For the first time, the Guitar Center Foundation presented a grant in Nebraska, and it was given to Centennial Public Schools in Utica.
CPS received 30 ukuleles for use in its music department. Jessica Luebbe, one of the music teachers at Centennial, said she saw information about the grant at Guitar Center in Lincoln. She applied over the summer and learned in August that the school was a grant winner.
“They hadn’t given in Nebraska before,” Luebbe said.
The ukuleles are part of the instruction for the school’s fourth graders. Luebbe said she is intrigued by the ukulele, a small guitar-like instrument. According to wikipedia, the ukulele was developed in Portugal in the 1880s. It came to Hawaii with immigrants and became popular there thanks to King Kalakaua.
The word means “jumping flea” in Hawaiian, perhaps because of the player’s finger movements.
The instrument came to the United States during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915.
Centennial’s fourth graders already learned the recorder, so the ukulele is another way to make music accessible, Luebbe said.
“It’s very free how you strum. We tailor to the individuals,” she said.
The fourth graders are enjoying learning the new instrument.
“I thought, ooh, yay,” Evelynn Stephens said when she found out they would get to learn the ukulele. “We get to learn chords and play different songs.”
The students have played five songs with the chords they know, Riley Heater said.
“It is hard at first. Your thumb will hurt,” Wyatt Stanton said. “Once you’re used to it, it’s fun.”
Everly Borchers agreed that the beginning is difficult, especially learning how to switch chords. She said the most fun has been learning the notes.
For Evelynn, the hardest part is not pressing the frets too hard, she said with a smile.
Riley and Everly said it’s been hard to switch chords and not look down at their hands.
Wyatt said learning the chords is hard, but the students now know C, C7 and F.
“The most fun is just playing,” Wyatt said.
“I never really learned before,” Riley said. “I’m looking forward to playing songs.”
She likes what the class calls “noodle time,” when the students can experiment and “figure things out on our own.”
Everly said they haven’t tried singing and playing at the same time yet.
Evelynn is excited to learn harder songs and said learning the instrument has been fun.
Riley said she has enjoyed teaching her younger sister at home, where her family has a ukulele.
“I’m looking forward to taking it home and showing my parents and my brother,” Everly said.
Luebbe said the students started learning to play after Christmas. One of the next things the students will learn, now that they know a handful of chords, is how to tune the instruments.
“You have to know when it sounds bad before you can tune it,” she said. “The goal is for them to play for themselves.”
Each student learns a little differently, so Luebbe encourages each to find what works for them.
“We help make a way to work for every child,” she said.
She said this grant will help her continue to build a positive culture in the Centennial music department. She teaches music for kindergarten through fourth grade and high school. She said both high school choirs are full, which is good to see and hasn’t been the case in recent years.
She is the fifth music teacher in five years, so she’s starting from scratch with the culture.
“Music makes you better and smarter,” she said.
While playing an instrument may make some students feel weird, Luebbe said the music room “is a safe place to make mistakes.”
