Chords for Which Ukuleles Do I Buy OR NOT buy for my classroom?!? Amazon Ukulele Orders

_ Good morning from Japan.
[D] My name is Bernadette and I [G] am a music teacher in Okinawa
[D] This video is going to be [G] about starting a ukulele program
So if you already [D] have a program just wait for the next [C] video
the next video will be about curriculum and some [D] of the strategies that I use in my classroom [G] to
Just manage all [D] of the students having a ukulele _
Okay, if you're going to buy [D] ukuleles for your program, [G] these are the ones I would not recommend
[D] _ I'm sorry [C] for the brand but
[D] These are just ukuleles.
I just don't [G] recommend from my personal experience.
[D] One of them would be the Mahalo
Ukulele [G] I have it in soprano here in the [D] classroom
the reason why I would not [G] recommend it is because it has [D] kind of an inconsistent like spacing [C] from the fret to the strings [D] _ and
When [G] the students press the note depending [D] on how hard they press it can vary in the tone
[G] kind of
[D] Very quite a bit
Another reason why I [G] would not recommend it is because [D] the sound is not too authentic [C] sounding
_ Another [D] one that I definitely [G] would not recommend is
Ala [D] Moana and these are not ukuleles that [G] I bought by the way
These are [D] ukuleles that parents bought for the kids [G] the kids brought to school and then [D] they left them here
They didn't [C] like the sound of it, they probably told their parents they [A] lost it and [D] so now they're just a [G] wall decoration
For [D] starters the Cukulele [G] came strong incorrectly
So I don't [D] know if that's like the [G] store's fault or the makers fault
But one of the strings [D] is not like you don't turn the [C] correct way to tune it
So every time that I tried to [D] tune it in the beginning, I would [G] like make it flatter instead of sharper
[D] The [G] strings are also really cheap and it has a cheap sound and it does not [D] stay in tune for very long
In [G] addition the problem that I had with this one [D] was that the [C] pegs if I would turn it to tune it
They [Am] slide [D] back.
So then I had to take a [G] screwdriver to the back, which I don't mind
[D] But then I made it too tight.
So it [G] was really difficult to tune
So then I tried [D] loosening it and it would turn [G] on its own
I couldn't find [D] the happy medium of _
[C] tightness and tension
[Am] So that one is Ala [D] Moana and the [G] other one is Amahalo.
I feel so bad [D] doing this.
I've never done this before _
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] Thankfully, I have a short list of the [G] ones that I don't like that's because [D] all of the other ukuleles that I bought have been great [C] ukuleles
So I'm gonna start with the [Am] first one that we [D] bought about two [G] years ago
_ So [D] when I first wanted to start a ukulele program [G] that I was new to the school
So the school didn't want to invest a whole lot of money _
they bought
[Bm] 15 ukuleles for my students.
So half [C] a class set and those were [Am] the
Oscar [D] Smith by [G] Washburn ukuleles and
_ [D] They survived [G] like this is two years of a ukulele and it still [C] sounds great _
The kids love using [D] them even though we've gotten newer ukuleles the kids that got used [C] to this one just [Am] keep going back to it
I
[D] Have no complaints about [G] this one.
I know it's dependable [D] and when I went to go
to add [G] more ukuleles to my program, [D] they were sold out of this one at least [G] with the
_ Amazon [D] Japan, which is what I have to order from _
[C] _ Next I'm going to [D] review the other ukulele that I've had the longest [G] so that would be the Kaka [D] ukulele
from the kids that [G] know like how much my parents laugh at [D] the name
That's K-A-K [G]-A and I have it [D] in a tenor and in a concert [C] ukulele
When I [D] saw that Oscar Smith was sold out [G] of ukuleles
I thought well, I'll [D] add some new ones and I'll add some variety of sizes
[G] _ So I've got the [D] bigger ones because some of the kids expressed wanting [G] to move to guitar in the future and [D] I wanted to transition
Them slowly [C] through giving them bigger instruments and some of the [A] kids have transitioned [D] into their own
Maritone [G] ukuleles, but I don't have them here with me [D] so I can't review it.
Sorry _
[G] this
_ [D] Kaka ukulele is also [C] has a great sound
The tuning [C#] is pretty consistent.
It doesn't [Am] change and
_ I really love the color on it
[D] I love the feel on it [G] and it is some of the kids favorites like [D] my more advanced students will go to these
[G] That's the one this is the one that they [D] prefer
so this is the tenor [G] size and this is the concert size [C#] and
[D] _ It's not like a [C] specific gender or a specific grade [Am] level chooses the size
[D] It really is about the kids [G] comfort level
So I let them choose which one is going to be best for them or if they have [D] no preference then I choose for them
[G] The difference between these and the Oscar [D] Schmidt was that these were cheaper [G] and they came with cases and extra [D] strings
_ [C] So those were the benefits and the last ukulele [D] I will review is the one that is guilty [G] for me falling in love with the instrument _
[D] This one was a gift.
I [G] believe it was a birthday gift about 10 years [D] ago
_ Yeah, [G] about 10 years ago and
[D] This is the [C] cordoba I have no complaints about it
Like [D] if you can see here, there's a one string that I [G] replayed
Our kid was playing with it [D] and it was not her fault.
She was trying [G] to tune it
It's I mean, I've never changed these [D] strings the the black ones
They've been [G] on there that long and it still sounds wonderful
[D] This ukulele has traveled with [C] me to China and [D] to a few other countries
I used [G] it to teach out there
[D] It did sustain a pretty gnarly [G] crack
During one of the [D] flights so that made me really sad, [G] but it did not affect the sound thankfully.
[D] I'm so happy
_ [C] So that's the cordoba.
I have that in the concert
[A] There [D] are [G] obviously many more great ukuleles
I just wanted [D] to share with you the ones that I have and [G] the ones that I've tested for
[D] About three years for most of [G] them.
I hope this is helpful for you