Do you teach and lead ukulele? We believe that an effective ukulele teacher is also a leader. There is no avoiding it.
Mark and Jane at The Sum of the Parts (music) are experienced in facilitating networking opportunities and relevant resources for ukulele teacher/leaders, and with passing on their own techniques and insights to help improve and maintain their skills and knowledge.
Our inaugural Ukulele Leadership Training (ULT), run in late October 2014, was universally acclaimed by all 22 participants from all over Australia and New Zealand.
We have now held 4 very successful 2 day Ukulele Leadership Training Workshops:
- Newcastle, NSW – October 2014
- Brisbane, Queensland – May 2015
- Bellingham, Oregon, USA – July 2015
- Auckland, New Zealand November 2015
- We focussed on recording our first album in 2016, then published the Ukestration Manual and the Business of Being a Community Musician in 2017.
- In 2018 we ran a RATPAC (essentially a slimmed down version of our two day ULT) for the Kamloops ukulele community in British Columbia.
- In 2019 we are running two RATPACs in Canada – one in Calgary and the other in Nova Scotia.
Here is what was said about the first ULT …
“Mark and Jane demonstrated excellent skills, as musicians, teachers, facilitators and colleagues. I learned things that I didn’t expect to, as well as everything I did expect. The Ukestra session I attended was also fun and informative. You are both shining examples to the rest of us. Congratulations and thank you both.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to take part in the ULT. It has left me with the feeling of confidence to be able to ukestrate and lead a group of Ukulele players who will do more than hum and strum. I feel you have increased my knowledge of Uke music by so much more than I could have imagined. Again I say many thanks to you both”
“Overall, I thought the training was well balanced and personally I got a lot out of the training days. It was well broken up into theoretical and practical components. It was also valuable to meet people from other groups and find out what they were doing and also making contacts with others.”
Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou. I have so appreciated being with like minded ukegeek peers as an opportunity to reflect on my teaching practice and also feed my own hunger to learn more. I’m an avid supporter of your approach – both socially and musically. I thankyou both for the huge amount of thought and effort that went into the manual and organising this event. Inspiring !
What do I get?
We have quite specific techniques for effectively teaching ukulele and for bringing together a diverse range of skills so common at uke clubs the world over. Our program is a combination of conversations, and musical sessions which teach and dissect some of our musical methods and ukestrations.
Topics covered include:
- Why the ukulele? Why community?
- Who is our market? What is our community?
- Relevant leadership qualities / responsibilities / roles
- Relevant teacherly qualities / responsibilities / roles
- Ukestration? Kara-ukee? Teacher?
- Structuring a ukestra session using a repertoire-based approach.
- How to ukestrate a song. What is a ukestrated song?
- Creating and waiting for teachable moments
- Levels of engagement and learning.
You also get a copy of our Ukestration Manual.
Is this for me?
Do you need to be a great musician?
No! We believe wonder is as important as musical competence in conveying the joy of music. ULT participants will, first and foremost, have a passion to help others play music together. Within that you may be:
- The community-immersed person who has some musical skills and lots of musical and community passion.
- The passionate and skilled musician who has some community experience and wants to explore how to create communities using music.
Since it is about community AND music, we believe you need skills developed from both vocations, and this is what we focus upon.
Why The Sum of the Parts (music)?
The Sum of the Parts (music) started as a community music business in late 2009. Since that time we have grown to have two people (Mark Jackson and Jane Jelbart) fully employed in teaching and facilitating. With the assistance of some colleagues we deliver over ten ukulele and singing group sessions each week in the Lower Hunter area of New South Wales.
Mark previously worked as a mental health worker, social researcher, geographer, and always (casually) as a musician. Jane has sung in choirs for decades, and previously worked in science, particularly marine science.
In fact Jane has a PhD in marine ecology. Mark has an Honours degree in Geography and has done a lot of postgraduate study on community development work, but has not yet got an additional piece of paper.
In 2013 Mark and Jane completed their third year of study in the James Hill Ukulele Initiative.
In 2012 and 2014 we lead Australia’s only ukulele teachers workshop – the TALAUG (Teachers and Leaders of Australian Ukulele Groups).
Be Involved!
Subscribe to our Ukulele Leaders’ mailing list
If you would like to know when our next TALAUG or ULT is scheduled, please subscribe to our Ukulele Leaders mail list. This email list is for those who wish to know about ukulele leadership initiatives with which The Sum of the Parts (music) is involved.
The JHUI-Oz list is for those who are involved in the James Hill Ukulele Initiative in late 2014, or who wish to know about future plans.
The ‘Leaders’ list is for those who don’t necessarily wish to know about JHUI goings on, but who are leaders in their local ukulele communities (or aspiring ones!).