One of the most effortless instruments for kids to learn is the ukulele. Kids who want to learn musical instruments start their musical journey usually by learning the ukulele first. So, read more if you are a ukulele teacher who wants to teach ukulele courses online.
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Best strategies to teach ukulele to kids
Teaching a musical instrumental online will be a bit challenging initially, especially for young kids. Don’t worry! We have curated the top strategies to make your online musical teaching more effective for your students.
#1 Check the instrument availability for your students
If a kid wants to learn an instrument, they should have it to learn and practice. Ensure your students have a ukulele in the first-ever class to make your teaching seamless. Ask every student whether they have a ukulele and if any student doesn’t have it, guide them to the right platform along with the ukulele price to buy one for themselves.
#2 Learning music should be fun
Now every student has their ukulele with them. Let them touch, experience, or even play to make them feel comfortable handling the instrument. Since the primary purpose of music is entertainment, kids should feel it is fun learning them. Try to be as friendly as possible throughout every class that automatically motivates your students to learn it interestingly. Students should feel joyful attending your classes, which improves their consistency in learning the ukulele.
#3 Teach them the anatomy of the ukulele first
Kids should know about all the parts of a ukulele and their purposes. They should learn what tuners are for, what are frets, why sound hole is present, what is ukulele tuning etc., to get a feel like experts in handling a ukulele. When you are teaching a lesson, they should correctly follow your instructions, and that’s why teaching them about every part of the ukulele is essential.
#4 Start teaching with the first-ever chord
Since handling a ukulele is a new experience for the kids, let them play the open strings first, which is the C6 chord. After strumming the C6 and getting comfortable with it, slowly teach them the C major chord. The C major chord is one of the easiest ukulele chords for kids to strum. Though you are teaching online, you should clearly instruct about the finger positions on chords. Try to pay attention to every student’s finger positions and guide them on how to handle chords. Kids who learned their first C chord can play some of their favorite rhymes or easy songs.
#5 Guide them on how to read chord charts
Chord charts are one of the essential things that instruct us on how to play ukulele chords. They clearly show where to place the fingers to play various chords. So teaching your students how to read and understand the chord charts is the first essential step to making them master the ukulele! So spend more classes teaching chord charts, and when they are ready to play by looking at the chord charts, your students will become unstoppable in playing the ukulele.
#6 Teach them the strumming patterns
Apart from sticking to the ukulele chords, parallelly focus on teaching them the strumming patterns. When students hear their strumming, they will be more interested to learn the ukulele faster. So start guiding them with the effortless strumming pattern that goes like up-down, up-down, and gradually teach them the complex ones. Then, when they learn to play strumming patterns, they can try more songs and improve their practice.
#7 Make them practice more songs
Making your students practice more songs will make them feel confident playing their ukulele. While teaching them chords and strums, make them play songs alongside. For example, if you have finished teaching C and G major chords, make them try tunes that involve the usage of those two ukulele chords. Children will be interested to learn more when they hear them play songs themselves.
Apart from all those tips, teach them the difference between minor and major chords, make them try various strumming patterns, try a song on their own, and lastly, teach them how to play a chord along with strumming to experience playing all the tunes of their choice.
To wrap up
If you follow the above steps to teach the ukulele to your students, you are good to go! However, since playing an instrument with such little fingers may be difficult for them at first, make them feel comfortable approaching you anytime for help. Hope this article helps you to become an inspiring ukulele teacher online soon!
If you wish to expand your online coaching business of teaching ukulele, then Classplus is here to help you. You can get your own app and reach out to a larger number of students across the country. To know more, connect with us now and talk to our experts!
