What are the important things to share?

PTOEguy · Feb 28, 2017

I teach a ukulele club at my kids school and recently I've been doing a segment at the end of class where I share videos and talk about ukulele. So far I've done:

1. Jake Shimabukuro playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps in central park - talked about the current wave of ukulele popularity and pointed out how important the right hand technique was to what he was doing.

2. Banjo uke demo - I brought my banjo uke and played a video demoing Formby style and clawhammer.

What else is important/interesting for sharing with young uke players. Here's what I'm thinking - what have I missed?

- James Hill drumbeat technique
- Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - just for fun
- Baritone uke demo

Croaky Keith · Feb 28, 2017

I'd show them videos of Tamaine Gardiner, Grace VanderWaal, & Honoka & Azita as well.

sukie · Feb 28, 2017

How about videos of some fun techniques? There are lots of them out there...rolls, tremolo, chunking.

Uncle Rod Higuchi · Feb 28, 2017

for any who may be discouraged by seemingly slow progress, show them the YT TED Talk
by Josh Kaufman, but don't tell them the title (The first 20 Hours). [it's the punchline]

Josh explains how the 10,000 hour rule, once very popular - about becoming an
expert at something could lead people astray, since our personal experience teaches us
that we can learn things in much less time than that.

I share the talk with my beginner students in order to inspire and encourage them.

keep uke'in',

Rob Uker · Feb 28, 2017

I can't make a specific recommendation but when my son was young Green Day was the hot band of that era. So, by playing Green Day songs I was able to inspire him to want to play and helped him to relate better to the instrument.
Know what your students like and keep it current.

PTOEguy · Feb 28, 2017

I just wanted to say thanks to all that have answered so far - I can't wait to start doing my research on what I'm going to present next, and I'm looking forward to any additional suggestions that come in.

janeray1940 · Mar 1, 2017

John King, because there just might be a young person or two who enjoys classical music... maybe??

Nickie · Mar 1, 2017

Just for fun, the film The Mighty Uke....

jollyboy · Mar 1, 2017

I think the best advice so far has been to find things that are fun - sure, they might happen to be informative and inspirational too, but you really need the fun factor to grab a young audience's attention imho

Maybe a little Roy Smeck...

TCK · Mar 1, 2017

Hours of normal people having fun. People who are not virtuosos...the regular folks. Just playing.

What are the important things to share?

PTOEguy

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Croaky Keith

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sukie

Aloha

Uncle Rod Higuchi

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Rob Uker

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PTOEguy

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janeray1940

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Nickie

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jollyboy

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TCK

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