Top 5 Reasons to Teach Ukulele in School

1. It's user-friendly!

The ukulele has a gentle learning curve. With no prior experience or specialized skills, students can accomplish simple tasks on the ukulele in a matter of minutes, including making a sound, playing note(s), playing chord(s), and even self-accompaniment while singing.

2. It's adaptable!

As a small, light, portable and relatively quiet instrument, the ukulele can be taken and practiced almost anywhere. These same features also make it very manageable as a classroom instrument. It's also just as effective as a solo instrument as in a group, with other ukuleles or different instruments.

3. It's affordable!

Decent starter ukuleles begin around $40, making it affordable for most students to own while in school (and beyond). This supports better learning in school as well as the development of lifelong music-making.

4. It's part of popular culture!

Unlike many other classroom instruments, students are likely to have seen or heard the ukulele somewhere outside school. This can be a motivating factor and also helps connect learning in school to experiences in everyday life.

5. It's a teacher's dream!

No other harmonic instrument that allows students to sing and play simultaneously is as affordable, portable, durable, popular, forgiving, pitched in the tessitura of children's voices, AND virtually incapable of loud or harsh tones.