Last week I stumbled upon a way to help 3rd graders feel more confident in their playing. We were playing “You Are My Sunshine” in the key of C, using Ukulele Mike‘s great video. It’s not too difficult, with just three chords – C, F, & G7. Or four, if you want to use the C7.
The problem is that while most of the kids could play these chords, many of them had trouble changing from one chord to another, on time. Kind of like adult beginners. It’s just not that easy at first.
I decided to form the class into three groups – the C Team, the F Team, and the G7 Team. Then, all they had to do was wait for the right moment to play their chord, and they jumped in and played it right on time. Not unlike an orchestra player who has a bunch of rest measures, before finally jumping in and playing the right part at the right time.
After a few minutes of playing the song in the three groups, I told the kids they could play any or all the chords they wanted to, or they could just pick one and wait for the right moment.
That moment was a turning point for some of the players who are still struggling with the left hand coordination necessary to change chords on time. For those few minutes, they were part of the song, and it sounded good and they were ukulele players. At one point, many of them were lost; five minutes later, they owned that song.
I’ll probably be using that technique every time that group gets together for a while.
ukes with class 
I’ve had this technique suggested to me several times, but have been trying to summon up the courage to try it. I can’t explain this notion of “courage” — it’s just the way I feel about teaching techniques I haven’t tried. I guess another word might be “ignorance.” 😉 You may have given me the “courage” to try it!
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Give it a try Mick, and let us know how it works!
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I have to tell you: I know highly capable, seasoned uke instructors who have recommended the same thing. I tried it last week and, oh my, it did not go well. Probably, I didn’t prep enough. I just kind of dove in, split the group into two groups and assigned chords. We tried it with Camptown Races, which we’ve been working through for a couple of weeks.
The problem I ran into was that I chose to “cue” each two groups, by pointing my ukulele at them when it was their “time.” Maybe that was a mistake. I had all the kids looking at me, waiting for me to point at them to play “their chord,” and the ones who had just played their chord, would keep playing, which is maybe OK? Anyway, it destroyed any sense of rhythm, and was very frustrating for everybody, I felt. (and actually got yelled at about it by my more experienced teacher peers). Like I said — I feel like somehow I fouled it up, maybe overcomplicated it.
Let me be clear — I’m not pointing fingers or saying it doesn’t work. It just went really wrong for me! I wish I could figure out why. Classroom MGMT is my biggest hurdle, over and over.
Keeping “the squirrels” (as we sometimes call them) attentive, alert, following along. They’ve all got these stringed noisemakers, y’see… 😉
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Hang in there, Mick! A few suggestions (which may or may not work)….
1. Keep the strumming rhythm extremely simple, like one strum per measure. Then gradually increase it.
2. Have the two groups sing the song first, without playing it (group one singing “camp town ladies,” group two singing “do da etc”). That way they’ll get used to only doing part of the song, but still doing it on time and at the right moment.
3. Tell the more experienced teachers to go pound sand.
4. Are you using a written lyric sheet, with the chord letters printed exactly where they go in the lyrics? That helps my kids a lot, making it more obvious to them exactly when the chord changes happen. I don’t actually put sheets in their hands, but I always show a video with some form of lyric sheet included in the video, like most of Ukulele Mike’s stuff or Ukulele Underground.
5. Is there a way to divide the class into smaller groups, coming to you at different times? That may not be possible based on other scheduling factors, but at times I’ve been able to do that with some of my larger classes. I.E., half the 3rd grade on Wednesday, the other half on Thursday. As long as I don’t do that all the time, the teacher is cooperative with it. It’s a lot easier for me to teach 10-11 kids, than to teach 20-22 kids.
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Hi Charley!
Sorry for the delay — I appreciate your encouragement. Things are going somewhat better.
2. Have the two groups sing the song first, without playing it (group one singing “camp town ladies,” group two singing “do da etc”). That way they’ll get used to only doing part of the song, but still doing it on time and at the right moment.
This is a great idea! Thanks!
3. Tell the more experienced teachers to go pound sand.
Hahahaha!
4. Are you using a written lyric sheet, with the chord letters printed exactly where they go in the lyrics? That helps my kids a lot, making it more obvious to them exactly when the chord changes happen. I don’t actually put sheets in their hands, but I always show a video with some form of lyric sheet included in the video, like most of Ukulele Mike’s stuff or Ukulele Underground.
I put music up on a screen (with exact chords, yep) and then give them a handout after class. I confess that I have yet to actually show the kids a vid… I’ve got them for 45 mins and I guess I feel like showing them videos is a challenge to our limited time together? Maybe I’m crazy. Do you all play along with the video?
Best wishes, we’ll stay in touch!
Mick
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