Funded Oct 13, 2022Thank you for your generous contribution to One World Middle School! Having ukuleles in the Modern Band classroom has been an invaluable experience for our students. In November, we began learning chords and basic strum patterns and were able to use the ukuleles in our Winter Concert in December. One class learned to play the song "Mr. Telephone Man" by New Edition, a song that many people in my generation know and love, but that they learned from TikTok.
The goal of the Modern Band program is to give students to tools to make music in a small rock-band-style setting, either with the guidance of a teacher or independent of a teacher. We begin the course by focusing on one instrument at a time, and gradually shifting to the whole class playing together on multiple instruments. In a few weeks time, the students will be ready to start forming their own small groups and writing and rehearsing their own songs. The ukuleles are what make that possible for 6th graders, as their fingers and dexterity are not always quite ready to handle a guitar.
When the students get to the 7th and 8th grade, they will "graduate" to guitar, and be able to further develop the music skills that they begin building in 6th grade. Again, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your contribution. You have made our Modern Band program so much better, and we wouldn't be where we are today without your support!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Green