Professional Learning Networks

November 25, 2019

Final Music post

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash (sanddial)

This will be the final Ukulele post for the semester. So far this term I have learned how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black sheep. I have also began learning to play ‘Jammin’ by Bob Marley and ‘Skinny Love’ by Bon Iver. Initially for my music growth plan I had hoped I would be able to play all these songs confidently, however, I seemed to hit a block and never passed the block yet. I still am struggling with the transitions into G chords, and am really struggling with the strumming patterns for ‘Skinny Love’. I have also had difficulty in tuning my Ukulele into the E-major chord which is required for the simpler version of ‘Jammin’, but have watched multiple tutorials and think I have gotten how to tune correctly. I definitely did not meet my music goals entirely this semester, however, I am so grateful that we had this opportunity to explore a new way of learning through inquiry, and that we had the opportunity to explore a new instrument. I will be using this new knowledge a lot in my future teaching career, as with failures I have learned what I would do better next time. For example, I would have made smaller and more attainable goals as opposed to focusing on learning so many songs. When I had made my initial plan I did not consider many things, but with more knowledge I could now make a more accurate learning plan for myself. I have asked for a Ukulele for a Christmas present, and I am hoping to continue to explore this lovely instrument and be able to use it as a tool in my future teaching.

Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash (guitar smash)

October 29, 2019

Music Post 4

I have still been having a lot of trouble in transitioning between chords fluently. When I play each chord individually, they sound like they are supposed to, however, it seems whenever I need to transition -specifically from and to the G-chord- the chords sound clumsy. I find that my fingers are larger than I anticipate and I accidentally touch a string I shouldn’t which makes the strum sound flat and dull. I have been trying to improve this by just practicing specific transitions back and forth that are needed for the song I am working on, Skinny Love by Bon Iver. By isolating the specific transitions and not having to focus on the rhythm or strumming pattern it makes it easier to work on the dexterity needed in switching between chords. I have made a decent amount of improvement of switching from G to F but am still finding it very difficult to get a clear G sound when I am switching from F to G.

Photo by Samuel Ramos on Unsplash

October 16, 2019

Progress is happening

This week I had the privilege of being able to watch a Ukulele class for 4^th graders which I found both intimidating, because they are way more advanced than me with the Ukulele, and inspiring, because these children’s joy and enthusiasm for learning an instrument was clearly visible and because I realized if they can pick it up I can too.

I finally feel like I have gotten the hang of “Twinkle Twinkle little star” and am able to transition between C and G7 more fluidly now, although that still needs a bit of work. While playing this nursery rhyme my 22 month old son has been joining in with me and singing the song, which has been another factor in me being able to practice as well has been super motivating as I feel he is learning with me (out of nowhere he started singing the song and I was amazed because he has only ever sung “lalala” for Elmo’s song before).

I also began to work on learning how to play Skinny Love by Bon Iver and am finding it to be a much quicker process than learning “Twinkle twinkle” because I have already a decent base and its not all completely new and overwhelming. I am still having trouble with my transition from C to G, but since I was having the same issue with transitioning from C to G7 for “twinkle twinkle” I have been able to work through the transition much more efficiently. Before this week I was having severe anxiety that I have not been able to accomplish much with the ukulele and was worried that I had been way too ambitious with what I wanted to learn; although I do want to make some adjustments to my growth plan for the end of the semester, I am not more hopeful I will be able to accomplish some of my musical growth goals.

Photo by Gabriel Testoni on Unsplash