I have just begun working on my Genius Project. I have actually done a lot already. For example, I participated in Mr. Hartman's music class last week and I learned a better way to play an E-flat minor chord. I brought my ukulele into school and went to Mr. Hartman's third-period music class. I laughed when one of my students, Geo, said, "You're just a big kid Mr. DeGrandis." He's right! It was awesome! I had a total blast playing with a lot of my students. This shows I have made some progress because I attended a class for help. Another bit of progress I have made is in playing a song. Learning to play, You're Welcome from the film, Moana, has been challenging. Here is a link to the tutorial on YouTube I am using. Little did I know I picked a very challenging piece to play! I was really struggling trying to figure out how to play an E-flat minor chord. There are a lot of chords to memorize. Here are just a few of them! I could not get my fingers to cooperate and press three strings simultaneously. I gave up. But, during Mr. Hartman's class, Genevieve Prinsen showed me the easiest way to play that chord using my thumb. Who knew? Then I practiced with the class. This proves I made some progress because now I can play a chord I couldn't before. Finally, last weekend, I had a friend come over who decided to buy a ukulele too - a blue one - after he heard about my Genius Project. Together, we learned the song, You Are My Sunshine. This was simple, but it is the first complete song I have played and sang on the ukulele! It only had two chords, but I was very proud of myself anyway! This proves I am doing well with my project because now I can actually play a real song. I look forward to learning more about this fun instrument and playing more complicated songs on my ukulele.
For my 20% Time Project, I am learning to play the Ukulele. I am making excellent progress so far. First of all, I borrowed an excellent book from the public library called, Ukulele for Dummies. Second, this past two weeks I spent four hours practicing new chords. My biggest hurdle is learning to memorize the various chords in order to play the song, Your Welcome from the movie, Moana. To make this a bit easier, I decided to print out this ukulele chord sheet I found here (see below). This was very helpful! I am also still using this site because it is the best one I have found. It makes playing easy and fun. Check it out here! Overall, I am well on my way to learning the ukulele.
What I Will be Learning
I will be learning to play the ukulele for my 20% Time Project.
How I will learn it?
I will take a group lesson at The Guitar Center in Henrietta and then use ukulele sites on the internet to learn new songs.
What I have Accomplished so far?
I had my first group lesson. It was fun. There were only two people in the group so we received individual attention. We learned how to tune our instruments. Then the instructor led us through playing our first song by teaching us what frets were and how to finger specific chords.
Then I went home and found a great ukulele website that teaches you how to play popular ukulele songs. I'm learning how to play You're Welcome from the the movie Moana.
