Ukulele blogs the finale

Getting to play the ukulele this year has definitely been a highlight in music class. I love being able to pick songs and pick my instrument and allow myself a choice in my learning. I love playing the ukulele so much I was able to learn more than the songs I originally set out to. I learned how to play “Riptide” by Vance joy “slow it down” by The Lumineers “seven days” by Alessia Cara and “upside-down” by Jack Johnson. This was all apart of my musical group plan and although I faced some challenges they were all enjoyable to play. Not apart of my musical growth plan, I learned how to play “can’t help falling in love with you” by Elvis Presley and “hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. I love being able to challenge myself to learn new songs and be able to jam with my friends as they sing. Unfortunately, as we were wrapping up this project I injured my wrist at work. This inhibited my learning by making me stop playing the ukulele for a week which allowed my songs to decrease in ability. Although my teacher was extremely understanding that this was not my choice and I was very upset that I injured my wrist as I was going to premiere my video for my musical growth plan finale. All of our classes insistent we learn it’s important to be able to make modifications to our lessons in order to incorporate and include all learners. That is why I was so grateful to be able to make modifications to my own lesson plans and allow myself to play as much as I could with my injured wrist. My videos you’ll see me play one song without my wrist brace on so keep in mind it was hard to play. Song I demonstrated the course I needed, I demonstrated my singing, and I demonstrated the slower version of the chord progressions. In a second video, I show the strumming pattern that accompanies the song, however, was too painful to play the whole song in this method. I was extremely happy to be able to finish my musical growth plan and accomplish everything I had set out to do.  Although sometimes it was hard to self motivate in the end I was rewarded with a new skill and a new love for music. I cannot wait to be able to use the scale in my classroom and to increase didn’t engagement through the use of music.