This is my final musical growth post and I am feeling proud of my accomplishments on this assignment. As I have mentioned before, I was skeptical of my musical skills prior to this course but I now see that I was just lacking in experience, time, and motivation.

This assignment has provided me with an opportunity to try something that I was previously scared of and I am feeling grateful and surprised by the outcome. I did not expect to enjoy practicing a new-to-me instrument for a set time each week (especially while I was so busy) but playing the ukulele has been a great reprieve from the demands of this program. I originally planned to practice for 30 mins a week but I have been playing my ukulele for 30 mins or more everyday! I was skeptical that I would achieve my musicianship goals that I laid out in the beginning of term, so I didn’t push myself too hard and opted to only learn 2 songs (rather than the suggested 3). This actually provided me with another opportunity to surprise myself, which I did when I learned my first 2 songs by mid-term.

As mentioned in my last post, I chose to learn a new song, “Shallow” by Lady Gaga. I had fun practicing the new chord in this song (D), as well as implementing an additional 2 strumming patterns. There are at least half-a-dozen versions of this song that can be played on the ukulele but I found the tutorial below, the easiest to follow.

 

Although, this tutorial was helpful, I ended up sort of creating my own version or  ‘mash up’ of the above tutorial with the following chord chart that I posted in my last update. I found that the two together ended up sounding the most like the original song. Plus they didn’t involve bar chords, which I have yet to learn.

And on that note (hehe), here is my final ukulele demonstration. In the video I will be playing “Over the Rainbow,” “The Good Morning Song,” and “Shallow.”  Unfortunately, my kids are not a part of this one but my new song choice wasn’t as interesting to them. They have requested some Fred Penner, so I know what I will be learning next!

Thanks for the opportunity to focus my attention on a new project, gain a new skill set, and have fun along the way!

BYE!!

Image retrieved from Giphy