Uke’s Cool

This is a holding page whilst we build the new Uke’s Cool website.

Uke’s Cool is an initiative to teach children to play the ukulele in schools, from the author of Ukulele Basics, Lorraine Bow. If you want a little more information or would like to set up a

Teachers INSET Lessons

Want an easy music INSET?

Book one of our fun Primary School ukulele INSET sessions.

Get ready to teach music using the ukulele in September 2012!

These INSET sessions are intended to be fun, to teach music to Primary School Teachers by learning how to play the ukulele, and give you ideas and lesson plans to use the ukulele to teach whole class music in the classroom. Music can be used to teach literacy, numeracy, science, it helps to develop the brain and it can also be used as a behaviour management tool. Read on!

What is a ukulele then?

It looks like a small guitar, it has 4 strings, and it is very easy to play. It can be used as an introduction to fretted stringed instruments, however, it is pretty addictive. Once you get going you won’t want to switch!

The childrens’ first musical instrument is the recorder. Why change now?

Children can sing when they play ukulele, which they cannot with a recorder in their mouths. It adds these benefits; coordination, group participation and working with others, it is more forgiving if a wrong chord is played, it gives a happy sound, and children enjoy it.

I’m ‘not musical’. I’ve never played an instrument before.

We offer a range of INSETs, which will help Primary School Teachers at any stage of their musical journey. We recommend that non specialist musicians and people who have not played anything before learn together, so that you progress together and help each other. This fun music INSET will not baffle you with science, or overload you with musical theory. It is within your ability. You will be playing a number of tunes, and you will learn how to use this new skill in your lessons.

We have other priorities to show our achievement and attainment in the school league tables. Music’s just not that important in our school. Why should we do this INSET?

It has been proven in a number of scientific and behavioural studies that children who learn a musical instrument at an early age benefit because their rational, emotional and motor modalities are all stimulated. Music, and ukulele playing in particular helps with coordination, fine motor skills and social behaviour development. If you successfully engage your class with music, it is a powerful behaviour management tool in the classroom.

INSET details:

Twilight INSETs

Take place after school for 2 hours. Will mainly focus on teaching the Teacher to play the ukulele, with an overview of Term 1′s lessons. Each teacher will receive take home documents, including songs and lesson plans.

Half day INSETs

3-4 hours. Will teach the Teachers to play ukulele, and spend time learning how to use this knowledge in the classroom, with practical demonstrations and tips about how to use Term 1′s lesson plans. Each teacher will receive take home documents, including songs and lesson plans.

Full day INSETs

Will teach the Teachers to play ukulele, spend time learning how to put this knowledge into practice in the classroom, with practical demonstrations, tips about how to use Term 1′s lesson plans, and time to role play with each other, using the lesson plans provided. Each teacher will receive take home documents, including songs and lesson plans.

The maximum number of Teachers recommended to take part in these sessions at one time is 10.

Please let us know if there’s a question or point that we’ve not covered. We’ll put it up here.

Now you have read this, contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Strum with you soon!

Uke’s Cool.

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Student Feedback

"I can now play ukulele and I love it!! Thank you!!" — - Steve Edwards, Crouch End, February 2011
"I liked the speed of the course. I learnt 3 songs in the first lesson. The variety of songs was good, different styles kept it interesting. The class size was small so we all got to know each other." — - Ranall Leckie, London, April 2011
"Fantastic teaching. I feel like I have really achieved something." — - Libby Morrissey, London, February 2011
"We were able to learn lots of songs even from the first lesson. It was a social class, with a relaxed venue and teacher who made it fun for us." — - Leigh Brady, London, April 2011
"I hope my friends don't find out about the absolute beginners ukulele course - otherwise they will realise how easy it can be to play a few popular songs on the uke!" — - Kerry Norman, London, February 2011
"Great fun and then you realise at the end you can play lots of songs. Great!" — - Claudio Scola, London, February 2011
"Relaxed, no pressure and fun, so perfect!" — - Kate Perman, London, February 2011
"Lorraine makes everything seem easy and possible. The absolute beginners course was fun, light hearted and a great variety of songs. It has got me started, which is exactly what I wanted!" — - Claire Beegan, London, April 2011
"Lorraine made it fun and I felt like I could play interesting and popular songs after one class. I feel encouraged enough to continue playing and I will definitely take the next course after I practice what I learned so far. Excellent course!!!!! (five exclamation points)" — - Steve Mitchell, London, February 2011
"I tried to teach myself and found it was much harder than I thought it would be. Within a couple of weeks with Learn to Uke I had improved loads and was really excited about learning more! I really enjoyed it so went on to do the Advanced beginners Course, which was just as good, and easier to deal with the more difficult content in a smaller group setting." — - Chris Poole, London, June 2010
"Group environment, fun to learn. It was nice to have a beer whilst learning!" — - Mike Lindridge, London, April 2011
"Lorraine really knows how to challenge her students and give them difficult tasks to improve themselves in a way that it is still a lot of fun - in a very playful way! She is very friendly and happy and knows how to motivate her students! I think that the skype lessons worked very well and I enjoyed them a lot." — - Suzanne Legerer, London, October 2010
"Had such a good time. Lorraine is brilliant. Very patient, a really good laugh. So surprised at how much I've learned. I would definitely recommend this class. (Personal opinion is I would have paid much more)" — - Breda Murphy, London, February 2011
"This [absolute beginners ukulele course] was great fun, no pressure but good guidance. Learned the technique after faffing on my own for months. Also good foundation to look up songs I like [outside of the course] and learn them. Want to do the advanced beginners course." — - Kelley Swain, London, February 2011
"Fun environment but pushed to learn. Great combination!" — - Lucy Rodgers, London, February 2011
"Thanks for the (advanced beginners/intermediate) ukulele course Lorraine. I found that it was just the right level. Actually you worked us harder than expected which was no bad thing. I got much from the course and would thoroughly recommend it." — - Mike Davids, Tunbridge Wells, April 2011
"The only instrument I've willingly practised." — - Mari Borghesi, London, Fbruary 2011
"It was good to learn in a group, it was very friendly and inclusive so it was a good way to learn." — - Simon Bold, Woolwich, April 2011
"It was an encouraging environment, as it was social and we covered a lot of ground." — - Liz Larvin, London, April 2011
"Very relaxed jovial atmosphere in class, enjoyed the whole course very much, thanks!" — - Gary Powell, London, February 2011
"The Adult Beginners course was relaxed and non-intimidating from the start. Most of us had no prior experience with stringed instruments, but we were very quickly playing real songs that we knew and loved. It was a great introduction to the ukulele that gave us the basic skills to take away and build upon in our own time - I’d definitely recommend it, and am considering doing a further course with Learn To Uke & Uke’s Cool in the future." — - Jo Stimpson, London, June 2010