LonnaB
Well-known member
I was hoping we could share some of our experiences with our ukuleles and the little people in our lives.
I started out with the ukulele with the intention of learning so that I would be able to teach my two children how to play. Between scouting and martial arts, squeezing music lessons in seemed a little impractical.
Starting this summer, we finally had enough ukuleles for all three of us to play at once and we started our lessons. My nine year old has learned how to read tab and can form C, C7, F, E7, A and Am chords. She's recently been rocking out some simple blues riffs. My five year old can do the C and C7- he's especially good at that A string fourth fret- he still enjoys Elephant Town.
I homeschool my own two, but I am also pleased to be surrounded by younger children as well because I run a small home daycare. I'm dealing with mostly 2 and 3 year olds right now. I have learned a whole lot of Raffi and Lori Berkner tunes on my uke to entertain them in the afternoon. They love our singing and playing time and I get a kick out of playing the "official" version of these songs on the cd player sometimes. The kids' eyes always light up and they look at me, saying "Miss Lonna, Miss Lonna- you play this song!" It is a rewarding feeling to know that these little people are connecting with music through me and my ukulele.
I also had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago of volunteering my time to my daughter's girl scout troop. They were earning a scouting through the decades patch and the leader had asked if anyone would be able to teach the girls a song from the 60's. I volunteered and taught 25 girls the song Yellow Submarine. If you've never had a whole lot of kids singing along with you while you play, you've got to try it!
All of these experiences got me thinking about other opportunities ukulele players could find to bring music into the lives of children.
Has anyone else found an outlet to volunteer their ukulele skills? It would be great to have a thread full of ideas to inspire one another to bring our love for our instruments to children.
Thanks for reading!
I started out with the ukulele with the intention of learning so that I would be able to teach my two children how to play. Between scouting and martial arts, squeezing music lessons in seemed a little impractical.
Starting this summer, we finally had enough ukuleles for all three of us to play at once and we started our lessons. My nine year old has learned how to read tab and can form C, C7, F, E7, A and Am chords. She's recently been rocking out some simple blues riffs. My five year old can do the C and C7- he's especially good at that A string fourth fret- he still enjoys Elephant Town.
I homeschool my own two, but I am also pleased to be surrounded by younger children as well because I run a small home daycare. I'm dealing with mostly 2 and 3 year olds right now. I have learned a whole lot of Raffi and Lori Berkner tunes on my uke to entertain them in the afternoon. They love our singing and playing time and I get a kick out of playing the "official" version of these songs on the cd player sometimes. The kids' eyes always light up and they look at me, saying "Miss Lonna, Miss Lonna- you play this song!" It is a rewarding feeling to know that these little people are connecting with music through me and my ukulele.
I also had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago of volunteering my time to my daughter's girl scout troop. They were earning a scouting through the decades patch and the leader had asked if anyone would be able to teach the girls a song from the 60's. I volunteered and taught 25 girls the song Yellow Submarine. If you've never had a whole lot of kids singing along with you while you play, you've got to try it!
All of these experiences got me thinking about other opportunities ukulele players could find to bring music into the lives of children.
Has anyone else found an outlet to volunteer their ukulele skills? It would be great to have a thread full of ideas to inspire one another to bring our love for our instruments to children.
Thanks for reading!