Category: EDTC300 (Page 2 of 2)

This week, I moved on to something new – fingerpicking! While I still have lots to learn while strumming chords, I found myself hitting a rut where I was no longer motivated to learn the ukulele. By picking up something new, I feel more refreshed and ready to continue learning. For the rest of the semester, I will be alternating what I learn each week to try to prevent feeling bored and unmotivated. 

Holding the ukulele when fingerpicking is different from holding the ukulele while strumming. When strumming, you want your thumb to strum over the bottom of the fretboard. However, when fingerpicking, you definitely want to avoid coming close to the fretboard with the picking hand! When finger picking, one wants to pick over the sound hole. Also, it is important that one anchors their pinky on the base of the ukulele, down and below the sound hole. This will prevent the fingers from lifting too much, making it easier to fingerpick. 

This week I learned the Travis Pattern where you use your thumb to strum down on the top two strings, your index finger for the third string, and your middle finger for the bottom string. The pattern is Thumb (second string), Index (third string), Thumb (top string), and Middle (bottom string). 

Here is a video of me fingerpicking with no chords: Fingerpicking No Chords

Here is a video of me fingerpicking with chords: Fingerpicking with Chords

As you can see in the videos, I planted my pinky finger down and plucked over the sound hole.

To learn this week, I found a really good video! It is a bit on the longer side (around 18 minutes), so I was not really sure about it, but it flew by really fast. He explains concepts really well, so I followed along with the video easily. My one struggle was transitioning between chords while fingerpicking, but that was a struggle for me while strumming, too! It is something I will be able to practice throughout the coming weeks. Also, I will need to learn a few more chords. Overall, it was a great video that outlined that it is important to go slow when beginning, and continue to repeat until you understand! I would highly recommend using this video. It is the first in a series, so I will be using more videos from him in the future!

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! ??

Welcome back!

I have started to progress on my chord work. Using the same four chords that I learned last week, I am now able to play the Island Strum Pattern while alternating chords. I find this strum pattern to be the most complex. 

Here is an audio recording of me playing this strum pattern while alternating chords:

I have also worked on using my middle finger while strumming upwards. By doing this, I eliminate that nail sound (from my thumb) heard while strumming upwards. 

Here is the same strum pattern and alternating chords as before, but I am using my middle finger to strum upwards in this audio recording: 

Do you recognize the song? 

It’s the beginning of Stand By Me by Ben E. King! I haven’t played the whole song all the way through yet, but it is just a continuing repetition of the audio recordings above. I learned this song from The Ukulele Teacher on Youtube.

Here is the video: 

First, he started with a demonstration of how the song should sound once it is learned. This provided a goal to work towards. Then, I really liked how he showed how to play the chords and the strumming pattern before he started to play. While I knew the chords and strumming pattern already from last week, it was a good refresher. This would also be an easy way for someone to learn the chords and strumming pattern if they hadn’t seen them before! Lastly, I enjoyed that the video was under five minutes long. I was able to quickly learn without losing interest. Overall, I found this YouTube video very straightforward and easy to understand! 

This week, I continued to notice that my timing needs improvement. In the two audio clips above, I am playing the same song at two different speeds. To improve my timing, I attempted to use a metronome. However, the metronome was not the most useful tool without fully understanding timing and how to utilize the tool.

Here is a link to the online metronome I used: https://www.imusic-school.com/en/tools/online-metronome/

I think that this metronome will be a good tool, and it is one that I will likely come back to once I understand more. 

Over the next week, I will try to learn more about timing from a few different websites. I will keep strumming along throughout the week to continue improving my transition between chords. The transition between F and G7 could use some work! If I have time, I’ll try to learn a few more chords this week, too!

Welcome back!

This week I have started learning chords and strum patterns on the ukulele. They are harder than they look! I’m going to have to continue working on them throughout the next week, as well as work on my timing. Watch the Powtoon below to see and hear everything that I learned about chords and strum patterns this week!

Powtoon Review:

Powtoon is an online video-making website. Personally, I find this website to be a mix between iMovie and PowerPoint. I have used both of these applications, so it did not take my long to navigate through and understand the website. I found it to be very user friendly though, and it has a website tour, so I think that it would be easy enough for anyone to use.

When making an account, Powtoon asks for a purpose for using the website, so it can personalize the experience. I put that I was using the websitefor education as a student, and my homepage displayed student, teacher, and administrative templates.

For projects, a pre-made template or a personal PowerPoint slides can be used. A blank template can also be used for a completely fresh start! I opted for a blank template for my Powtoon project. If a blank template is chosen, one of three modes are available. These modes are capture, horizontal, or square. For the purpose of my video, I chose the horizontal mode. There are also different looks available for Powtoons. I chose the whiteboard look.

Powtoon can be used for free with lots of options for quality videos. Personally, I would not recommend paying for Powtoon Pro, Pro+ or Agency unless needed for a business or advertisement purposes. These options are quite expensive, and the website is good without paying for extras. The only drawback I found with the free version is that videos are limited to three minutes.

Powtoon videos can have music (there are various free music options to choose from), transitions, voiceovers, characters, text, props, shapes, images, videos, and other special effects! I tried to incorporate as many of these aspects as possible.

Powtoon can be used for group projects, too! All one needs to do is add any partners’ email addresses after hitting the invite button. I like this feature, so everyone can add to the project from their own devices.

In terms of the SAMR model, Powtoon is somewhere in between Augmentation and Modification. It has “functional improvements” to PowerPoint. The video can be played in an easier way. One does not need to search through all of the tabs at the top of the PowerPoint application to adjust timing and transitions. On Powtoon, the timing and video options are all right under the slides, and one just moves items along the timeline in the order they would like. Further, Powtoon mixes PowerPoint and iMovie together for a “task redesign.” The website used a very similar layout as iMovie with the ability to make informational slides like PowerPoint! In my own classroom, I would use Powtoon for projects that I would have originally used PowerPoint to add some variety.

See you next week!

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my second learning project post!

This week I focused on tuning my ukulele and learning how to hold the ukulele, as well as learning about the strings, frets, and plucking. To begin, I downloaded Ukulele by Yousician on my iPhone from the app store. Most of the features on this app require a subscription, but I have just been utilizing the free tools and beginner videos that are available.

Proper way to hold a ukulele. Photo by Emma Robertson.

First, I watched a video on holding and tuning a ukulele, so I could learn the proper way to hold a ukulele before beginning to play. You need to sit up straight, and you need to rest the bottom of the ukulele on your right thigh. It should not feel like it will slide off your leg. Then, you anchor your right hand where the neck meets the body of the ukulele. Lastly, you put your hand under the neck at the top of the ukulele for support. Next, I tuned my ukulele. Ukulele by Yousician has a tuning feature, so you can play each string, and it will tell you if you need to tune up or down until it sounds right. In order to tune up, you must turn the knob away from you. In order to tune down, you must turn the knob towards you.

Diagram of tuning pegs, strings, and frets. Photo by Emma Robertson.

Now that I was holding my tuned ukulele correctly, I could begin exploring the different strings, plucking, and frets. Ukuleles have four strings: string one, string two, string three, and string four. When correctly holding the ukulele, string one will be on the bottom and string four will be on the top. With this information, I could begin learning about plucking and frets. Plucking is playing one string at a time with your thumb. Frets are on the neck of the ukulele. To play frets, you need to press your finger down with good pressure, and the placement of your finger must be just above the metal. Then, you pluck the string to create the sound. The top fret is fret one, then fret two, and so on. I practiced using different fingers on different frets this week. For instance, it is easier to play fret one with your index finger and fret two with your middle finger.

Here is an audio recording of me practicing plucking and playing different frets!

That’s it for this week! I’m having lots of fun with the ukulele, and my next step is learning about chords and a few simple songs with these chords.

Welcome to my Learning Project Blog!

For my learning project, I am going to learn how to play the ukulele. I have always thought that the instrument has a nice sound, and I have had an interest in learning how to play the ukulele for around four and a half years now. This interest began after taking a guitar class for a semester in grade ten, but I have not pursued this interest until now. It worked out quite nicely that there were a few extra ukuleles at the elementary school in my hometown, and I was allowed to take one for the semester!

Picture by Emma Robertson

As of right now, I have no experience with ukuleles. As mentioned before, I have minimal guitar experience from high school. Also, I took piano in elementary school. Due to these experiences, I am able to read basic sheet music. As I progress in my ukulele skills, I believe that my sight reading skills will improve, too. In order to learn how to play the ukulele, I am planning to rely primarily on YouTube videos, music apps, and online articles. An example of a music app that I can use is Yousician. As of right now, I will record my progress using videos and audio recordings of myself playing, as well as written updates.

My first steps to learn how to play are learning how to tune and hold the ukulele. Then, I will learn the chords, and I will practice transitioning my fingers quickly between chords. Next, I would like to learn melodies, and afterwards, I would like to learn chord melodies. Learning these will help me learn to play songs. My ultimate goal is to be able to play a popular song on the ukulele at the end of the semester, or possibly a more complicated Christmas song since the end of classes is near the holiday season!