Uke recommendations for a High School Club

Honu

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 11, 2009
Messages
213
Reaction score
3
Location
Panorama City, CA
Hi guys,

I wanted to get some suggestions on what Ukulele to get for my club. I am moderating a new Uke club at my school. I've gotten a good response from the students, so much so that even with me bringing in mu 5 Ukes I still have students who don't have a Uke to use. I'm planning on doing a fundraiser to raise some money for school ukes.

I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions for less expensive but decent Ukes that will survive the use of multiple teenagers. Are there companies that do wholesale ukes?:)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
from what I read, I'd say Makala Dolphin bridge sopranos.
 
Takamine Ukuleles "Four Strings for Kids"

I don't know if these are ready yet, but looks interesting. Don't know the price yet.
http://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/?t=news_details&nid=419

The Makala Dolphins are very nice/ and a good value too. And, you can get them pretty easily right now, in your choice of colors.

–Lori
 
Ohhh... those Ukes that Jake helped make look pretty exciting. Thank you for the link. I will be emailing to find out about the program. :D
 
from what I read, I'd say Makala Dolphin bridge sopranos.

Hey Honu,
Look up "musicguymic" on ebay. He is a dealer from Hawaii and is a top rated seller. He has everything you need for ukulele. Email him and see what kind of price he can give you on quantity. Good luck with your club. Aloha, Dino
 
I run a ukulele club at an English secondary school. Most students have Mahalo or Lazy ukuleles. They're both pretty bad, and cost about £20. I bought in some Brunswick sopranos for the school at £38 each, and they are FAR superior. Pretty good tuners, COME WITH Aquila strings. They have punch and tone and stay in tune for a whole session. Some of my poor students have ukuleles which don't stay in tune for one breath...

Good luck!

If there's any advice I can give you as someone with about 2 months more experience, please PM me.

One small thing I can advise. My ukulele club went from 10 to over 20 in two weeks (20 more players and I surpass the rugby club as the biggest club at school ;) ). Which meant a sudden influx of lots of inexperienced players. So, I added a second club for my more advanced players on a different day. Now, they learn techniques that they can pass on to the beginners in the main session. That has saved much time and effort, in spite of eating up another afternoon of my life. As if I'd rather do anything else.......
 
Honu, I started a uke club last year at my school. It is open to third through fifth graders and I am proud to say that I have 40 participants. Most of these kids have makala dolphins. I can not say enough about the quality of the makala dolphins. I got the best price from ukerepublic.com he is local and I ended up saving a good bit by going through him. Everyone else I contacted (mgm and mele) were giving me good deals as well but being local I was able to pick up ukes and save shipping. I contacted some other uke manufactors and I was able to get a better price through ukerepublic and mgm. I also know that ukerepublic now offers a school set up. It comes with a curriculum and everything you need. There are now 6 schools in this area using ukes. I still have the most and the oldest but the ukulele is taking over georgia.
 
I was able to get a Makala Dolphin Bridge uke for my sister-in-law last summer for a really good price at Island Legends in Torrance. You might try giving them a call and see what kind of deal he could do for you. He is local enough for you (about an hour drive perhaps), and you would save on shipping. Island Bazaar is a bit further away, in Huntington Beach, but I belive they carry Dolphins too.

Also, Kala / Makala is based in California. Try going to the Kala website, and sending Mike Upton an email.

–Lori
PS- Check out this site for teaching tip for the uke!
http://www.ukuleleyes.com/issues/vol8/no2/index.htm
 
Last edited:
I was thinking about making a club too!

I was pondering about using LU-21 though, or maybe that is too expensive. Either way, maybe you can find a way to receive a discount by purchasing in bulk?
 
One small thing I can advise. My ukulele club went from 10 to over 20 in two weeks (20 more players and I surpass the rugby club as the biggest club at school ;) ). Which meant a sudden influx of lots of inexperienced players. So, I added a second club for my more advanced players on a different day. Now, they learn techniques that they can pass on to the beginners in the main session. That has saved much time and effort, in spite of eating up another afternoon of my life. As if I'd rather do anything else.......

Good advice, I may have to do something like that. My group jumped from 6 to 12, to 16 during today's meeting. I have a handful of kids who are advanced who might need more difficult things to do.

To be honest with you I was not expecting ending up teaching how to play the Uke. I thought it would be more of a sit together and play deal, but such is life. :D
 
Also, Kala / Makala is based in California. Try going to the Kala website, and sending Mike Upton an email.

–Lori
[/url]


Thanks for the info Lori, I just sent Kala customer service an email. The name Mike Upton is familiar... is he a UU member? Would you happen to know his email address?
 
Good advice, I may have to do something like that. My group jumped from 6 to 12, to 16 during today's meeting. I have a handful of kids who are advanced who might need more difficult things to do.

To be honest with you I was not expecting ending up teaching how to play the Uke. I thought it would be more of a sit together and play deal, but such is life. :D

You don't have to teach. Just teach a few chords and it is up to them to practise. That is my philosophy this year and I have had more success with the kids this year than last year.
 
How strange, it looks like I'm starting up a uke club at my high school, too.

I've been playing my uke in between classes to advertise a school event and it has started the fever.

PM me and let me know how it goes, so I can have some ideas of what the heck I'm doing :D
 
You don't have to teach. Just teach a few chords and it is up to them to practise. That is my philosophy this year and I have had more success with the kids this year than last year.

How does your meetings work? Do you just show chords and then that's it?
 
How does your meetings work? Do you just show chords and then that's it?

Remember I am working with 8-10 year olds. last year I actually tried to teach but with so many kids (22 last year) it became too difficult and most did not practise. This year I bought a Robert Shaw Uke for Kids DVD from Mele and I gave kids a chord sheet and i "found" a bunch of copies of the instructional book from the DVD. We do a lesson a week and there are 12 lessons. The kids practise each night and we play each song that we learn. I allow them to pair up and play together and I have a few that are working on more advanced songs. I am seeing more progress this year and i have 35 students. I just don't have the time to give them the attention that they need. We spend about 10 minutes just playing chords that we have learned (G, G7, Am, F, C, C7, and D) We will begin practising for our concert in May starting in January. I am trying to get a video of them up on YouTube but i am awaiting approval from parents. There are a lot of legality issues with the county. The kids love it and they have learned so much more this year than last year in only a fourth of the time.
 
How does your meetings work? Do you just show chords and then that's it?

If you like I can try to film a lesson and send it to you so you can see what I do. I still have some kids that play upside down or they just simply smile and play Am7 constantly.
 
Thanks for the info Lori, I just sent Kala customer service an email. The name Mike Upton is familiar... is he a UU member? Would you happen to know his email address?
Honu

PM sent.

I originally contacted him through the Kala web site.

–Lori
 
Top Bottom