When a new trend takes over an elementary school, it bounces through the building until every kid is talking about fidget spinners or homemade slime. In the Parkway School District, something educational has recently captured attention at one elementary school, to the delight of a teacher.
The ukulele is the latest obsession of students at Henry Elementary School. Introducing them to the strummable, pleasant-sounding instrument was the idea of Peggy Plesia.
She has been teaching music in the same instrument-filled classroom at Henry Elementary School for 21 years.
鈥淚've loved every moment of it,鈥� she said.
Xylophones and drums line the back of Plesia鈥檚 classroom. Colorful plastic boomwhackers hang on one wall. And of course, she has recorders.
鈥淚 know a lot of people cringe when I say recorder, but I actually love teaching recorder,鈥� Plesia said.
A few years ago, at a music education conference, she heard about teachers using the ukulele in their classes.
鈥淒uring the pandemic, a lot of people started to reevaluate, especially music educators,鈥� Plesia said. 鈥淵ou know, how can I bring just a little bit more spark into the music curriculum?鈥�
Plesia bought a concert ukulele and taught herself how to play. During the pandemic and virtual classes, she started using it to accompany her singing because its soft sound didn鈥檛 overwhelm her computer鈥檚 microphone on Zoom.
鈥淭he kids were just having a great time at home, singing along and acting out whatever songs we were working on,鈥� Plesia said. 鈥淚 would kind of strum on the ukulele, just some simple chords, and then I wanted to take it further.鈥�
Using a PTO grant, she bought 30 mahogany ukuleles for her class last year and built a shelf to keep them safe. Each instrument has color-coded, oil-based permanent marker dots Plesia drew to show the students how to play the right notes. On the back of the ukes, soft velcro circles guide students鈥� hands to hold the instruments correctly.
So far the students are loving the new music makers.
鈥淚t's fun, it makes a very, very pretty noise whenever you strum it, and there's a lot of songs that you can play with it,鈥� said Will Koehl, a fifth grader.
The veteran music teacher said she鈥檚 been 鈥渙ver the moon excited鈥� by how quickly the students have picked it up. The instruments are relatively easy to learn and sound nice even when a student or two hits a wrong note.
Plesia plays YouTube videos of pop songs like 鈥淏est Day of My Life鈥� by American Authors, with graphics showing the chords, so the class can play along. The tiny instruments are also a great introduction to strings, which kids can start playing in Parkway in later grades. Fifth grader Jane Cho plays violin and is in the Young People鈥檚 Concert Orchestra, an audition ensemble. Even though she is already a musician, Cho had fun learning ukulele in Plesia鈥檚 class.
鈥淭he ukulele sounds much better when our whole class plays it,鈥� Cho said. 鈥淚f ukulele was like strings and you could pick if you could do it, then I feel like most people would pick ukulele.鈥�
Over and over again, the students talked about their absolute favorite song 鈥� 鈥淐oconut鈥� by Harry Nilsson.
鈥淓veryone loves 鈥楲ime in the Coconut鈥�,鈥� said fifth grader Ellie Cunningham. 鈥淭hey say it in, like, a weird voice, and it's really funny.鈥�
Koehl thinks the appeal might come down to how simple the song is.
鈥淚t's easy and it's like, pretty silly, which is fun,鈥� Koehl said.
Learning the ukulele has been silly, and Plesia hopes it will give her students a lifetime love of music.
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