus is going to be- chord structure, finger picking, etc. There are various styles of playing and you can teach both or one, but that is a decision you need to make when looking into curriculums.

5. Storage- you mentioned above getting wall hooks for the ukuleles, something you should consider is a cart to hold them all. A cart with wheels is moveable, portable, and convenient. Here is a link to plans for the cart I built. It holds 30 ukuleles, including both concert and tenor. https://payhip.com/b/mhkO

I am definitely not the end-all knowledge on ukulele in the classroom, but if you need anything, I would be more than happy to talk about any questions you may have.

Good luck with everything!

Thanks blinduh! Excellent comments, and I will definitely reach out to you as needed!

I teach 7 and 8th grade and concert has proven to be the perfect size. We went with mainland for ukuleles who have been very generous. I have received many requests from students and parents to purchase their own and I've referred them to mike at uke republic and both mike at mainland for those families who can afford a quality instrument. While we have a lot of music shops in our area, unfortunately their line and knowledge of ukulele is very limited.

We are using ukulele in the classroom as our primary material which is mostly finger plucking and melody reading but I will definitely be including strumming and chords mixed in.

For storage, we are looking at plastic containers as well as trying to find a builder to make a cart with the same plans you linked to, I downloaded those a while back. Worse case scenario maybe I just make it myself!

Recstar24 said:

If anyone has any resources with pictures on "how to tune" that would be great! I can obviously teach them myself no problem, but sometimes it helps to have a visual.

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On page 2:

http://ukuleletonya.com/files/beginner_lesson_pkg.pdf

Recstar24 said:

Hello!

I am very fortunate to be at a school that has agreed to purchase a set of 30 ukuleles for the classroom. Budget is $100 per uke, $3000 total plus accessories, wall mounts, curricular materials, etc.

This is a big investment and I'm very excited to start my kids on this journey, and could use your input and advice!

1) the past few weeks I've played with a few different sizes, and have settled on the concert size - the soprano might be too small for bigger hands, and the tenor too large.

2) I've played with the lanikai tunauke, and am expecting a chance to play a kala ka-c and cordoba 15cm sometime next week or so. I also contacted empire music and they are sending me their classic cl500 which is $50 but I thought it prudent to consider it as a cheaper alternative. Anything else I might want to look at?

3) vendor - I would love to work with a vendor that not only has the inventory to supply me a whole class set, but willing to setup each one for the kids, and have a good customer service rep with repair/service and warranty to help me handle the inevitable issues that will happen with hundreds of kids using these instruments.

4) curricular materials - I really like the ukulele in the classroom series by James hill as it promotes music literacy and music reading, and it fits very nicely into our national music standards. Bruce emery, the skeptical guitarist series has a ukulele from scratch book that I have loved playing and I think would be very accessible to the kids. Jumpin Jim's book of tunes and tips has also been fun and can see the kids enjoying stuff from there. If you have anything else to throw out there in terms of song books, method books, please let me know!

Thanks for taking the time to read my 1st post, and any input you can provide will be greatly appreciated by me and the hundreds of students that this ukulele program will be serving!

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When I was teaching in GA I started a uke club for three years in elementary school. Total ukes bought was over 100. I went with Ukerepublic. www.ukerepublic.com He was local and I was able to pick up the ukes from him or he dropped them off for me. It was great. Contact him.

Another great place for help would be Mainland Ukes. Seriously. I bought lots of starter ukes from Mike (as well as just shipping) and still use the geckos I got from him up here.

Yup our ukes are from mainland. Kids have been great! Very careful and its clear they know it is a quality instrument.

Were the geckos a plastic model from mainland?

Recstar24 said:

Yup our ukes are from mainland. Kids have been great! Very careful and its clear they know it is a quality instrument.

Were the geckos a plastic model from mainland?

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Yes they are. I just realized there are 8 pages on this thread. I came to the party late

LOL

It's OK this thread has been a pleasant surprise, and super helpful in me starting up our uke program.

Recstar24 said:

It's OK this thread has been a pleasant surprise, and super helpful in me starting up our uke program.

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My first thread here was similar to this. I had guys offering to donate. I had guys accusing me of being a scam. Lol. Ukerepublic and Mainland Mike were so generous in helping me both down south and up here.