“The benefits of learning to play an instrument include the development of social skills; gaining a love and enjoyment of music; developing team-work; developing a sense of achievement, confidence and self-discipline; and developing physical co-ordination” (Hallam & Prince, 2000).
This week in music we looked at the instruments which would be used in a primary classroom, in particular we look at the ukulele. I found this to be an interesting choice because when I had class music lessons in primary school it was always either the recorder or glockenspiel. We started off by learning the notes on each string and then went on to learning the 4 chords which make up many songs. After learning the different strumming patterns and fingerings for the different chords, we were able to put all of this together to play ‘Last Christmas’ by wham.
Before todays input, ukulele would not have been an instrument I would’ve thought I could teach to a primary class. After having guitar lessons myself, I know that chord positions and strumming patterns can be very tricky, and I assumed Ukulele would be too difficult to teach to a full class of primary pupils. However, after seeing how quickly everyone picked it up from watching the ‘Axis of Awesome’ You Tube videos that broke it all down step but step, I have now changed my mind. Having online resources like that are very useful, as it would mean that if the class were struggling with any particular area the teacher could go back to the specific part of the video and go over it again with them until it falls into place. It would also allow children to do their own practice at home if they had access to a ukulele.
I found learning the Ukulele to be an enjoyable experience that I picked up quickly, and would definitely consider using it with a class in the future.
References
Axis of Awesome. (2011) 4 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome. [Online] Available:https://youtu.be/oOlDewpCfZQ [Accessed 5 January 2017]
Hallam & Prince ( 2000) In: Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education. [Online] Vol. 28(3), pp. 269–289 Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715660/mod_resource/content/2/International%20Journal%20of%20Music%20Education-2010-Hallam-269-89.pdf [Accessed 28 December 2016]
