Learning to play a different tune

Vicki Gumbley

07 May 2008

FORGET the recorder or scratchy violin, the sound ringing out from Tredington Primary School is the ukulele.
The bright and colourful four string instruments have proved a huge hit with the school's four to seven-year-old pupils, who all have the chance to learn how to play them at weekly lessons.
Tewkesbury music teacher Andy Brotherton, a familiar face at schools across the county, already taught the guitar to older pupils and put the idea to headteacher Jane Dunwell as a way of introducing younger pupils to music.
"We very much wanted every child in the school to have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument," Mrs Dunwell told the Tewkesbury Observer.
"And the ukulele is ideal because it is smaller in size than the guitar and has four strings instead of six, so the children can progress quickly."
The school has seven ukulele and groups of six pupils are taught at a time, with no extra cost to parents as the lessons are offered as part of the curriculum.
"Our mission is 'friends learning together' and the children are very enthusiastic - even one of our teachers has taken up playing the ukulele," Mrs Dunwell added.

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