Genius Hour

I am going to be learning how to play the ukulele from week to week. This idea sparked me when our music teacher told us that we are going to be playing the ukulele. In previous years when we played the ukulele, I really enjoyed playing it and I think that I would really like to learn how to play it better. I will watch videos and visit websites to learn how to play the ukulele from week to week.

Nov 11 2016 ( week 1)

Today I decided that I am going to be learning how to play Somewhere over the rainbow.  I went on you tube, and I found all of the chords that I need to play the song. After I found all of the chords I started learning how to put them together to play a part of the song. So far I can Play The part of the song where it goes, "Somewhere, over the rainbow, way op high".

Nov 25 2016 (week 2)

This week , I have been working on playing my song, and I have found out that no matter how many times I try to tune it, or fix my fingers, one of the chords just doesn't sound right. So I started playing around with the chords to see if I could find a chord that sounds the same as the "E" chord and I found out that if I just play no chords (just strumming) it will work as a substitute for the "E" chord. I am still working on the part of the song where it goes, Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, and it is going better than I thought it would. In this week , I am going to be teaching myself how to play another line or 2. I am going on different websites, and you tube so see the chords and the strumming pattern of the song. In this link, there is a 12 year old girl named Grace Vanderwaal, and she makes her own songs and plays the ukulele to them. If I try hard enough, someday I might be able to play as good as her if I put my mind to it. (the ending is supper happy, I would watch it if  I was you)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxO9MpQ2vA   

In music class, we are learning how to do tabs, and if I finish somewhere over the rainbow, I am going to be learning how to perfect the Christmas song we are working on, we wish you a merry Christmas. Playing the ukulele is a lot harder then I thought it would be because it is really hard to keep it in tune and it is also really hard to place my fingers in the right places, on the right frets, and on the right strings. So far, the chords that I learned for somewhere over he rainbow are, C, G, Em, F, and Am.

Dec 2 2016 (week 3)
This week, I have been working on adding more of the song into what I have so far. I am still working on placing my fingers on the right frets, and I am still having trouble with keeping my ukulele in tune. Something that I have found out about my ukulele, is that whenever you touch one of the strings, the string that you touch, makes a vibration sound that never goes away, because if you try to hold the strings down so it stops making the sound, you just make more sound because you touch the strings to try and stop the sound. In music class, we are still working on our tabs to play "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", and it is going pretty good. I can memerise 2 of the lines and I can strum most of the chords. For a heads up on Grace Vanderwall, she released her first album today with 5 songs in her album.
 I am really looking forward to continuing my genius hour!!!!


Dec 19 2016 (week 4)
OK, I know that I have been working on somewhere over the rainbow for the past 3 weeks, but it is just to hard. So I have decided that I will be working on ukulele tabs instead. We have alrighty started working on 2 Christmas songs on tabs, so this might be pretty easy. I am thinking that I will bring my music book home so that I can practise my tabs more easier because I have the tabs infront of me.
Normally when I go to play my ukulele, it is out of tune, so I grab my tuner, and I think that it is going to sound so much better once it is tuned. But NO, my tuner does not work, so I have to download a tuner app on my i pod, so it can sound better. When I try to tune my ukulele on the tuner, the tuner dosen't reconise the sound of the ukulele. It thinks that it is a different instrument because it is so out of tune.
Lately, I have not had a lot of time to practice my ukulele, so my tabs are not that good sounding because I have not practiced in a long time. Whenever I try to play my ukulele, we either have to go somewhere, or my little sister wants me to play with her, so I cant play my ukulele as much as I used to. But I am going to try and practice more when I have some free time, if I am lucky.


Dec 26 2016 (week 5)
Since I have started working on doing tabs instead of chords, learning how to play the ukulele has been a lot easier. So I will be working on creating my i movie on how well I have been making progress. For my i movie, I took videos from every week of me playing a tabs song. I know that this song is a little bit out of season, but the tabs song that I am learning how to play is We Wish You A Merry Christmas. I thought that this song would be really easy to play, but it is a lot harder than I thought that it would  be. We were learning how to play We Wish You A Merry Christmas in music class, but even with weeks and weeks of practice, it is still really hard to play the song. Since I am done working on my first tabs song, I am going to learn how to play another tabs song that is in the season. I am really looking forward to learning more songs on the ukulele!!!https://www.google.ca/search?q=ukulele+tabs&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDxqvVjLXRAhUp2IMKHfa6CTAQ_AUICCgB&biw=1319&bih=871#imgrc=YHJ5drhjoVEBNM%3A