Grants Pair Teaching Artists with Youngsters

Veteran musician Mick Jeffries knows the ukulele, and as a teaching artist with the Kentucky Arts Council, he knows youngsters. Bring them all together, and the magic happens! 

“Ukulele is a great instrument for teaching how songs work,” Jeffries said recently before a session with third graders at Ashland Elementary. “Learning an instrument can help with problem solving and makes your brain work better,” he added. 

Through Teaching Art Together Grants, the music teachers at Ashland and nearby Cassidy Elementary recently hosted Jeffries for a series of classes. “I work with them to develop a curriculum they like in terms of goals,” he explained. 

For instance, the children learned the parts of the ukulele such as its four strings, tuning pegs, soundboard, neck, and frets. Along the way, fine motor skills were honed by strumming chords, and the students practiced playing together as an ensemble. They also heard about the instrument’s origins in Portugal and how it gained popularity in the early 20th century via immigrants working in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii. 

Ashland’s Kallie Snyder described the ukulele as an approachable, accessible instrument that encourages lifelong music making and appreciation for live music. Jeffries guided her third graders in preparing “This Land is Your Land” for Ashland’s Veterans Day program, and he gave fourth and fifth graders a shot at songwriting as they came up with alternate lyrics to familiar songs.

“As a professional flutist, ukulele is not my primary instrument, so having Mick in my classroom not only impacted the students, but I learned from his teaching as well and feel confident in teaching ukulele to students in the future,” Snyder said. 

At Cassidy, Sabrina Bowmer already teaches ukulele to her fifth graders, so she asked Jeffries to focus on third and fourth grade. She hopes the youngsters gained the understanding that they, too, can pick up an instrument and learn to play tunes they enjoy. 

“These grants give so many kids such amazing opportunities in the arts that they would never have a chance of getting without them,” Bowmer said. 

Across town at Stonewall Elementary, teacher Jess Scolf agrees. She looks forward to welcoming teaching artist Brooke Harris after winter break to work with her third graders. 

“We will be creating unique quilt blocks to be sewn together for homeroom class quilts,” Scolf  said. “Last year we made kindness quilts, where students wrote poems using simile or metaphors and designed a block. This year we will be focusing on artists for Black History Month and making story quilts.” 

The grant will give her an opportunity to work alongside Harris with students on a project that she normally wouldn’t tackle on her own. “We also partner with community members who volunteer to quilt the student works together,” Scolf said. “It creates connections and supports not only for students and myself as a teacher, but also for community artists like Mrs. Harris.”