Beginning Ukulele for Preschool/Early Childhood

This course takes place via live video chat. The course is designed for students with no prior playing experience. Students will learn the basics of the instrument and will begin playing a C-major chord and a-minor chord. The course will employ a developmental approach in which students practice playing skills both with and without the ukulele. Students will practice skills such as imitation, identifying right hand and left hand, isolating fingers, counting to four and learning the names of the fingers and their corresponding finger number, turn-taking, and exhibiting respectful audience behavior while others are playing. 

If your student has basically mastered these developmental skills (this would probably mean working solidly at around a first-grade level or above and easily completing fine motor tasks such as shoe-tying and cutting with scissors), my school-age beginning ukulele course might be more appropriate. It moves faster and is intended for more independent learners.

It is highly recommended that students have an adult present in the room, as it can be helpful for adults to give physical prompts. Some time in class will be spent putting stickers on the ukulele. This is all optional of course, but can be helpful in learning to play, and is easier with adult assistance. Outschool policy states that anyone other than the enrolled learner should not be on camera in order to ensure privacy and comfort of enrolled learners, but for younger learners, I do feel it is appropriate for adults to be in the room off-camera and ready to reach over to assist the learner if desired.  

While I have the course set up as a one-time course, it is appropriate to take multiple times, as the repetition will be helpful. Families might choose to practice the exercises independently at home until the student has the skills mastered and is ready to take one of the more advanced courses, or may opt to take this course once per month, once per week, etc. as desired. 

Non-musicians/absolute complete beginners: Please see my blog post at http://bit.ly/ukulelesetup. It explains how to set up and tune the ukulele, and has tips for purchasing a beginning ukulele on Amazon.