Ukulele Music Lesson “Engine, Engine No. 9”

UKULELE MUSIC LESSON FOR “Engine, Engine No. 9”

I’m sharing my ideas on how to teach ukulele song “Engine, Engine No. 9” for the Elementary music teacher and ukulele teacher.

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ENGINE ENGINE NO 9 RESOURCES FOR PRESCHOOL, KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE

READ THIS POST for more ukulele lesson ideas!

CHANT THE LYRICS

Engine, engine No. 9

going down Chicago line.

If the train falls off the track, 

will I get my money back?

Here’s my teaching steps.

SING AND PAT THE BEAT

Sing the song and pat the beat before playing the song on ukulele.

PLAY THE C CHORD

Learn the C chord.

Point out the C string and how they’ll play the C note and strum.

First just play the chord on the steady beat.

You can use a drum to help students stay together.

DIVIDE CLASS INTO 2 GROUPS

Group A will sing the song.

Group B will play the song.

Sing the song three times.

This is an important activity to help the students learn to sing and play together instead of with the teacher.

Count to 4 in between each time for the singers.

Then switch tasks.

SING AND PLAY TOGETHER

Now it’s time to put it all together!

Take it slow, build confidence.

DEVELOP SKILLS

Now it’s time to add in some instruments.

Have some students playing small classroom instruments to accompany the ukuleles.

Begin with the beat on a hand drum.

Later you can have them create an ostinato to play.

You can develop this activity into  a complete unit like this:

• LESSON 1 
• LEARN THE SONG AND PLAY THE BEAT
• LESSON 2
• LEARN THE C CHORD AND STRUM TOGETHER
• LESSON 3 
• DIVIDE THE CLASS INTO GROUPS AND PRACTICE
• LESSON 4
• IMPLEMENT CLASSROOM INSTRUMENTS
• LESSON 5 
• CREATE OSTINATO & PLAY TOGETHER
• LESSON 6
• PERFORM AS A CLASS AND SMALL GROUPS

This is a great way to help students learn how to put music together and play in an ensemble.

RESOURCES THAT SUPPORT THESE IDEAS

I hope you got some ideas on how to learn to play the C chord and the song “Engine, Engine No 9” in your elementary music class.

Let’s Move and Learn with Music!