Mr. Hartmann's Class

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.