A Nonprofit Helps Students Learn Through Ukulele and Song

On a typical Monday, Jess Baron, executive director of Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom, helps tune hundreds of ukuleles that will be used in classrooms across 181 schools in the San Diego Unified School District.

It’s a labor of love. More than two decades ago, Baron was an elementary-school music teacher when she first dreamed up the idea for a nonprofit that would help her colleagues integrate music into everyday classroom learning. Since then, Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom has provided free music training and instruments to more than 15,000 teachers, plus in-school teaching residencies and after-school “strumming clubs” for children.

“It’s something that teachers can take throughout their careers,” says Gail Wingfield, the organization’s director of development and programs.

Just like toddlers learn their ABCs through song, older students can learn literacy, math, or other subjects through music, says Baron.

“We’re working on the whole child through music for speech and language, for phonological awareness, and for numeracy — all of that math is implicit in music,” she says. “The teachers are driving their day-to-day curriculum with songs.”

The songs the teachers compose with their students aren’t just educational. They’re a lot of fun, too.

When the pandemic hit, the nonprofit doubled down on its mission. It pivoted to online teacher training and offered take-home ukuleles for students sheltering in place. Instead of focusing only on decimals or grammar rules, teachers began leading their virtual classrooms in songs about coping with isolation.

“It was the only thing getting students to turn on their cameras,” says Baron, who notes that the nonprofit was able to double in size during the pandemic, thanks to grants from supporters like the San Diego Foundation and NBCUniversal.
As for what’s next, Baron hopes to help teachers across the country tap into her approach to learning through music.

“Once you hear kids singing in one classroom, it spreads like wildfire,” she says. “Entire school cultures have shifted because one teacher began our program.”