Dillard Street Elementary introduces ukuleles to music program

Music teacher Stephanie Bryant wants to expose her Dillard Street Elementary School students to as many instruments as possible now so they can make an informed decision when they choose one to play in middle and high school.

She was excited to receive a delivery of 25 ukuleles for her classroom recently and to get them set up for her students. The students are full of excitement, too, she said, and wanted to know how soon they could start playing them.

The DSES PTA purchased the instruments for the music program. Bryant said she approached the PTA with her request for a class set in hopes of getting them within a few years.

“I know this is the first year they’ve given a teacher a grant or a gift,” she said. “I love that they’re excited to help teachers with projects.”

Bryant bought her first ukulele when she was interning under music teacher Lisa Hewitt at Westbrooke Elementary and Hewitt urged her to buy one.

This is Bryant’s third year as Dillard’s music teacher, and she has been playing the instrument in her music classes. A fun song she likes playing is the color song for kindergarten, first and second grades — and the students enjoy that one, she said. She decided it was time for her students to have the chance to play.

“I thought it was an easy instrument I could pick up,” she said. “I taught myself the basics. I’ve been teaching myself more so I can teach them.”

Bryant said she will start by teaching the students in the younger grades about open chords, how to hold the instrument and how to move their hands. Fourth- and fifth-graders will learn how to tune them as well.

“They can take the tuning to other instruments,” she said. “It’s about having that ear for it, and it’s something they can transfer to other instruments as well.”

Bryant hopes to start a ukulele club at Dillard in addition to the class.

“If they have a knack for it, they could have a club for it,” she said. “I was thinking a second-grade club for ukulele, and then in third grade when they can join the music club, I would add ukulele.”

Bryant has started several other clubs at the school, including the advanced music club, a piano club for fifth-graders and an after-school drama club she codirects with Sean Murphy.