Chords and Melody Teaching
The ‘chicken and the egg’ issue Which first, chords or melody??
By learning chords before melody, students can gain competence in performing favourite pieces to play while singing along. The ‘gratification factor’ experienced by playing the chords before melody makes a greater variety of repertoire available for students to take home and practice, as early as the completion of class one! Learning to pick out a melody and having classes perform in two parts (melody and harmony) occurs near the end of the first 8-week session. By then, students are comfortable with the basic chord transitions and they are starting to use their ‘ear’ to understand progressions. The introduction of melody at this time is an excellent add-on to already existing skills
The important thing to remember is that Ukulele Kids Ed-UKE-ators all teach the basic elements of music in their classes…..harmony, melody, rhythm, form, timbre and tone production.