The ukulele drop off camp at Kathy’s Music has been popular for years. In fact, most summers they sell out even though you offer several different weeks and locatios. This summer your Ukulele camps start on June 17th in Mt. Lebanon, the 1st of 7 camp weeks featuring the theme “Ukulele Island.”
Q: Why Ukulele?
A: You know, I’ve been partial to teaching ukuleles as an instrument that’s ideal for children for more than 20 years. I first introduced it as a class when I was director of Children’s Choirs at a large church in South Carolina back in 2000. We saw incredible success then with kids in 3rd-5th grade. When the ukulele made a comeback as a popular instrument to play and to listen to, and they became readily available for purchase, it became an ideal choice for a class in our school. Initially, we offered ukulele class as a 10-week offering during the school year in 2006. A few years later, I decided to create a four day camp using a Hawaiian theme to really capture the interest of the kids and turn them on to the instrument.
Q: What’s so special about the summer camp?
A: This four day drop off camp introduces four chords on the ukulele, basic strumming, and several songs. So in a matter of days the children can become successful as a beginner on the instrument while also experiencing a lot of other musical fun and learning. We include line dances, ensembles, drumming, singing, games and crafts. It’s a bundle of fun wrapped up into two hours each day. It’s just the beginning of the journey on the instrument, but it’s a very positive start because we can get the students playing right away.
Q: Is camp the same every summer?
A: We offer two variations of ukulele camp. This summer we are featuring our Ukulele Island theme, where we combine music from the Pacific Islands, Hawaiian Instruments, and a variety of games and dances using popular songs from animated movies. This powerful combination makes it easy for the kids to fall in love with the music and engage them in the learning. Every other year we swap out Ukulele Island, with our Campfire Ukulele theme. As you can imagine, the kids love the whole campfire atmosphere, complete with pop-up tents, a pretend campfire, and all the songs we grew up singing around the campfire.
Q: What are the musical benefits?
A: I’m thrilled whenever we can create a meaningful experience for students on a new or different instrument. In Kindermusik Level 4 & 5, known as Young Child, the children are learning glockenspiel, dulcimer, recorder, and our very own Intro to Violin unit. Ukulele rounds out that mix giving students a vision for what it might be like to study Ukulele or Guitar after they graduate from Kindermusik. We also weave in a variety of ensemble experiences that help with steady beat, ear training, and developing the singing voice.
Q: Why do kids love it?
A: The students really enjoy the variety of things we do during the two hours each day. We sing. We dance. We introduce a new chord on the ukulele. We learn a new song. We review songs from the days before. We play games and make crafts. We make new friends and turn musical learning into play. The students eyes light up when they realize they really can change from a C chord to the F chord with some practice and determination. You’ll see two students who didn’t even know each other before the first day of camp become buddies by the end of the 2nd day. Plus, the culture of this class is a feeling of helping each other. Kids are helping each other learn the chords and showing each other how to move fingers from one string to the next. As a result, they feel safe and included. They want to come back the next day for more. One more thing, we created this camp as a way for any 5-7 year old to participate with success, even if they’ve never been enrolled with us before. That’s really important to me.
Q: Why do you love it as a teacher?
A: Hmmm. I could go on and on about this one. I love teaching ukulele because it’s a full-size instrument that actually fits a child’s body. The neck of the instrument fits the hand of a young student. There’s only four strings on a ukulele instead of six on guitar so it’s really ideal to start out with this instrument. With fewer strings, we can help kids begin to practice independence of the fingers with more success, and help them understand what it means to build muscle memory in a very age-appropriate way. I also invite kids to bring their ukuleles to Kindermusik Class the next fall when we explore Hawaiian music as a unit in class. Teaching this camp is really fun for teachers because we have the opportunity to spend two hours a day with kids. This gives us a lot more insight into their personalities and into their learning styles so that we can create a better learning experience for the group. I adjust the teaching experience day by day to fit the group – that’s important. One of the things that I look forward to is the opportunity to teach kids how to best function in a group, to participate in group problem-solving, and to learn how to take care of each other in a group. Those aren’t just skills needed for music, they are life skills.
We are changing the world through music, one ukulele player at a time!
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