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Attention: Anyone Teaching Ukulele, or anyone who would like to teach Ukulele!
The Secret To Instantly Teaching Ukulele, Without The Hard Work.
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For Anyone Who is Frustrated Teaching Ukulele, or looking for new, and exciting methods!
What if You Could Inspire Your Students With a Ukulele Program, Without the Hard Work?
From: Janice Tuck
Adelaide, Australia
Can’t you just use these?
… my colleague said as they opened the dusty cupboard in the art room.
I still remember the moment to this day. I was in the art room at the small country school where I’d been sent for one of my first teaching jobs. The contents of that cupboard that would change my life!
I’d been assigned to this school to teach “arts”… so I had to cover a bit of dance, drama and music all together … as well as visual art! This was just the way things had to be for teachers in small country schools in my country of Australia, and how they still are for many small schools around the world. I was just a young teacher, but I knew that I wanted to create lessons for my students that would be enjoyable and engaging.
So that’s why I was in the art room, looking through dusty cupboards to see what I had to work with in my new job.
So what was in that dusty cupboard that changed my life?
It was a class set of (somewhat broken) ukuleles!
Janice Tuck
Music teacher and creative director
of the Fun Music Company.
I’d never even held a ukulele before! I knew it was Hawaiian, and something like a “small guitar”, but that was about it. I was trained as a classical clarinet player – so at this stage I’d conducted bands and I knew about wind instruments, but when I came to the guitar or the ukulele I didn’t even know what notes the strings were tuned to!
So I just closed the cupboard door. It was too much to deal with. I couldn’t learn the skills I needed on a new instrument, then figure out what to teach the students and get them playing something. It just wasn’t going to happen! So I just closed the door.
It was almost a year later when I opened it again, out of desperation!
You see, that year I did quite well with the younger classes. I had ideas I’d learned from my university course and all my music teacher training, and I could use my personality to engage with the young students in lower primary and they loved what I did.
However the older classes just didn’t respond. They didn’t like what I gave them, and they didn’t respond to me very well, because I just couldn’t give them what they needed – which was music that they actually liked!
That’s when I took the step of opening that cupboard door again. I was scared, I was nervous, but I had to figure out something that could turn my fortunes around for my upper primary classes.
However, the things I tried with the ukulele didn’t really work. The students weren’t motivated, and the songs I had to play on the ukulele were a bit average and not really songs that they liked.
I realised the problem wasn’t me, or my lack of skills, because I was working really hard to teach it and I could play it perfectly well myself. The main problem was that I had no underlying system for making my students successful on the ukulele.
The students would look down at their hands, or look at their ukulele necks, and consequently would crouch over with a terrible posture and never really get anywhere with their playing.
That’s when I decided to make a change.
I finally realised that I needed to get out of the way of the teaching, and find a way to display the music in such a way that the students could really have success. What I was doing with bits of paper all over the place and teaching by rote wasn’t working!
I started writing stuff up on the whiteboard, and pointing along with a stick, while they played a song. And guess what, suddenly they started to have success!
Once I realised that I needed to get the music out of their heads – and away from bits of paper, that they’d have on music stands and on the floor mostly – it changed everything! I started using Youtube videos. But then I discovered what a terrible quality most of them are! I also found such inconsistencies in the way that they are presented, so I had to find a better way.
Back when I was teaching, I couldn’t make that happen. I could see what I wanted in my head, but couldn’t make it happen. Fast forward 15 years and I am the creative director of the Fun Music Company, so when it was suggested that we create a ukulele program, I knew it had to be special!
So that is why I told my team here at the Fun Music Company. I instructed them to come up with a new way, a new animation style that would make it easy to teach ukulele and have it be fun for the students as well!
For three years they worked flat out, trying out different animation styles and ideas, and eventually they came up with:
The Fun Music Company
Ukulele Curriculum System
A Complete Ukuelele Program of Instruction for Ukulele in the Classroom.
We took over three years, and spent thousands of dollars experimenting, testing and refining our animation style until it was just perfect for teaching Ukulele.
We surveyed teachers, worked out what chords they were teaching and when, we worked on the sequence and the order that things need to be taught in, and the important skills that the students need.
Because we went through all of this development work, you don’t have to! You just have to load up the system, pick a lesson and away you go. What took us thousands of dollars and three years of careful planning and research, you can access in just a few minutes!
Bouncy ball animations so the students look up, keeping in time while they play the music.
We tested and refined this animation style until it was perfect! Children enjoy the bouncy balls, and they keep in time. Because the bouncy ball on the screen takes care of keeping the students in time, you can focus on other aspects of their playing.
Ukulele Teaching Melody Learning System so students can play melodies, and cover music theory and notation.
During our testing of the ideas for this program, we discovered that actually students became more engaged with the process of learning melodies, than they were learning chords! This is because it is a challenge! It gives students the intrinsic motivation to get something right, almost like a computer game or puzzle, the way that we have put it together.
Ukulele program Step-by-Step Instructional Videos, so you can communicate technical information easily to every student.
We reviewed hundreds of the best ukulele teachers on YouTube to see how they communicated with the least possible extraneous language. We then tested and refined our instructional videos down to just what you need in the classroom, and nothing you don’t.
In the Ukulele Curriculum System we have put together something which is exactly like I would have wanted when I was back in that classroom so many years ago. It’s a full step-by-step system that allows anyone, no matter their experience, to guide students through the journey of learning the ukulele, and have some fun at the same time!
Content Structured into 40 Ready-To-Go Ukulele program Lessons
This program is set up in a convenient 40 lesson structure, with elements of chord playing, melody playing and ensemble.
Each lesson has a clear outcome and learning goals, and teachers have the flexibility to add more revision if needed, or skip over material if the class is moving quickly.
Each lesson is designed to work for a standard school lesson timeframe; however, teachers can move more quickly through it if they wish to complete the program in less than 40 lessons.
Key Elements of the Fun Music Company Ukulele Curriculum System
The Ukulele Curriculum Chord Learning System
In the Chord Learning System, students will progress through thirty five different chord playing exercises.
Each chord is taught in detail, by itself, with an instructional video and exercise, before mixing the new chord with already known chords.
There is lots of structured repetition, in order to have students really master the skills of each chord.
Animation Example
The Chord Learning System is based around our carefully designed animations, which are created to make learning the chords easy and fun.
A chord chart reminder at the start of the animation reminds the students how to play each chord, and the students’ brains connect this with the carefully chosen colours.
The bouncy ball shows them exactly when to play each strum and keeps the students in time together.
Click to play example chord exercise:
Step-by-step Lesson Plans Included
Every lesson contains step by step lesson plans and teachers notes. This is aligned to the content on the screen, so you simply choose the lesson on the screen and away you go.
You can step through the activities in the lessons with the navigation on the bottom of the screen, or access anything you need from the menus at the side if you need to add more revision for your students.
The Ukulele Curriculum Melody Learning System
The Fun Music Company Melody Learning System consists of a series of 32 structured exercises where students will learn to finger pick melodic patterns on the ukulele.
Starting with open strings, students will learn to stay in time through consistent repetition, before learning to place one finger down, then fingers 2, 3 and 4 before moving up the fretboard.
Animation Example
The animations in the Melody Learning System help students play melodies using our adaptation of standard ukulele tablature, which students understand quickly and easily with the video instruction included.
Standard sheet music is included below the tablature in every example, so that students connect their work in standard notation and music theory to their playing on the ukulele.
Click to play example melody exercise:
Teaching Ukulele Integrated Worksheets
This program contains 10 carefully created worksheets, designed to back up the students practical learning with theoretical understanding.
The worksheets are available as printable PDFs in the members area, and have answered versions built into the classroom presentations, so the teacher can work through them with the students.
Ukulele Program Songs and Ensembles
Songs and Ensembles are a critical part of the Fun Music Company Ukulele Curriculum System.
This is because we believe that the experience of playing in a musical ensemble is essential for everyone learning the ukulele.
Ensemble Example
Click to play example ensemble song:
Ukulele Curriculum Structured Assessments for Teaching Ukulele
The 40 lessons in the program are divided into four sets of 10, and at the end of each 10 week block there is an assessment framework included.
Each assessment includes three practical assessment items, so the students have a clear understanding of what they need to complete.
There is a rubric included on each assessment page, so that the teacher needs to simply tick in the box so that the student can clearly understand where they need to improve.
Instructional Videos for Teaching Ukulele
The Fun Music Company Ukulele Curriculum System doesn’t intend to replace the teacher in the classroom. The teacher has to drive the lessons and keep the students moving through the program.
However, if the teacher feels less confident with the technical areas of ukulele playing, such as how to tune the instrument, correct strumming techniques and chord positions, then this program has video instruction to help in those areas.
These videos are often very short, containing just what you need and nothing that serves to distract from the core learning of the lesson.
Click to play example instructional video:
Classroom Whiteboard or Student Workbook … Its up to You!
In the Fun Music Company Ukulele Curriculum System, we have everything provided on screen, so that you simply login to the system on your classroom whiteboard, and away you go!
However, we also provide a complete printable student workbook, so that in the situation where you do not have access to a classroom whiteboard, you can instead use printable PDFs for the students.
You can even choose to print this student workbook for the students at the start of the course, and they can mark off the exercises as they complete them throughout the program.
Whiteboard Screen
Student Workbook
This is what the Ukulele Curriculum System Core Program Includes:
$348.25 Value
$318.40 Value
$149.75 Value
$79.20 Value
$99.50 Value
Total value included $995.10
Please scroll down for your low price …
Plus Included Bonus Items Below
The Ukulele Classroom Buyer’s Guide
Do you know what brand of ukulele to buy?
Do you know how much you should be spending on ukuleles?
Can you trust the advice of the salesperson at your music store?
These are all questions that go through your head if you’re thinking about starting a ukulele program and you need to invest in some instruments.
In this short PDF guide we’ve cut through the minefield of information on the internet to bring you the most sensible, practical and down-to-earth advice.
We have received and will receive no commissions or incentives from ukulele manufacturers for our recommendations – they are just our own honest recommendations from our own experience. We’ve paid for every ukulele we own, just like you!
The Ukulele Teachers’ Letter Pack
I know that YOU understand the value of the ukulele for the music classroom … but what about your administrator?
If you need to convince your administration, school board, parent club or other funding body to help you fund a class set of ukuleles, the Ukulele Letter Pack is here to help you!
We’ve carefully crafted the text of several template letters which you can copy-and-paste to use as you need when you start your program.
Included are:
- Letter to a school administrator, suggesting starting a ukulele program, without asking for funding.
- Letter to a school administrator, asking for funding for ukuleles to start a program. (two options)
- Letter to parents when starting a ukulele program, but not asking for them to purchase an instrument for their child.
- Letter to parents when starting a ukulele program on a “bring your own instrument” model.
- Letter to students before starting ukulele program with new school ukuleles.
- Letter to a parents club, a potential sponsor or local business to ask them for support in funding for ukuleles.
Personal Support via email, with video updates as required
Do you feel daunted or scared by the thought of teaching ukulele?
Do you feel unsure how this will work in your classroom?
Do you have questions about teaching ukulele or challenges that have come up?
As well as our free e-book on How to get started teaching ukulele, we wanted to create something that would really help those who feel challenged by teaching ukulele, so we are making ourselves available for 1-1 support via email. If you have any questions about teaching ukulele we are happy to answer them and help you get started.
If appropriate and required we will even create a video response and post it in our members area for you. You can send us a question at any time via a special form in the members’ area, and we will get back to you as quickly as we can.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely not! Instructional videos are included at every step of the way, so that with any areas that you’re not 100% confident with, you can use the instructional video to support your teaching in the classroom. Together with the support provided by our regular Q and A update videos you will soon have the confidence to answer any of your students’ questions and concerns.
With this program, you can learn along with the students! Everything is included in our instructional videos, and you can go through the program at home on your own computer, and have plenty of practice before you begin in the classroom.
Ukuleles for students, and one for yourself.
Obviously, you need a class set of ukuleles, or you need to have the students buy their own. It is also a good idea to have a ukulele for yourself, and we recommend a concert size one, so that it is slightly larger and easier for students to see your hands.
Electronic tuners
Electronic tuners (the type that clip onto the head of the ukulele) are useful, but not essential. As you become proficient at teaching ukulele, and as the ukuleles become more played in, tuning doesn’t become such a problem in the classroom, so just one or two tuners is all that is really needed.
Classroom whiteboard or CD player
Ideally you’d have a classroom whiteboard hooked up to your computer, so that you can display the animations and play the music tracks. If you don’t have a classroom whiteboard, we do have you covered with the printable student workbook and optional CD which are available in the printed teacher’s guide.
We’ve covered everything that is needed to be taught in the first year of ukulele playing. For more detail on the content, please download our one-page scope and sequence document here.
Ideally, you’d use the classroom whiteboard and play the animations from there for a seamless experience for the students.
However we understand that it isn’t a perfect world, and that all rooms don’t have classroom whiteboards, and you may be required to teach without it.
So for this reason we have provided a complete printable student workbook that the students can use instead, and we have a fully published teacher’s guide available with an audio CD that can be used to play the audio tracks. So, in this way, teachers can still use the program even if there is no whiteboard or screen in the classroom.
This program works perfectly alongside the Fun Music Company Curriculum, and provides additional content which covers the sing and play and composition elements of any curriculum you are following.
Depending on how many lessons you have each week, you can choose to do one lesson on ukulele and one lesson from the regular curriculum program, or you can switch to it inside of the program by setting it up on different tab in your browser. It uses exactly the same members area, so once you’re logged into the program you can switch between them in an instant!
We have included a special bonus Ukulele Buyer’s Guide with the core advice we have on purchasing ukuleles for the classroom.
Yes! We have various options for monthly memberships and installment payment plans.
Please contact us via our helpdesk and we will find the best solution for your needs.
Just imagine how great your teaching will be when you’re able to have your ukulele teaching just covered, and covered properly.
You won’t have to spend hours trawling the internet to find songs that are suitable and appropriate, and you won’t have to think hard about what to teach when. Everything you need is built right in… even a tuning screen!
So click on the order button below right now and you’ll be taken to a secure order form. After you put in your payment information you’ll be given access to the members area to get started with your lesson planning right away, and access in the classroom as soon as tomorrow morning.
Of course I want to make sure that this system will actually work for you, so like everything else at the Fun Music Company you’re covered by our 100% money back guarantee. If you find that this system isn’t the most amazing, comprehensive and incredible tool for teaching the ukulele that you’ve ever encountered, then I insist that you contact us for a full refund on the annual membership, or to stop your monthly membership right away … there’s no questions asked.
It doesn’t matter to us whether or not you join the hundreds of music teachers already in this community of ukulele teachers. However, without our help I know that you’ll always be working harder than you have to. You’ll be struggling to find songs and preparing lesson well into the night, when you should be relaxing and recharging, so you can do what you need to do best, which is communicating with your students in the classroom!
So remember when you get started today you’re going to get the full ukulele curriculum system, all the lesson plans and videos, access to our teacher’s community, and access to our library of amazing ensemble songs that your students will love. So click on the button below, and we’ll see you in the members area!