Category: EDCI 306A

After receiving feedback on my midterm progress, I have improved in a few ways. First of all, I started using a new tuning website. The one I was using before used my laptop’s microphone to listen to each chord. The feedback I received encouraged me to tune my ukulele each time before I used it which I was doing, but it must not have been correct. Now, I am using a website where I choose a chord and it plays what that chord should sound like. This new way of tuning is more similar to how I would tune my instrument in band class. We would all play the same note while our teacher played it on the piano and we had to tune accordingly. This way definitely takes more advanced listening skills. Here is a link to the website I will use to tune my instrument from now on: https://ukutuner.com/.

The rest of the feedback for my midterm progress also suggested that I slow down my playing in order to make smoother transitions between chords. I have taken this into consideration while playing Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Hush Little Baby. I think that I was really focused on making the song actually sound cohesive rather than working more on the notes and pitches. Slowing down has also helped me play eighth notes and actually play the notes properly rather than just playing how I think the songs should sound. I hope that taking the feedback into consideration will help my overall skills for the final.

I have made some progress since my last ukulele update. I am starting to be able to move from note to note faster than before. Now that I am getting better at this, the songs that I play aren’t sounding as choppy. I have not learned any new notes since I last checked in. Since I have been focussing my time on learning to play RRRYB, Hush Little Baby, and how to island strum, I haven’t been looking at any other songs. The youtube videos that I have been watching every week are based on learning to strum. Strumming is the skill that I am struggling with the most. I have yet to find a hand form that doesn’t hurt my fingers while strumming. Additionally, I find it very challenging to strum while singing. When I start to integrate singing into the strumming, I lose my rhythm. So for now, I will only strum and leave out singing until I am better at it.

Youtube link for strumming video:

I have really been enjoying the first month or so of learning how to play the Ukulele. I began my journey by watching YouTube videos to learn some beginner notes. I then looked for easy songs to learn how to strum. The first song I could find was “Riptide” by Vance Joy. Although the notes were fairly easy to follow, I found it difficult to “island strum”. I worked through a couple other of popular songs before deciding to focus on three songs that I want to master. The three songs that I want to learn are Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Hush Little Baby, and Riptide. I think Row, Row, Row Your Boat will be a simple start to practice the notes I need to be comfortable with for my other songs. So far, I am comfortable playing the following notes:

Image sourced from https://www.austinbazaar.com/blog/ukulele-chords-how-to-play-ukulele/

I am struggling to move my fingers fast enough on the ukulele to play sixteenth notes. I also have a hard time singing the lyrics along with the melody of the song. With that being said, I will try to master playing the song before singing along to it.

Thanks for checking in!

Lauryn