Giving a talk about the ukulele or need a fact sheet for music class? Here are the key facts, short and easy to understand.
Fact sheet
- Type: string instrument, more precisely a plucked instrument – related to the guitar
- Origin: Hawaii, late 19th century
- Strings: 4, today mostly nylon or a similar plastic
- Tuning: G C E A – the G string sounds higher than the C string next to it
- Sizes: soprano (about 53 cm), concert (about 58 cm), tenor (about 66 cm), baritone (about 76 cm)
- Material: wood – often plywood on school ukuleles, solid wood on more expensive ones
- Played: with the fingers – strumming chords or picking single notes
Where does the ukulele come from?
The ukulele was born in Hawaii. In 1879 immigrants from the Portuguese island of Madeira arrived there on the ship “Ravenscrag”. They brought a small four-string instrument called the machete (also known as braguinha). Three instrument makers among them – Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and José do Espírito Santo – built such instruments in Honolulu and developed the ukulele from them.
The Hawaiian king David Kalākaua liked the new instrument and had it played at royal festivities. So it quickly became popular in Hawaii. On the American mainland the ukulele became known after the 1915 world’s fair in San Francisco, where Hawaiian musicians performed.
What does the name mean?
In Hawaiian it’s spelled ʻukulele and every syllable is pronounced clearly: “oo-koo-leh-leh”. The best-known translation is “jumping flea” (ʻuku = flea, lele = to jump) – maybe because the fingers hop so quickly over the strings. Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last queen of Hawaii, explained the name instead as “the gift that came here”. Nobody knows for sure which is right – in your talk you can mention both.
Parts of the ukulele
- Headstock with the tuning pegs
- Nut: the small strip where the strings pass from the headstock onto the fretboard
- Neck with the fretboard and frets – the space between two frets is one fret position
- Body with top, sound hole, back and sides
- Bridge: where the strings are fixed at the bottom
Tips for your presentation
- Bring a ukulele and play a short song, such as the string song G-C-E-A – everyone hears the four strings right away.
- Let the class hear the difference between major and minor: first C, then Am.
- Say where your information comes from – for example an encyclopaedia or a library book.