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A new qualification from “the god of ukulele” has given teacher Avon Hansen-Beadle new enthusiasm for teaching locals how to play this popular little instrument.
Recently Avon became the first woman in NZ to complete a Level 3 Certificate of Achievement from the James Hill Initiative’s teacher certification programme.
The three-year course was interrupted by Avon’s family commitments, and then Covid-19 – she began studying towards it in 2015.
The course is based in Canada, but Avon says James is a regular visitor to NZ.
Avon has been playing and teaching ukulele since 2011, but says the qualification was still demanding.
It included hours of practice and having to run a big band (around 15 players), record the performance and write it up with lesson plans and reflections.
“I wanted to do it because of James’ approach – known as ‘the twin chord approach’,” Avon says.
“Mastering this enables me to teach a complete newbie to play something basic on the ukulele in five minutes. It is life-changing in terms of teaching and means a new player can quickly join in with more experienced ones.”
She says James has also added layers to ukulele music, so that groups of players can play classical pieces – something she calls ‘ukestraton’.
Avon teaches at Estuary Arts Centre in Ōrewa and is introducing daytime classes. She will also bring some of the classical pieces from the James Hill course to her Ukulele Big Band.
Info: www.ukuleleheaven.nz
