Teaching uke to kids. HELP!!!

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I was at the local arts council today running by the idea of teaching introductory uke to kids. Do any of you have any experience doing this? Any suggestions? Any recommendations of simple, well known songs would really help too. I may even do an adult class for those who always wanted to try to learn an instrument. The council is for the idea and I told them I would like to do it in march. I am thinking of 1.5 hrs, once a week for 4 weeks. Maybe 8 students???? Looking forward to hearing from any of you with suggestions.
 
Here's a place to start: http://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/

and

http://ukulele4kids.com/

I teach a beginner's class for seniors and the materials are very similar....except that I choose simple songs they are more familiar with rather than "kids' songs" I pretty much found the lessons I wanted to teach online and copied them to put together my own course package. I also got their email addresses and sent my favorite "how to play ukulele" sites.

Good luck
 
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Thanks Phil! ANy other teachers out there that can help?
 
The longer one practices a habit, the better they get at it. Since you are starting with new students, do not begin them with a habit which will impede later skills unless they unlearn, then relearn another way. Start with a simple 0-0-0-3 chord. The majority of ukulele players will use their ring finger. There is a better way to make the chord,so as one moves up the fretboard with that same chord shape, there will be no need to learn another way for the rest of the neck other than what was first learned. USE THE LITTLE FINGER. Some of those who learned it with the ring finger will pitch a fit.Chances are, they feel very uncomfortable trying to play a 2-2-2-5 or a 3-3-3-6 and the other two chords which fit together with the C chord. Yes...these are beginners, but you have no idea what they may become.

Why do I make such a big deal out of little beginners, or beginners of any age? We were gifted with a little girl who was playing with piano keys before she could sit alone. She cried to be in front of the keyboard in her highchair. She began formal lessons at four and was reading simple music by six. We were told to get her a grand piano and out of Brookings. She began with college professors at ten.She graduated with a degree in piano performance, then her Master's in Piano from USC. She is now staff accompanist and teaches piano at Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

Did I realize at the beginning where she would be? Not really; I just knew I had to do the best by her as was possible.
People who put their own low expectations onto a student have no business teaching anything. It all begins with one little finger whether they will have to unlearn and relearn somewhere down the road.

No, you probably will not teach them about barre chords for awhile, but you are laying the foundation which will make it easier for them when they are ready to go on.

Any of the one finger chords should be fingered with the expectation that they will be used somewhere up the neck, and the pointing finger is probably not the best choice, because it is NOT the finger they will use anywhere else on the fretboard.
 
Thank you CC. That was helpful and made sense. I will definitely remember that. Thanks for the song list too!
 
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