We were very pleased to award Icknield Walk First School a grant to buy 30 ukuleles. As we are all too aware, the current pandemic affects all areas of our school life and this includes music tuition as Jane Sherwood (Headteacher) explained in her application:
“We used to teach recorder to the year 2 children and then they would be able to join recorder club and play for assembly and concerts. However, we are not allowed to use recorders during COVID-19 (too much blowing!). We still want the children to be able to perform together musically and to learn music skills through playing together.”
For Jane’s school, the ukulele was an excellent choice of ensemble instrument for many reasons:
“The music teacher is able to teach Ukulele and is happy to train the classroom staff too. The ukulele is fairly easy to pick up and get a good outcome from so this is a good option.
They will have a sense of performance and achievement fairly quickly as it is quite an easy instrument to access. This will not only help their music learning but will give them a sense of being together again and part of a team (which they will need after the lockdown time). They will have the opportunity to perform for their parents and for assembly; recorded during COVID-19 but hopefully live once we are allowed to all be together again.”