The Ukulele Project

Update 3/23/09: We’re on Spark!

The Ukulele Project was launched after we got a note from Tom in Canada asking for help in finding some ukuleles for his students.

Tom wrote:

I’m starting as a teacher for grades 3-4, in a school on a First Nations Reserve in the far north of Ontario. It is a fly-in community with only about 300 residents.

We got him in contact with Moe’s Music and now that the kids have ukuleles they need some instruction. Tom mentioned the kids might like getting a DVD with Dear Old Dad and I teaching some basic ukulele skills, and we could do something like that, but then it hit me that there was a bit more to teach than the basics of playing the ukulele. We could expand the project to give the kids a glimpse into how music can bring people around the world together, and at the same time give folk musicians the opportunity to develop their teaching skills. Not only that, we could end up creating a resource students of all ages could use to start making music.

With that in mind I have decided to treat this as a collaborative project. I have written out a lesson plan and I am inviting musicians everywhere to choose a lesson and send in video covering the subject.

Update 3/8/09: Tom sent us some pictures from Ogoki!

Initial Lesson Plan:

• Holding and tuning the ukulele - Logan from Philadelphia
• Quarter note strum -  Pat from Michigan
• F Chord - Carlos in Spain
• C Chord - Carlos in Spain
• Skip To My Lou - Tim in Korea
• G Chord & Boil ‘em Cabbage Down - John in Chicago
• Eighth note strum - Tim in Korea
• Tiptoe Through the Tulips - Andy in the UK
• Red River Valley - Dan in Florida

Second Lesson Plan:

• Folk Songs in 4/4 Time:
  • It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More - Camilo in Spain
  • Goin’ Down That Road Feeling Bad - Dan in Florida
  • Tom Dooley - Carlos in Spain
  • You Are My Sunshine -Tom in Canada
  • She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain - Carlos in Spain
  • Mamma Don’t ‘Low - Steve from Ohio
• 3/4 Time Rhythm
  • Down in the Valley - Andy in the UK
  • Streets of Laredo -Pat From Michigan
  • The Black Velvet Band -Shawn in Oregon
• Fingerpicking Patterns -Daniele in Italy 

T o take part in the project, contact me at ask.patrick@gmail.com, choose a lesson and film a short video workshop.

For example, let’s say you choose to cover the C Chord. All you would have to do is introduce yourself  (“Hi. I’m Patrick from Crisfield, Maryland and I am here to show you how to make a C chord“) and walk the viewer through the steps of making a C chord on the ukulele.

Once you have filmed your workshop, upload the video file in the highest quality format you can to the Internet Archive.

To join the Internet Archive :

• Go to http://www.archive.org/
• In the upper right hand corner you will find the following: “Anonymous User (login or join us)”.
• Click on “join us”.
• Fill out the form. Click “Get library Card” when finished.

Files stored on the Internet Archive are publicly available under a Creative Commons license. You can read about how Creative Commons works by visiting http://creativecommons.org.

To upload a file to the Internet Archive:

• Log in to your account.
• In the menu across the top of your browser click on “contributions”.
• Click on “Create and upload a new movie, audio recording, live concert recording, or book”.
• Enter a title for your upload and click on the button marked, “Next”.
• On the next page, fill in the form (name your project after the chapter you are covering – for example, “C Chord”) and click on the button marked, “Upload Files”.

After uploading, archive.org will automatically generate a page where people can download and view your file. Send an email to ask.patrick@gmail.com with your Internet Archive link.

Once we have the initial lessons I will burn a DVD and send it out to Tom and we will also make a directory so folks can burn their own copy.

Once we have the basic material covered we can expand the project to cover more intermediate and advanced techniques.