Creative and Performing Arts lessons for stage two and three music, centred on learning to play the ukulele.
Lesson Resources
The resources below can be downloaded for use in your class music lessons. The lesson sets include lesson plans (PDF), presentation slides (PDF) and zipped archives of QuickTime videos (.mov). The lesson are presented with minimal formatting so teachers can more easily incorporate them into their preferred program layouts.
The Ukulele Class Lessons are supported by The School Ukulele Orchestra Tuition Book, which is also available for download:
In addition to the zipped archives below, the Tuition Book Videos can also be accessed on YouTube
Ukulele Lesson One
This lesson includes parts of the ukulele, holding the ukulele, simple strumming, the C chord and accompanying two songs with the C chord.
Ukulele Lesson Two
This lesson includes C and F chords, playing songs with these chords and changing between these chords.
Ukulele Lesson Three
This lesson introduces strumming rhythm patterns and provides more practice changing between C and F chords.
Ukulele Lesson Four
This lesson introduces A minor and G chords, using these chords with songs and practising rhythm patterns.
Ukulele Lesson Five
This lesson continues work on changing chords, practising rhythms and accompanying songs.
Ukulele Lesson Six
A lesson introducing and using the D chord. There is more opportunity to practise rhythms while playing songs.
Ukulele Lesson Seven
New chords – D minor, E minor and A – are taught in this lesson. A range of chords is used to accompany songs.
Ukulele Lesson Eight
This lesson introduces twelve bar blues and other common progressions. These progressions are a good opportunity to practise chords and rhythms.
Ukulele Lesson Nine
In this lesson, tablature is introduced as a way of reading music. This is applied to playing a C scale and playing a simple tune.
Ukulele Lesson Ten
This lesson involves using tablature to play a range of songs. Students can work together with other students to play tunes and chords in differentiated musical arrangements.
MPEG-4 Chord Videos with Diagrams
This zipped archive contains MPEG-4 videos of each chord in the lessons, with a chord diagram superimposed for reference.
CAPA Curriculum Links and Assessment
The Ukulele Class Lessons are linked to outcomes in the NSW CAPA Curriculum, as outlined in the document below:
You can use the sheet below to assist in tracking your students’ progress against curriculum outcomes.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) in Music Lessons
Consistent expectations, instructions, signals and strategies will make a huge difference in the success fo your lessons – particularly when students have instruments in their hands. The document below provides an outline of successful PBL strategies you can use with your music class.
More Help and Advice from Ukulele Teachers
The “Ukulele Yes!” blog provides great perspectives, ideas and advice from experienced ukulele teachers around the world.
Eternal link: Ukulele Yes Blog
Created by Russell Baker, 2019. These lessons and resources were developed in this form as part of personal study at Western Sydney University. This work is licensed and provided free of charge under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The School Ukulele Orchestra 