{"id":4858,"date":"2016-03-01T15:26:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T19:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=4858"},"modified":"2017-04-05T11:22:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T15:22:35","slug":"ukulele-playing-develops-students-music-literacy-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/ukulele-playing-develops-students-music-literacy-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukulele playing develops students\u2019 music literacy skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is Music in Our Schools Month, and the sweet sounds coming from Thoroughgood Elementary School are those of students learning to play ukuleles.<\/p>\n

\"ukes\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSome kids don\u2019t like the recorder,\u201d said music teacher Cris Pelausa about what is typically used in music classes to teach note reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now when I bring up the ukulele, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh yeah, let\u2019s do this\u2019 and they are really into it,\u201d he said. \u201cI tell them, \u2018You know you\u2019re learning and playing the exact same notes [as on the recorder].\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they\u2019re a little more motivated to learn the notes. It\u2019s a lot of fun, and I find that I reach kids I normally wouldn\u2019t have,\u201d Pelausa added.<\/p>\n

Thoroughgood students are still learning to play recorders; however, the class set of ukuleles provides Pelausa with another means of building music literacy skills.<\/p>\n

\"recorders\"<\/p>\n

Note reading, rhythm reading, ensemble playing and critical listening are among the skills Pelausa highlighted in the Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF) grant application he submitted in the fall to develop a ukulele instructional unit.\u00a0Pelausa\u00a0was awarded $1,700 in grant funding by VBEF supporter Quality Stone Concepts to purchase ukuleles and music.<\/p>\n

In addition to music skills, learning an instrument such as the ukulele can also help foster social-emotional development, according to Pelausa.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents develop self-confidence and self-esteem as they progress in their playing and master repertoire. In a social setting, students act as each other\u2019s teachers as they help each other with difficult chords and passages to learn and perform songs. Finally, students will learn what it means to be in an ensemble by developing concerts and performances which will hopefully encourage them to continue their musical education in secondary school,\u201d Pelausa explained.<\/p>\n

\"helping<\/p>\n

Fifth-graders have been playing ukuleles in their weekly music class since November. Pelausa also has used the instruments in his fourth-grade classes and with some third-graders. The size of the ukuele makes it ideal, according to Pelausa. While guitars have to be sized for students that they then outgrow as they grow, the ukulele is a one-size-fits-all instrument.<\/p>\n

Using a larger baritone ukulele so students can more easily see Pelausa\u2019s playing, he leads one fifth-grade class through the first exercise of the day after quickly tuning all of the instruments.<\/p>\n

\"Pelausa\"<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, place your left hand holding the neck of the instrument,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see I put my thumb on the C-string. The C-string is the third string. It\u2019s the fattest one,\u201d he continued as students found the correct string.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to play it two times, and then you be my echo and play after me,\u201d Pelausa instructed.<\/p>\n

The class \u201cechoes\u201d their teacher with some variety in the sounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, now make sure yours sounds like mine,\u201d Pelausa encouraged with a smile. \u201cLook at your shoulder partner are they playing the third string?\u201d<\/p>\n

The students read more notes in the musical exercise, echo Pelausa\u2019s playing and then he asked, \u201cCan you play the whole thing without stopping?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes!\u201d is the resounding answer from the fifth-graders.<\/p>\n

Pelausa plans to put together an ensemble of student ukulele players. In the meantime, he hopes to incorporate ukuleles in the school\u2019s strings musical performance this spring. Chorus students may be involved as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the other neat thing that we haven\u2019t gotten to yet – chordal playing,\u201d said Pelausa, a guitar player himself who can\u2019t help but strum the ukulele while answering. \u201cOnce they get the chords, they can sing while playing, which they can\u2019t do with the recorders, obviously. And with violins it would be a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students are eager to build skills and advance their learning.<\/p>\n

\"students<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never played a ukulele before,\u201d said fifth-grader Ray. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool because it\u2019s small and it\u2019s simple but you can make complex music with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray\u2019s classmate Sophie has some experience with the instrument because her older sister brought one home from a trip to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun because it\u2019s very soft and not too hard core,\u201d Sophie said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty simple. It\u2019s a quick learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelausa also likes the authenticity he can bring to his lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it\u2019s more relevant to today\u2019s music,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt kind of breaks the mold. A lot of programs end up being identical, it ends up being stagnant and it ends up getting stale after a while. So I find that being able to relate more to what the kids are interested in really gets them more motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can learn some of the music they listen to at home then be able to figure out the chord progressions,\u201d Pelausa added, \u201cthen I think that will keep them interested in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF) grants and how individuals, community organizations and businesses are supporting teaching and learning through the VBEF, visit<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>www.vbef.org<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>or contact VBEF coordinator Debbie Griffey at<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>debbie.griffey@vbschools.com<\/em><\/a>. The 2015-16 VBEF grant projects and grant underwriters are featured in a booklet available online<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is Music in Our Schools Month, and the sweet sounds coming from Thoroughgood Elementary School are those of students learning to play ukuleles. \u201cSome kids don\u2019t like the recorder,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-4858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-connections","tag-vbef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6415,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions\/6415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}