If You Want to Start an Ukulele Club...

rayan

Ukulele Underground Staff
UU+
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
2,391
Reaction score
56
Location
Kauai HI
This is mostly for high schoolers but anyone is welcome regardless of age;

If you want to start an ukulele club at your school (or just a regular ukulele club not at a school), UU will support you with giveaways for your club (stickers for all members and other small items for prizes). We want to encourage the growth of the ukulele movement as much as we can and all of you guys are the key to that.

Megan aka Megdizzle was the first to start a club that will be UU backed. She has 16 members in her ukulele club at her high school in California.

If you're interested, talk to your student activities coordinator or counselor and try to get your club started, once you have it organized, shoot us an email at ukuleleunderground(at)gmail.com and we'll take it from there!

Go get em team! Ready.... Break!
 
Last edited:
That's outstanding, Rayan!

We do the same, at the Ukulele Society of America. We've created a large songbook and have estabished bylaws, that help new clubs get off to a rolling start. Do you sponsor affiliate memberships? Ric
 
nice, a great way to bring in more uke players and have more people come to check out the site. i can see an increase in new members coming soon haha
 
sounds like a great idea! Wish I had a ukulele club in high school
 
I got a ? along this idea. Our students come back next week 8/18 and I'm in an elementary school. UU is blocked by our server but I want to try and get it unblocked by IT. Is there ever bad posts on here. I haven't seen anything that is bad but this site is the best thing for me and my uke playing. I feel like I have grown more as a player since I found it.
 
I got a ? along this idea. Our students come back next week 8/18 and I'm in an elementary school. UU is blocked by our server but I want to try and get it unblocked by IT. Is there ever bad posts on here. I haven't seen anything that is bad but this site is the best thing for me and my uke playing. I feel like I have grown more as a player since I found it.

Maybe not bad, but that deach guy sometimes goes overboard. I wish he'd just go take a flying leap...
 
Maybe not bad, but that deach guy sometimes goes overboard. I wish he'd just go take a flying leap...

Into a giant pool filled with jello!

we cant have One of UU's most valuable contributers getting hurt!
 
Last edited:
Question Ryan....could the name of the club use "Ukulele Undergound" as the name, and distinguish it by location. Like for my example:

Ukulele Undergound - San Antonio.

So it's like a much larger club, with chapters. See what I'm saying? Just a thought.

Thanks,
Rod
 
I might just have to take advantage of this. The first Ukulele Players of Ireland (Aka Ukuhooley) meeting was last Saturday, and I'm inspired to start a group in school.
 
you have misplaced value.

You just don't like admitting you're loved.

-----------------------

Y'know, I'm a grad student, so I tend to be pretty anti-social, not know too many people at my university...

But I kinda wonder how I'd go about seeing if there's interest in a ukulele club. Noone in my program has any interest in the instrument, and I'd love to find if there were other ukers at the school.

We have four or five members in the area here on UU, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple ukers at the school.
 
It looks like the uke already has roots in California's school system:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ukulele-montoya-ensemble-2123643-students-many?slideshow=1

Fountain of ukes
La Habra High music teacher introduces the ukulele to his students, who are entertaining others with the versatile instrument.
By LOU PONSI
The Orange County Register
Comments 0| Recommend 4

LA HABRA Longtime musician and singer David Montoya says any ukulele is a fun ukulele.

"There is a whimsical nature to (ukuleles), and they are easy to play," said the La Habra High choir director, who purchased his first ukulele eight years ago while in Hawaii on his honeymoon.

Montoya's passion for the instrument deepened after attending a performance by a ukulele legend, Bill Tapia. Montoya took lessons from Tapia, and soon the teacher's passion grew on his students.

Montoya and about 45 students formed a ukulele club at La Habra in the fall of 2007.

About eight of the more dedicated students formed a ukulele ensemble, which has performed a series of concerts.

While Montoya acknowledges being surprised that so many students were drawn to the ukulele, the musicians said many factors make the "uke" a desirable instrument.

"I liked it because it was small and portable," said Jesus Gaeta, 16, an ensemble member.

Since it has just four strings – two fewer than a guitar – Montoya said the ukulele is easy to learn, and you don't need to read music to play.

"I think beginners want to make music quickly, and the uke is an efficient way of getting into some music making," he said.

Said 15-year-old ukulele player Rachel Babashoff: "You can make different sounds and mix it with so many different things."

The price is right as well: Ukuleles start at about $20.

The instrument is also adaptable to several musical genres.

"We do Hawaiian, we do Beach Boys, we do Beatles," Montoya said.

In June, the ensemble was invited to perform at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, where the group instantly endeared itself to the audience.

"We probably had the greatest response of any group that we've had," said Michael Miller, host of the Muckenthaler's Second Thoughts series, which matches musical groups with performance poets.

"They just brought down the house. I think there were a lot of people that didn't want them to stop."

Miller was so impressed that he invited the ensemble back to headline with noted poets.

The ensemble's versatile repertoire includes tunes such as "Yellow Submarine," "Hawaiian War Chant," "Blue Hawaii," "Somewhere over the Rainbow," "Surfer Girl" and "Mack the Knife."

Montoya expects his ensemble to once again enthrall the audience.

"They say you can't have a ukulele in your hand and not smile," he said. "The audience responds to that."

Know your "uke"
Ukulele basics: A subset of the guitar family, a ukulele has four strings (a guitar has six). The four strings are the same four highest pitch guitar strings. There are four sizes of ukuleles: Soprano (21 inches), Concert (23 inches), Tenor (26 inches) and Baritone (30 inches).

History: The ukulele is mostly associated with Hawaii, but its roots are believed to go back to Portugal. The Portuguese brought the instrument to Hawaii in the late 1800s

Did you know? Yes, there is a Ukulele Hall of Fame; its oldest member is 100-year-old Bill Tapia, who lives in Westminster. Tapia still performs and teaches, has played with Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Fats Waller and given lessons to Betty Grable, Jimmy Durante and Buster Crabbe.

Source: ukeschool.com, ukulele.org, billtapia.com
 
That's a great idea. i'm starting groups in alot of websites that spead the word alot =D
 
Question Ryan....could the name of the club use "Ukulele Undergound" as the name, and distinguish it by location. Like for my example:

Ukulele Undergound - San Antonio.

So it's like a much larger club, with chapters. See what I'm saying? Just a thought.

Wow thats a really cool idea!

Time to get to work!
 
Into a giant pool filled with jello!

we cant have One of UU's most valuable contributers getting hurt!

that would be delicious!!!!! I hear rumors that if you eat jello your fingernails will grow stronger too!!
 
Top Bottom