Dalzell launches music ed with ukuleles

... We don’t have a band and we don’t have a choir. It always bothered me that they didn’t have more musical opportunities and I thought, ‘What could we do?’

—  Chris Kelsey, Dalzell Grade School music teacher

Chris Kelsey wanted to start a music program at Dalzell Grade School and knew there’d be obstacles, not least a lean budget and precious storage space.

But Kelsey had a nifty idea to resolve those pitfalls: Teach her kids to play the ukulele.

Each Monday and Wednesday, Dalzell students take their seats on overturned 5-gallon drums in the gymnasium and follow Kelsey along as she strums out jangly chords.

“This school is a wonderful place and offers a high-quality education, but we don’t have a band and we don’t have a choir,” Kelsey said. “It always bothered me that they didn’t have more musical opportunities and I thought, ‘What could we do?’”

She didn’t have to think long. Educators across America and the globe, she said, have turned to the four-stringed instrument associated with the music of Hawaii. The ukulele is compact, easy to store and, to hear 10-year-old Mailla Sarver tell it, “easy” to play.

Easy, that is, insofar as Kelsey marks up each fretboard with colored stickers so that Mailla and her Dalzell classmates known just where to place their fingertips.

So far, they’ve learned four chords – C, A-minor, F and now G – and that’s been enough to play simple tunes in preparation for a spring concert on April 5.

“I was really excited,” said Alexa Becker, 10, of Dalzell. “I like trying something new. It’s a little hard but it gets easier.”

And it’s easy on the budget, which is no small consideration for a school Dalzell’s size.

“Ukuleles are less expensive than guitars, they’re a little easier to learn – there are chords you can play with just one finger – and storage is less of an issue,” Kelsey said.

Teaching ukulele was made possible by Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, which approved Dalzell’s grant request to purchase ukuleles through the Arts of Starved Rock Country Fund. Guitar Junkyard in La Salle ordered the instruments at a discount and prepped all the instruments for in-school play.

The ukulele was an easy sell for Principal Mary Ann Stefanelli, too. Both she and Kelsey had retired after long careers at the Peru Elementary School District but then embraced the challenge of enriching the curriculum at a smaller school.

Stefanelli said Dalzell parents were pleased to learn music education would be added to the curriculum – and undoubtedly thrilled when the children didn’t come home with ear-splitting woodwinds or window-shaking brass horns.

“I’m sure parents won’t mind the playing of ukuleles at home versus the recorders in third and fourth grade,” Stefanelli laughed. “But parents are very happy to have their students exposed to music and instruments so we don’t get the complaints. They’re happy with it.”

Interested in Arts of Starved Rock Country Fund?

The Arts of Starved Rock Country Fund is opening the next grant application session for non-profit organizations who support the arts and arts programs, including schools, libraries and museums throughout Starved Rock Country.

Applications must be received March 15 through May 1 for programs and projects happening through the end of the year. Grant recipients will be notified in early June.

To learn more about The Arts of Starved Rock Country Fund or the application process, contact Zehr via email at amanda@srccf.org. To obtain a 2023 Grant Application, visit the Arts Alive website www.starvedrockarts.com.