Category: Music

Click on the link below to watch my EDCI 306 A Final Video!

Hey everyone! It saddens me to say that this will be my last music blog post for the semester. I have had an amazing experience taking EDCI 306 A, and have learnt so much in just a few short months. I truly feel that not only have my ukulele skills improved but my confidence in teaching music in elementary classrooms as well. Over the past 3 months, I have learnt 6 new songs (with a variety of chords) and 3 different strumming patterns that can be taught in the classroom.

Photo by Christy Ash on Unsplash

This past week, I have worked on my final two songs “Mamma Mia” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World”. I decided to not sing during my final song as the original version is sung in a lower key and trying to alter it to my vocal range was not working out. For these two songs, I focused on maintaining a steady tempo and having smooth chord transitions. I feel I have done a good job with all of my songs this semester and I could possibly teach them in the future. 

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Since I have travelled back to my hometown, I have found I have had a lot more time to practice the ukulele. I have always had a love for music and it has been an amazing experience combining passion and purpose throughout this course. I plan to continue learning more songs on the ukulele and can’t wait to see where my musical journey will take me! 

Check out the video above to see my final video for the semester!

– Ms. G 🙂

Welcome back to my blog! As the last few weeks of school are approaching, I have been working on my third song “Mamma Mia”. Overall, the song is coming along quite well, however, I am still struggling with the chord transitions from “A” to “Bm”. I was originally planning to record this song as a duet with Alexa but with the recent Covid-19 pandemic, both of us will be travelling back home for the rest of the semester. I know we were looking forward to playing together and perhaps in the future, we will have the opportunity to do so. In the meantime, I have been increasing the current tempo in order to match it closer to the original song. This song has a simple “D, U, D, U, D, U” strumming pattern which has been the easiest pattern of all the songs I have learned this semester. For the rest of the semester, my goal is to be able to sing and play at the same time. 

Attached is the video that I have been using to learn the Bm chord.

For the rest of the semester, I have decided to learn one more song which is a famous Hawaiian ukulele cover. It is called “Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” originally performed by Israël Kamakawiwo’ole. I came across this song a few years ago and thought it was such a beautiful combination of two classic songs. The chords in the song are the following: “Am, C, D, D7, Em, E7, F, G”. The strumming pattern is “D, D, U, U, D, U” and it is referred to as the “island strum”. This is the same strumming pattern that I learned while playing “Somone to Lava”, and most of the notes in this song I have learned through the other songs. I am continuing to work on adding more speed to this song, and hopefully next week I can start singing and playing at the same time!

Here is the official video of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” played by Israël Kamakawiwo’ole.

– Ms. G 🙂

As we begin the second half of the semester, I am really focusing on sharpening my ukulele skills and expanding my musical knowledge. This week, I am beginning to learn the chords to my final song “Mamma Mia”. I chose this song because Mamma Mia is my favourite movie and I believe it is important to be passionate about what you are playing. When I played piano in elementary school, I was often more enthusiastic about songs that I already knew. 

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

The chords used in this song are the following: “D, A, G, Bm, Em”. When I originally chose this song, I had looked at a slightly different version of this song, but after playing both versions, I preferred this one. This song is appearing to be the hardest song I have attempted to learn as the chord transitions are quick and put a strain on my wrist. I am currently working on transitioning from an A to a Bm chord which is a challenge as the Bm chord itself is awkward to hold. I am practicing using my index finger as an anchor for the chord as it slides down one fret but remains on the second string. Over the next few weeks, I am going to increase the speed of the song once I feel more comfortable with the chords.

Along with learning the chords, Alexa and I have been working together to help each other learn the song. Our goal is to be able to perform it together by the end of the semester. I have found that peer teaching has been a huge asset through my musical growth journey. Between the two of us, we can provide feedback for each other as well as work on timing and rhythm. I believe this is a strong component of musical education as students learn a lot from their peers around them. In the future, I hope to utilize peer teaching while playing the ukulele as a way to expand the knowledge towards more students. As a teacher, it is difficult to give every student the one-on-one attention they need. It is important to allow the stronger students to act as mentors and guides for other students to follow. Alexa has experience playing guitar, and while the ukulele is different, this has helped me to learn a lot about chord positioning and posture.

– Ms. G 🙂

Click on the link below to watch my EDCI 306 A Midterm Video!

Hello! I hope everyone had a good reading break! This week as we approach the midterm, I have been focusing on learning my second ukulele song “Hakuna Matata” from the hit Disney film, “The Lion King”. When I originally picked this song to learn, I thought it would be a good song to challenge my abilities because it had a few more notes than my first song. However, the song is quite short and I have picked it up quite quickly. The chords for this song include the following: C, F, G, D, G7, Am. Since this song has a simple strumming pattern, I am focusing on making smooth chord transitions between notes. 

I have also decided to learn a third song before the midterm as I believe I can challenge myself. The third song I chose was “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid. What I like about this song is that it only has 3 chords  (C, G, F) but has a quicker tempo compared to the other two songs. Currently, I am working on singing and playing at the same time. The strumming pattern is the same in this song as it is in “Someone to Lava” which is helping to reaffirm my confidence in my playing. I chose these first three songs because they are all from Disney movies and are familiar to children. 

The most challenging part of this musical growth plan has been gaining the confidence to play and sing at the same time. I have been practicing about 3 times a week to improve my skills. I hope that for the second half of the semester, I can continue to improve my strumming patterns and learn the song “Mamma Mia”.

– Ms. G 🙂

Welcome back to another exciting blog of me attempting to learn how to play the ukulele. Over the past few weeks, I began practicing the first of the three songs that I had set out to learn in my musical growth plan. 

The first song “Someone to Lava” comes from the Disney Pixar animated short film called “Lava” which can be found in the link above. I was inspired to learn this song as it has a sweet happy melody and sends a positive message to students. When I originally looked into the notes of this song, the easiest version was written to include the notes “C, F, G7”. After I practiced those three notes, I discovered there was another version of the song that required 5 notes, “C, F, G, G7, C7”. I then decided to attempt this version and found that the 2 extra notes provided more dynamic to the overall piece. I am currently working on adding the strumming pattern of “DD UU DU” as well as increasing my tempo to match the original speed of the piece. Furthermore, I still am having trouble holding the ukulele in the correct position. I find that while I am transitioning between notes, the ukulele slips out of place and my right arm cannot keep it pinched in place. To improve this, I have been practicing the ukulele while standing so I do not rely on my lap to support it.  

Over the next few weeks before the midterm, I will continue to practice “Someone to Lava” and also begin to learn the notes to “Hakuna Matata”. I had originally hoped to have learned both of these songs before the midterm, but I think I will most likely be able to fully master the first song and still be learning the second song by that date. 

– Ms. G 🙂

Hey everyone! Here is my first blog post as I embark on my musical journey to learn the ukulele! I was inspired to learn the ukulele as I had picked it up in the 8th grade but never had the opportunity to continue learning it. I feel that the ukulele is an excellent instrument to play in the classroom as it is a small, light instrument that is relatively easy for people of all ages to learn. 

This past week, I have worked on learning how to hold and tune the ukulele. When holding your ukulele, it is important to maintain good posture and keep the ukulele propped up so it is not resting in your lap. When you are holding it, put the body of the ukulele under your right arm, and use your right elbow to secure it in place. Then, place your left thumb against the back of the neck on your ukulele. Your fingers on your left hand will then create a “C” like curve around the neck and be in the proper position to play. 

Once I determined how to hold the ukulele properly, I worked on learning how to tune the ukulele. A ukulele has 4 strings: G, C, E, A. To tune a ukulele, you turn the tuning pegs to the right or left depending on if you need to make the sound lower or higher. Since I am new to tuning, I had to use a tuning app on my phone to help determine how close I was to the note. Over the next few weeks, I hope to work on tuning the ukulele by ear. I can ensure this by practicing singing the notes myself in tune.

– Ms. G 🙂