Auckland Uke and Singing INTERMEDIATE class on SUNDAY: NEW VENUE in Grey Lynn!

Hi and welcome to the Auckland Uke and Singing intermediate lessons!

Please note:
There are various levels of classes offered within this Meetup group.
This Sunday's class at 11am is intended for those of you who are already familiar with basic major and minor chord shapes, have learned some strumming patterns including the "island strum" (also known as calypso) and the "chuck" strum, can play simple songs on the ukulele and feel keen on advancing a bit faster than in a group for beginners, but not quite ready to join the "4 Strings Sing" performing ensemble group that some may wish to join later - you can find out more about that here: https://www.meetup.com/4-strings-sing-auckland-based-ukulele-performing-ensemble/

I'm looking forward to meeting each of you and sharing music together. This one-hour lesson will take place most weeks (usually Sundays). Please feel free to write me some suggestions if there are specific songs you dream of learning :) I have put together a 2026/27 Student Survey for this purpose so please feel free to fill this out to let me know more about your musical interests and aspirations. Thanks!

STUDENT SURVEY LINK
https://us21.list-manage.com/survey?u=7b8f0ec6845e7d0c5e9d4da2b&id=67174b8412&attribution=false

📍 Location & Access Classes

As many of you know, we’ve recently had to say goodbye to our wonderful venue at the Nix, as my 6-year artist residency with the Ockham Collective has come to an end. The good news however is that we now have a new venue very close by. On November 8th 2026, we will be inaugurating a brand new Auckland music venue! The classes will be taking place at 38 Monmouth Street, a new music venue called "The Woodshed". This is a lovely spacious and luminous professional music venue with great acoustics that I will be renting on the days I teach classes. There is a free parking lot available right next door that you can access from Nixon Street (a few doors down from our old venue, The Nix) - the individual spaces are marked 38 Monmouth Street and you can park in any of those for free if attending one of my classes (which usually take place on Sundays, occasionally Saturdays) then walk through the gate and enter to the right. I will post some photos of the venue and parking lot for easier access. Please note there is (unfortunately) a flight of stairs to access the venue and the elevator I'd been promised has turned out to be too expensive to build. Sorry about that... I will look into having one or two accessible (no stairs) weeknight classes in Mt Eden Village once I get these classes up and running again.

💰 Booking & Pricing

$25 per class (cash on the day or bank transfer)
Please also bring/include an extra $5 to help cover the room rental

Account details:
ANZ Freedom Account
Name: Sonia Wilson
Number: 01-0205-0083380-00
Bulk options:

$120 for 5 sessions (+ extra weekly $5 for room rental)
$230 for 10 sessions (+ extra weekly $5 for room rental)

(Sessions don’t need to be consecutive—just keep track of your attendance please 🙏)

📌 Booking is required – Max 20 people per class (first come, first served).

What we'll do

We will be exploring the basics of music theory around this instrument (no rocket science, just enough to get you comfortable with starting to play by ear and how to decipher tabs or easy music scores) and the voice, as well as learning a vocabulary of chord shapes, strumming patterns and a variety of songs in different genres. We will occasionally venture into the realm of playful group improvisations.

One of the main challenges of playing ukulele and singing is the art of putting those two together, so we will spend time getting to know the phrasing of various songs and developing your ability to synchronise your singing and playing so you can build up the skill and confidence to eventually perform in front of an audience, if you ever wish to do so.

As I am experienced in choir singing, we will also look at some harmony singing on some of the songs.

What to bring
A ukulele! Many of my students also find it helpful to have a strap on their ukulele.

Please tune your ukulele before the start of the lesson using an electric clip-on ukulele tuner, a tuner app on your smartphone or your ear (for those feeling very confident). A well-tuned ukulele will tend to make you want to play more frequently...

It will be much easier to play the notes / chord shapes on uke if the nails on your left hand are not too long.

Important to know
Please don't shy away from this learning experience by fear of not being good enough. We are all on a learning journey, myself included. Everyone is musical in my opinion. It's just a matter of exposure, experience and practice. I intend for these group lessons to be educational in a fun and relaxed kind of way. My intention is to create a "safe zone" for musical play and learning in good company.

⚠️ Please note, class times may occasionally vary due to performance commitments, so please sign up via Meetup and check in weekly to stay updated. There is also a WhatsApp group you can opt into for updates if you wish to.

Thanks so much for being part of this community—hope to see you on Sunday!

xoxo Sonia