Uke Day 2024
Ukulele Day the Marion Way!
Last Friday 25th October the Year 5/6 students in Room 10 and Room 11 hosted the 4th Annual Ukulele Day which was organised by our ukulele teacher Mr Whitehead. We were joined on the day by the two ukulele classes that Mr Whitehead teaches at Fulham Gardens. Our Uke Day has been growing every year and is now more like a ukulele festival rolled into one school day with various activities from real uke festivals.
Our day started with warm-up exercises to get our hands and singing voices into gear. The sound of almost 100 ukuleles was awesome and gave us an idea of what was to follow. After a welcome by our principal Mr Walmsley we sang and played our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, with Auslan signing by students from both schools. We then all joined in a jam-a-long session assisted by the Ukulele Day Band, Andy Jacky and Dawn, who were joined by Mr Whitehead and our own Mr Starling who played bass ukulele. This was followed by class project songs which were led by students from each of the classes. After recess we were treated to an Open Mic session presented by very brave uke students from each class. Our school performers were Caleb and Aiden from Room 10 and Lexi from Room 11. A highlight of the day was the workshop conducted by the Ukulele Day Band who taught us Mustang Sally. We were then told to take our ukuleles outside but we didn’t know why. To our great surprise there, parked in the middle of the school playground, was a sparkling red 1965 Ford Mustang, just like the one we had been singing about! We were able to ask the car’s owner Tony some questions about his Mustang and he popped the bonnet to show us the engine. Mr Walmsley even got to go in a spin around the block in the car.
After lunch we were treated to a special performance by guest performer, Phi Theodoros, who goes by her stage name “The Ukulele Dream Girl”. Phi shared songs and stories about the joy of playing music on her ukulele “Willow” and how music has helped her to overcome obstacles that have impacted on her life. To complete our day with our Fulham Garden ukulele friends we sang and played some lively songs finishing off with Sweet Caroline which almost lifted the roof off the Gym.
We all agreed that it was a UKEtastic day and we can’t wait to do it again next year!
Below are some quotes from some of our talented Year 5/6 Uke Musicians:
“The best thing that happens in ukulele day is having fun with your friends strumming in cheerful songs”-Aarush G
“The best part of Ukulele Day was when we got to see the Mustang. Also when we got to sing Sweet Caroline.
By Aiden
“The best part of ukulele day was seeing a real and working 1965 mustang” – Ben
“On ukulele day 2024 I really enjoyed the fun bright vibe and how everyone was just singing and playing along and having a good time.”- Ashleah
“The best part of Ukulele day was the singing and all the ukulele’s playing it sounded good”-Bella
“I really enjoyed Ukulele day because I could spend a day sitting and strumming on an instrument.”
-Hannah Taylor
“The most beautiful part of uke day is its diversity across all students”-Chhunlong
“I like ukulele day because we where singing all together and playing ukulele, also we saw a mustang 1965 because we were singing a song about it “
-By Evelina.H
“The most wonderful part of Ukulele Day was connecting with others through a musical instrument, I love how people can connect in so many different ways!” -Alexis
Mr Whitehead
Ukulele Teacher