Ukulele Rock Stars!
Shawn Hagood for Keeping the Blues Alive
LUCAMA, NC – Thanks to your donations, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation donated ten brand new Mitchell MU40 Soprano Ukuleles to students at Springfield Middle School!
“My students are very eager to learn about all aspects of music!” Mrs. Honeycutt explains. “They are positive and very enthusiastic about learning music together in the class.”
Typically, students that end up in Mrs. Honeycutt’s general music classes are students whose families cannot afford the luxury of purchasing new instruments. They are not enrolled in a band class and often find it difficult to keep up with their peers.
This is one of the many reasons KTBA funds ukulele projects. Their low cost allows teachers the flexibility of ordering by quantity without sacrificing quality. In this situation, everyone wins – especially the student. Another reason is because of their portability. The ukes are lightweight and often come with small cases for easy transport. Lastly, the ukulele is a 4-string instrument. This means less strings per classroom and quicker tuning when you have 20-30 middle school students trying to get started as quick as possible!
In the small town of Lucama, these instruments will mean a lot to the community. Local functions will require entertainment from the neighboring schools and musical techniques will be passed on from class to class.
“I also plan on having the students perform what they learned on the ukulele for the student body,” Mrs. Honeycutt explains. “It is super awesome to learn something and actually be able to perform it for others! My students will have the opportunity to experience the benefits of actually performing something that they have learned. They will gain self confidence and learn how to process what it takes to present to others. Performance helps us with public speaking and other opportunities to present before others. I am super excited about making it available to all my students this year!”
Springfield Middle School Testimonial:
Dear Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, Inc.,
We are so very thankful for the ukulele instruments and books that were given to us through Donor’s Choose. The students at Springfield Middle are very excited about learning how to play the Ukulele. We are introducing the instrument to the students and they have nothing but smiles! For some of the students at our school this is the very first time they have ever held a stringed instrument. I remember as a child seeing a large upright bass and wanting to just touch it! We are beginning to master how to tune the instrument and make sure we are holding it correctly.
The students have been so excited and their faces were full of joy when I showed them the instruments. They are very well prepared for class because we have the instruments and books. Some of them have been asking for weeks, “When are we going to start the ukulele, Mrs. Honeycutt?” It has been so fun giving them this opportunity to learn how to play it.
We have been learning how to tune, hold and play our first few chords on the instrument. Our next goal is to be able to play a song from beginning to end with chord changes. We hope to be able to master changing chords without having to stop between them. This is a big goal and most likely will take us all year to master!
Thank you again for thinking of us and making this dream of mine a reality for our students! You have been such a huge blessing for our current students and for the future classes!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Honeycutt
Thanks to Joe Bonamassa fans and music lovers like you, these kids will have an opportunity to learn ukulele fingerings as well as the culture they came from.
Every week, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation makes a donation to music programs in need of music supplies, sheet music, and instruments.
To help us fund next week’s project, click here!
