Given the weird stop & go re-start to school in 2022 due to Wave freaking 5 of this pandemic, I've come up with 2 programs of lessons, 1 short (4 weeks) and 1 longer (7 weeks). The longer program can be found in a separate posting HERE.
This shorter program, I'm calling the Circuit-Breaker Program. If kids have to be home for symptoms or quarantine or a class infection, it's a little something for them to do.
This is not meant to take the place of a day of schooling. It's just something fresh to break up the day. It's virtual. I know that small children don't respond the best to online. But if there's no choice for them, again it's a fresh activity. As for screen time, it's just a short time frame - 30 minutes.
The lessons are meant to be understandable for young children. By the end of 4 sessions, they will come away with 3 basic chords (most popular or folk songs can be played with these chords), and some songs. Baked into the lesson is some colour-coded, music scale based structure that will form a good foundation for later music lessons.
I've put up an ONLINE PHOTO ALBUM that gives an idea of how we'll be progressing thru the course. It shows the book I'll be using, the relationships of the strings to note names and chords, etc. Click on link at start of this paragraph to see the online album.
A good chunk of the 30 minute time period is spent on finger strengthening. In this case thru plasticine play. I've found that small children have trouble getting a sound on their ukes because their wee fingers aren't strong enough. So finger strengthening will be about 10 minutes.
In the playing part of the lessons, students will tune their strings every week. (Tuning will be the main musical activity for Week 1.) And then we will work on a chord and song or silly tune to go with each new chord. By the end of 4 weeks, they will have a 3 chord song.
This program is totally adaptable to any age of beginner.
I can also adapt this lesson to guitar. I have a small scale 1/2 size classical (nylon strings) guitar here that can be tried. You can also walk into Long & McQuade's guitar room and test a 1/2 or 3/4 guitar.
Since it's virtual, you will need: a uke, plasticine, a plastic protector (see online album) and a computer or tablet for our Zoom lesson. These items can be found pretty cheaply on Amazon, some of them at a dollar store.
If you are local to me and can pick up, I can put a kit together with printouts and plasticine. You can also try one of my ukes on site. I'm just not lending them out at the moment. If you can borrow one maybe from a family member, that would be best. If the instrument was something you were interested to buy anyway, they can be found on Amazon. I also use Musician's Friend to order instruments online. Long & McQuade also ships online. They are around $50. (An instrument lending library would be great, wouldn't it?)
I generally go a little overtime. I'd rather the students have a song they can practice before they leave, rather than go just by the clock.
Cost. My base rate is $20 per lesson. (I can work out a deal for a family with 2 or 3 kids viewing at the same time). In the spirit of getting thru this together, I'm happy to offer $10 off (which over 10% off) for the package of 4 lessons. So $70.
I take e-transfer or cash payable at start of first lesson. Please give 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule.
Once the student completes the course, you'll be amazed at how many songs can be found online that use the chords we learned. If you just type into your search bar, Song, uke, chords, a ton of options will pop up.
It's pretty easy to learn new chords. Many books have a little chord diagram that shows where you put your fingers down to form chords in the song.
Contact me thru the email here (on footer of this blog), or message me thru Leathertown Guitar Studio's FB, Insta or Twitter page if you are interested.
We can get thru this. Six more week 'til spring!
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