During these last few weeks, I just continued practicing the three songs I learned. In this post, I include videos for each of my songs. Here is what my learning plan outlined, along with how I adjusted these goals to fit my current skill level:

Goal: Learn the song “I’m Yours,”  by Jason Mraz, with the chords C, G, Am, F, and the strumming pattern: DUDUDU.  

My final video: I will be playing the song “I’m Yours” with the chords C, G, Am, F and an extra chord of D7. I will be playing with a more complex strumming pattern of D DU U DU.

Goal: Learn the song “Like I’m Going to Lose You,” by Meghan Trainer, with chords C, Em, Am, F, and the strumming pattern: D D D D.

My final video: I will be playing the song “Like I’m Going to Lose You” with the chords C, Em, Am, F. I will add various tempos to the strumming pattern of D D D D.

*Since this song repeats the same chords throughout the entire song without much variation, I will only include a small clip of me playing.

Extra song: I will include a video of me playing “Stay with Me,” by Sam Smith, with the chords C, Am, F, and various strumming patterns.

I am proud of all that I have accomplished with the process of playing the ukulele. I found the learning process really enjoyable, and I am glad that I had the experience to learn how to play this instrument! By self-teaching myself, I was able to identify what I found difficult or easy in the learning process. This will help me in my future classroom if I ever get to teach the ukulele, as I have a general idea of how the learning process may be for my students. If I do not get to teach the ukulele, I still plan to incorporate this instrument into my teaching practice. I would love to play songs for my students to integrate cross-curricular connections with music, as well as make use of my new skill that I have developed!

Even though the course is over, I still plan to continue playing the ukulele, as I have genuinely enjoyed the process. I would like to learn some new chords and apply my knowledge to more songs! I look forward to exploring more throughout the upcoming summer months!

Here is everything I have accomplished throughout the term:

  • Learned how to tune the ukulele.
  • Learned how to hold the ukulele.
  • Learned the following chords with correct finger positioning: C, G, Am, F, D7, Em.  
  • Learned a variety of strumming patterns, as well as adapted strumming patterns to make them more challenging to fit my skill level.
  • Learned the following songs:
    • “Riptide,” by Vance Joy
    •  “I’m Yours,” by Jason Mraz
    • “Like I’m Going to Lose You,” by Meghan Trainor
    •  “Stay with Me,” by Sam Smith.

Here are the videos for the two songs outlined on my learning plan for my final demonstration, as well as a bonus video for the extra song I learned:

Video of “I’m Yours,” by Jason Mraz:

IMG_0604Download

Video of “Like I’m Going to Lose You,” by Meghan Trainor:

IMG_0607Download

Extra Video of “Stay with Me,” by Sam Smith:

IMG_0608Download

*Note about the tuning (in response to my midterm feedback): I used a tuning app to ensure that all the chords are correctly tuned in C just before playing the songs. Hopefully, it doesn’t sound low again, similar to my last video. If so, I think it just may be the ukulele itself, as I double-checked the tuning before recording the videos!