On the surface a ukulele kit, there is more here than assembling a simple instrument and then wondering what to do with it. Chord Hero, a partner in the Outblaze Group, declares its purpose to be making music learning a fun, affordable experience, aiming to bring the benefits of music to more people – especially the budget-conscious and those discouraged by the ‘tedious and repetitive nature of music learning’. Some tutors may challenge this, as well as other claims that ‘learning to play an instrument is difficult, music practice is long and tedious, and musical instruments and tuition can be very expensive’.
The kit
Currently available to the UK at around £29 per set, the price includes shipping and a year's subscription to Monster Chords. Monster Chords is Wave Cortex's music tuition game and is approved by Kokoa, a Finnish certification business that sells educational assessments to set standards. Of interest to schools and workshop leaders, a bulk pricing of £23 per set is available for shipments of ten, which also includes shipping.
Opening the box, as is clear from the contents checklist, all components to complete the instrument are present, as well as a mini screwdriver and clear glue (lack of health and safety information leaves this unspecified). The ready-made body and neck have a simple dowel joint to unite them, complemented by a ready-fretted fingerboard. Once built, the ukulele can be decorated using the brush supplied with a set of watercolour paints and sandpaper (no varnish). Purely pictorial instructions are easy to follow.
The build
To give this kit a fair start, I put it in the hands of someone with experience of building instrument kits and repairing guitars, ukuleles and mandolins. We think a six-year-old would need help; most children would require guidance to end up with the most playable instrument in their hands.
It was possible to make the instrument without additional parts despite the contents not being quite as listed or pictured. Extra tools were used to dress protruding fret edges. The fingerboard‘s slight warping required clamping; its being narrower than the neck is merely a cosmetic issue. A sturdier screwdriver was necessary: there are no pilot holes and the screws are not self-tapping. Final diagrams for a playable action – clear to luthiers, repairers and knowledgeable amateurs – would benefit from guidance about what or how to file, should the finished instrument vary from the specified clearances.
Such petty grumbles can be fixed with a little quality control adjustment. The result is the satisfaction of a ukulele (not a toy) similar to the serious budget ukuleles available from many musical instrument manufacturers at around the £25 price point (although all the industry suppliers provide a professional finish – often a simple gig bag, or even an instructional booklet).
Learning to play
Monster Chords – available for iPad and iPhone – uses colour-coded string diagrams with voiceover commentary. Codes matching those being universally adopted (the red C through the yellow E and dark green G to the purple B of Boomwhackers, for example) may have helped. Via an iPad, we accessed a repeated introduction, aimed at right-handed players only; a simple change of vocabulary (similar to that used by most trained tutors) would make it equally useful to left-handed players.
The clear and useful visuals have tiny audio glitches (a little ahead of the sound, when a C chord is announced, an A minor diagram appears). The idea is good, with the presentation needing some simple detail fixes.
The concept and future
An excellent and adaptable educational tool with many applications given a few simple tweaks, I think that aiming this at children only limits its appeal unnecessarily. The growing number of (particularly older) adults enjoying the ukulele is being matched by increased opportunities for adults, many of whom would enjoy this (but may not relish the child-orientated presentation). Recommended to teachers, music leaders and parents who can spare the time and ability to oversee – and to adult learners and ukulele groups.
