Page 45 - Level 1 Ukulele Lesson Plans

heard. “Did they sound the same?” The answer should be yes as you will have pre-tuned their ukuleles.
“Now I’ve been told that the pixie from last week has made one of my strings out of tune but I don’t know which one! So we are going to do an investigation to find out which of my strings is out of tune.”
Play a G with your tuning fork and ask the children to hum the note they heard. Then pluck the G string on your ukulele and ask the children to hum the note they heard. “Does my G string sound the same (yes)? We know that the G is in tune so we can sing ‘GCEA Green Children Eat Ants’ to find out if the other strings sound right.” Softly sing “GCEA Green Children Eat Ants” as you pluck the corresponding strings on your ukulele (make sure the children are not playing as they need to concentrate on listening to your ukulele). “Did any of the notes sound funny?” Go through the phrase slowly until the children figure out that the C string is out of tune. Ask a volunteer what you must do to fix the C string (turn the correct peg) and then tune the C string by ear using the song. Explain that turning the peg one way towards or away from you will make the pitch of the string higher or lower.
Sing the whole of ‘Time to Tune the Ukulele’ twice, encouraging the children to join in singing the whole song and plucking “GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.” Remember to pluck a C as you say ‘Yum!’ at the end.
Time to tune the ukulele, time to tune the uke.
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Listen to the strings you’re playing, listen to the strings you’re playing. GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Are the notes too high, are they too low?
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Time to tune the ukulele, time to tune the uke.
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants. Yum!
6. Song/Game (7 mins): ‘See Saw Up and Down’ (traditional) Have a pre-drawn rhythm picture of the song on your whiteboard.
“Can anyone remember what we call this picture (a rhythm picture)?” Everyone sings the song and claps the rhythm as you sing and tap the crosses in time with the rhythm.
“Today I’m going to show you how to make a pitch picture! But first I need to show you my musical pencil.” Take an imaginary pencil out of your sparkly bag. “If you look closely you can see that my musical pencil is quite small and covered with rainbow sparkles!”
Tell the children to watch carefully while you sing the song on your own and draw in the air with your musical pencil (click here to watch a video). Draw the shape of the tune as you sing. “Does anyone know what my musical pencil was drawing (the pitch or the shape of the tune)?”
Tell the children to reach into your sparkly magic bag and take out their own musical pencils and ask volunteers to describe what they look like. Then, all the children sing the song and draw the shape of the tune in the air with their musical pencils.
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