Ukulele Adventure: Sing, Strum, Pick and Play (Ages 9-12)

In this class, learners will meet weekly to explore and expand skills in ukulele playing. A key component of this class will be discussion between learners about their experiences and preferences regarding playing the ukulele and music in relation to the ukulele. 

Each class meeting will feature three components:
 - The focus melody or technique
 - The focus concept, which can be theory, genre, or style
 - Discussion

Often these three activities will be interwoven, but the class structure will provide guidance to move students through the experiences. In addition, weekly activities will rotate through focusing on strumming chords (rhythm), picking chords (also rhythm) melodic playing (lead). All activities can be adapted for students to address individuals' levels of playing. However, ALL students should be comfortable with playing C, G, D, A minor, and F chords, and should be familiar with the idea of changing from one chord to another during a song.

Planned activities include the following: 

week of June 19: 	
 - Strum
 - Snow Shovel Blues
 - 12 bar blues
week of June 26:
 - Pick/accompaniment
 - Jamabalaya
 - travis picking
week of July 3:
 - Pick/melody
 - Theme from Spongebob
 - arpeggios
week of July 10:
 - NO CLASS
week of July 17:
 - Strum
 - Ragtime progression
 - ukulele history
week of July 24:
 - Pick/accompaniment
 - stairway to heaven
 - steady rhythmic foundation
week of July 31:
 - Pick/melody
 - Smoke on the Water
 - countermelody
week of August 7:
 - Strum
 - Pachelbel's Canon
 - chord progression
week of August 14:
 - Pick/accompaniment
 - Happy
 - countermelody
week of August 21:
 - Pick/melody
 - Never Gonna Give You Up
 - melodic form

Weekly discussions will spring from class activities. In the event there is a meeting when learners need support to initiate conversation, age-appropriate discussion prompts will be presented. Examples include:
 - What is your favorite type of music? Can you describe how it makes you feel?
 - Can you name three different musical instruments? Why did you choose the ukulele?
 - What is your favorite song? What do you like about it?
 - Have you ever been to a live music concert? What was it like? Did you enjoy it?
 - Can you think of a song that tells a story? What is the story about?

Important notes: 

 - Students should have their cameras on during class. The instructor must be able to observe the hold of the instrument as well as hand and finger positions in order to provide helpful feedback and assistance in playing. Students who have completed Outschool's Child Learner Verification process (https://support.outschool.com/en/articles/4063624-learner-verification) will not be expected to turn on their cameras. However, parents should consider whether their learners will be able to obtain the most benefit from class. 

 - All learners will be offered oppotunities to play (microphones on) for individual feedback from the instructor. Being able to hear the learner play while seeing the use of hands and fingers gives important information to the instructor and is invaluable for providing feedback. However, no learner will ever be *required* to play in front of their peers; the opportunity to play individually with the microphone on is optional. 

 - All learners should be able to mute and unmute their microphones independently. Make music means generating sound. It is absolutly normal (and even desirable) that students want to try skills while first learning about them. However, the result of a class experimenting simultaneously can be chaotic. While learners are encouraged to have microphones on to ask questions and discuss, they should turn off their microphones (mute) temporarily to practice skills. 

 - Students should turn on "original sound for musicians" in Zoom. This is a two-step process. Parents should complete step 1. Learners in this age group can generall toggle the feature on within the Zoom meeting easily once they are aware of the location of the button.
1. PRIOR to entering the class, configure Zoom to enable original sound. Here is a link to directions for desktops, laptops, mobile tablets, and mobile phones: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360046244692-Configuring-professional-audio-settings-for-Zoom-Meetings
2. AFTER entering the Zoom class meeting, turn ON original sound. Once the setting is *enabled*, this allows the original sound function to be turned on and off after entering a meeting. The toggle button is present in the upper left hand corner of a Zoom meeting on desktop or laptop. This link may be helpful for toggling original sound on when using a mobile device: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115003279466-Configuring-audio-for-music-and-singing