Not Great Timing!

Welcome Back! ?

This week is the first week where I have struggled quite a bit with grasping a new concept. It was disheartening after progressing so quickly in other aspects, but that is just part of the learning process! I think it was important for me to experience some struggle and setbacks because some students in my future classroom might experience the same feelings of frustration and annoyance that I felt due to not being able to grasp the new concept quickly and easily. ?

My main focus this past week was looking into timing because I want to be able to have the right timing in future songs that I learn. While the article that I read this week says that one should learn chords of a song first and proper timing of a song second, I would now like to learn how to incorporate timing, so it is an easier process later for learning future songs.

Here is a link to the article that I read this week: How to Improve Your Rhythm and Timing

This article offers different ways and methods of trying to learn timing. It was very informative, and it provided lots of information. I appreciated that at the end there was a reminder that some people will pick up timing super quickly as a natural ability, while others will need to work extra hard and put in lots of effort to learn timing.

Lately, I have been working on song “Stand By Me” by Ben. E. King. The timing in this song is 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. For the song and timing, one plays down, pause, down, up, pause, up, down, up. While I am able to play this strum pattern, I have no understanding of how to connect this pattern with timing. Below I have linked a video of me playing the island strum pattern with no chords while trying to count in my head.

Attempting to Count Timing in my Head

I wish you all could read my thoughts while I tried to do this! I had numbers and the word “and” flying around and getting scrambled in my brain. I would be doing okay for a short amount of time, but then my mind would lose track of where I was! It is very tricky. Earlier in the week, I tried to tap my foot and play at the same time, but it felt like too much physical movement happening. I could not focus on tapping my foot and playing the ukulele at the same time.  Does anyone have any tips and tricks for learning timing on an instrument? ?

Other than timing, I practiced chords this week! While I did not learn any new ones, I improved my transition between F and G7 while playing “Stand By Me.”

Here is the link to me practicing switching between F and G7:

Transition Practice Between F and G7

Here is the link to me playing “Stand By Me” with a better transition between F and G7:

“Stand By Me” with a Good Transition Between F and G7

This part of the week was much more encouraging! Overall, this week was an important reminder that students are going to struggle with some aspects of learning a new skill, but they will thrive while learning other aspects.

Over the next week, I will continue practicing timing with the island strum pattern, and I will attempt to utilize a metronome again. Instead of matching the BPM with the song, I will use a slow BPM and work my way to playing the song faster! Further, I will keep using strategies from the article linked above! Additionally, I will learn some new chords!

Thanks for listening and reading! See you next week! ??