Posture and freedom of movement
- Develop an appropriate relaxed posture and hand position, both sitting and standing:
- supporting and balancing the instrument with more ease
- ensuring that both hands can move freely
Continue to ensure that learners adopt an appropriate posture in both standing and sitting positions.
Encourage learners to be aware of unnecessary tension and find ways to address them. Some learners may find relaxation methods useful, e.g. yoga, Alexander Technique.
Ensure that learners’ shoulders are level and relaxed by asking them to hunch them up and let them fall two or three times.
Teach learners to play various forms of barré chords. Draw attention to where the pressure is needed from the barré finger.
The left-hand position of the thumb needs to be secure so as to produce a clean sound from the instrument. Ensure that it is kept at the back of the neck of the ukulele, to provide the pressure needed for the fingers and to keep the wrist forward and fingers upright.
Demonstrate to learners the difference between positive and negative body language when performing.
Encourage learners to attend live performances where possible, and/or watch live performances online. Many different postures and presentation styles will be found among the plethora of YouTube ukulelists, which can serve as useful discussion points.
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