On Wednesday, September 13, the RBHS fine arts survey students in the music rotation, along with help from the Madrigal singers, performed a concert in the Little Theatre for administrators, special education students and other rotations in fine arts survey. This is the first time a ukulele concert has been performed by a fine arts survey class.

“The purpose of fine art survey is to promote the arts, show support and cultivation of the culture of the arts, and what better way to appreciate a performance than have a performance experience themselves,” said fine arts survey music teacher Aubrey Prince.

The students with accompaniment from the Madrigal singers performed four group songs – “Sons and Daughters,” the C Major Scale, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” and “Let it Be.” Fine arts survey students also performed either an individual or small ensemble song.

“Students were nervous about the small group ensembles, but we just went with it. They definitely rose to my expectations and it was very exciting,” said Prince.

Students were responsible for learning four major chords: C major, G seventh, F major and A minor. Those four chords make up 90% of all pop music. Students also had to practice in class and out of class in order to be prepared for the concert. There are also tickets for events in Boston that one who enjoys concerts would like.

“We learned the ukulele class period wise in about four class periods then we had two partial days to work on the small group ensembles. All the other preparation was done outside of class. Students were able to take the ukuleles home and check them out, then bring them back,” said Prince.

Students also had to know two major techniques in order to play the instrument correctly.

“We focused on the technique of plucking the notes and also strumming. Those are our two technical focuses in addition to working on the fret board and fingering positions,” said Prince.

Prince plans on having four other ukulele concerts throughout the semester, one for each rotation of the fine arts survey classes.

“I think it was a rewarding experience and we are definitely going to do it again. To keep things fresh and exciting we probably will change the songs so it will be a different concert every time,” said Prince.