Informal music learning in UNCG ukes

The primary purpose of this case study was to understand what motivated members of UNCG Ukes, a community ukulele group, to participate in and continue to be a part of the ukulele group. The secondary purpose was to understand how participants of UNCG Ukes learned to make music, specifically in relationship to informal music learning approaches. Participants in this study were members of UNCG Ukes, an intergenerational ukulele group that met on the campus of the University of North Carolina Greensboro during the Spring semester of 2015. Lucy Green's informal music learning components (2002; 2008) were used as the theoretical framework guiding the investigation. Using case study methodology, several forms of data were collected, including video-recorded observations, audio-recorded individual interviews, field notes, memos, analysis of lead sheets and music notation, and artifacts including photos and drawings of the space.;Results based on observation and interview data indicated that participants were motivated to participate in UNCG Ukes because they enjoyed learning to sing, and play ukulele with others. The approach participants used to learn music within this context largely aligned with Green's informal music learning components. Whereas Green suggested that an aural-only approach was preferred in informal music learning (2002; 2008), participants of UNCG Ukes used a pragmatic "whatever works" approach to learning tunes, including using aural and visual methods, such as YouTube videos and lead sheets.