Teaching Ukulele to Children
The ukulele is a wonderful instrument and kids really enjoy both listening and playing it. Since it is making a comeback in a huge way, it has also become cool to be a ukulele player, which can only increase the demand for a ukulele teacher among children and their parents. It is also highly suitable for children, as explained in this article: http://guitarlessonssingapore.com/why-are-ukulele-lessons-suitable-for-children/. If your aim is to teach ukulele to children, you need to keep certain things in mind in order to cater to the specific needs of youngsters.
Marketing
If you are not already established as a ukulele teacher, then the first thing you need to do is to market yourself. If no one knows you can teach the ukulele, they aren’t going to approach you. You could distribute leaflets in your community, to start off. Contacting the local schools and public institutions and leaving your contact details are not a bad ideas either. Schools and libraries usually are happy to give such music programs a boost. If you know other ukulele teachers in the locality, contact them and let them know you are happy to take a few students if they find their workload too high. For all this, networking is essential. Consider it a business, so marketing has to be done accordingly. After all, you have to convince both parents and children!
Providing materials
It is expected that the student will bring his or her own instrument. But as most parents have no clue what kind of ukuleles to purchase, it would be appreciated if you can assist them. Apart from the instrument, you will have to provide all the other materials required for ukulele lessons for kids. These would include sheet music, books, chord charts, etc. They can be quite expensive, so budget for them.
Setting a price
Find out the going rate for ukulele lessons by the hour and schedule your fees accordingly. If you are a professional with a lot of experience, then you must be compensated for your time. Don’t be afraid of asking for what you are worth. It is, after all, a full-time career for you. If you are an advanced student, then you can lower the rates a little. But make sure you don’t take in students who are of a level close to yours. You need to be really well ahead of your class or you will not be able to do them justice.
Dealing with students
Once you start lessons, you will discover that the kids all respond to your teaching in different ways. Some will pick up things much faster than the others. You will have to give individual attention to each student for this reason. Just because you are teaching a group does not mean that each person in the group will progress at the same level. You teaching method will have to make allowances for this fact, and at the same time you have to ensure that every student is gaining something. In the end, you need teaching skills to teach children.
If you want to start giving ukulele lessons to children, your best marketing tool will be your students and their parents. Do a good job and they will recommend you to others. In a couple of years, you would have established yourself. For more information on teaching ukulele and guitar, refer to: http://guitarlessonssingapore.com/.