TED Talk Reflection
I'd say that my talk was 85% work, possibly 88-ish when a little generous. Though I feel that I met the requirements on the sheet, however I feel that my downfall was that my presentation was not smooth. This is kind of disappointing, honestly, because I spent two nights of homework doing solely TED Talk practice, yet when I got up on stage I felt like a deer in the headlights. Despite that, I do feel that I was able to portray my thoughts in the project effectively, and I did put myself out there by trying to sing. Trust me, I was not lying when I said "I don't sing", and this risk may have caused my presentation nerves. In regards to the "TED Commandments", I feel that I covered most of them in my talk. Besides not commenting on other people's talks, I pretty much was able to fulfill each of the commandments. Bottom line for my decision was that I felt like I had A-work content, but sub-par presentation, which would verify a mid-high B grade.
Post Six- Wrapping it Up
Aloha everyone!
Since vacation, I have done some ukulele playing, but not a ton. However, because it is easter, my family has come over to visit, so I had quite a crowd to play to. Before now, the only one that I have played my ukulele in front of is my baby sister, who would rather rip the strings off than listen to me play. So, playing in front of the 15-or-so people was a major breakthrough for me, seeing as I plan to play in my final presentation. Other than that, however, the past few days have been rather uneventful for my learning, just more practicing.
As you may know, this week contains my "Ted Talk", where I will talk a bit about my experience in the last six weeks. Because of this, the blog that you are reading quite possibly may be the last of my ukulele adventure. However, I do intend to continue learning the ukulele, so there is a small possibility that I may update every now and then, with the blog being a sort of journal for my experience. Anyway, if this is my final blog, thank you for following in my "Ukulele Adventure", learning an instrument that I actually like has been fantastic, and I will most definitely continue pursuing it as time goes on. Possibly for the last time,
Aloha!
-Lukas Ukulele
Since vacation, I have done some ukulele playing, but not a ton. However, because it is easter, my family has come over to visit, so I had quite a crowd to play to. Before now, the only one that I have played my ukulele in front of is my baby sister, who would rather rip the strings off than listen to me play. So, playing in front of the 15-or-so people was a major breakthrough for me, seeing as I plan to play in my final presentation. Other than that, however, the past few days have been rather uneventful for my learning, just more practicing.
As you may know, this week contains my "Ted Talk", where I will talk a bit about my experience in the last six weeks. Because of this, the blog that you are reading quite possibly may be the last of my ukulele adventure. However, I do intend to continue learning the ukulele, so there is a small possibility that I may update every now and then, with the blog being a sort of journal for my experience. Anyway, if this is my final blog, thank you for following in my "Ukulele Adventure", learning an instrument that I actually like has been fantastic, and I will most definitely continue pursuing it as time goes on. Possibly for the last time,
Aloha!
-Lukas Ukulele
Blog 5- Island Time
Aloha everyone! This week is spring break, and man, it is fantastic playing on the island. So enjoyable, in fact, that I have played 2-3 hours strait each day, and trust me, it begins to hurt the hands to play so much.
During all of this play time, I've been getting much better at songs that I already know, and introducing myself to new songs. I have completely mastered "The 12 Bar Blues", a simple song that is played through fingerpicking(for any past/present strings players, fingerpicking is like plucking). At the end of the song, there is a cool "blues riff", which I am pretty proud of myself for playing. On the topic of fingerpicking, I was able to make my own simple fingerpicking pattern. It is very simple(only about 12 notes), but it still makes me proud. There is really an awesome feeling when you create something that sounds good, a huge plus of learning the ukulele.
Also, I am getting quite good at "You've got a Friend in Me". Sadly, there is no way that I can master this song by the time of the talk, but I will definitely practice it a bunch once the project comes to a close. Other than that, this week has really been practice the songs I already know and plan for the talk, which I am starting to get pretty excited for.
Because I am on an island vacation, the ukulele is a fantastic little time waster. I have played on the beach, my back porch, and an awesome place deep in the "Maritime Forest". The third location I listed, in the forest, was the most interesting to me. Throughout the entire learning process, the ukulele was just a pastime that I found very cool. But when I was playing in the woods, it was something different than my usual playing. Maybe it was the serene marsh laid out in front of me, or the wind through the leaves, but playing my ukulele there just felt... "right". Maybe it seems a bit corny, but while playing there something came over me, and I just kept playing and playing. Heck, I probably had blisters on my fingers by the time I was done, but I couldn't care less. Well, on that slightly weird note, I'm gonna sign out. Expect another blog soon, everyone!
Aloha,
Lukas Ukulele
 |
| Just one cool spot on the island |
Also, I am getting quite good at "You've got a Friend in Me". Sadly, there is no way that I can master this song by the time of the talk, but I will definitely practice it a bunch once the project comes to a close. Other than that, this week has really been practice the songs I already know and plan for the talk, which I am starting to get pretty excited for.
 |
| Where I played in the Maritime Forest |
Aloha,
Lukas Ukulele
Post Four-Practice, Practice, Practice!
Aloha everyone! This week, as you may have noticed from the title I have been practicing, a lot! Most of that practicing can be amounted to learning "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", the first song that I have really spent time on. And if I don't say so myself, I have gotten quite good at it. When playing, the song is actually quite basic chord-wise. It is mostly C, F, and G chords, with a few A-minors. Though it may sound a bit daunting to the "average person", but these are some of the most basic chords of the instrument. The tough part of the song is the strumming. I can't really put how to do it into words, but this guy explains it very well.
Over spring break I will be away, so I will probably have to meet with Ben over Skype. This is not optimal for my lesson, however is much better than nothing. Anyway, I will be going to an island in North Carolina on break, a perfect place to play the ukulele. I'm pretty excited to play some ukulele on the beach, it seems to be a very traditional way of playing. Also, because I will be on a beach, I may try to record a music video of sorts on the ukulele, which would then be shown on the Ted Talk. This may not be the most professional of videos, but I think that it will be fun to make, at the very least. On the topic of the Ted Talk, I am starting to really get some good ideas. I can't really tell you what those ideas are yet(confidential stuff, no spoilers!), but I can say that I am getting pretty excited.
In general, this has been fantastic in ukulele playing. Last week, I had practiced for at least six hours, which is quite a bit of playing. Along with that practice, I had watched an hour or so of Youtube videos on the ukulele, typically consisting of covers of songs. These covers help me see the ukulele in action, and though I cannot really play those songs yet, seeing them helps teach me a few strum patterns and chords. Before I go, I have a question for any ukulele players in the gifted class. Maybe it is just because my ukulele is small, but when I put my finger on the first fret of a string the resulting sound is very twangy, probably because the string is vibrating against the metal fret too much. Are there any strategies to avoid that "twang", or is that part of the ukulele's sound? Anyway, that's all on my ukulele adventure this week, hopefully there will be a music video soon!
Aloha,
Lukas Ukulele
Over spring break I will be away, so I will probably have to meet with Ben over Skype. This is not optimal for my lesson, however is much better than nothing. Anyway, I will be going to an island in North Carolina on break, a perfect place to play the ukulele. I'm pretty excited to play some ukulele on the beach, it seems to be a very traditional way of playing. Also, because I will be on a beach, I may try to record a music video of sorts on the ukulele, which would then be shown on the Ted Talk. This may not be the most professional of videos, but I think that it will be fun to make, at the very least. On the topic of the Ted Talk, I am starting to really get some good ideas. I can't really tell you what those ideas are yet(confidential stuff, no spoilers!), but I can say that I am getting pretty excited.
In general, this has been fantastic in ukulele playing. Last week, I had practiced for at least six hours, which is quite a bit of playing. Along with that practice, I had watched an hour or so of Youtube videos on the ukulele, typically consisting of covers of songs. These covers help me see the ukulele in action, and though I cannot really play those songs yet, seeing them helps teach me a few strum patterns and chords. Before I go, I have a question for any ukulele players in the gifted class. Maybe it is just because my ukulele is small, but when I put my finger on the first fret of a string the resulting sound is very twangy, probably because the string is vibrating against the metal fret too much. Are there any strategies to avoid that "twang", or is that part of the ukulele's sound? Anyway, that's all on my ukulele adventure this week, hopefully there will be a music video soon!
Aloha,
Lukas Ukulele
Blog Three- Further Help
Aloha! My ukulele adventure has taken many ups and downs in the past rotation. I have spent quite a while honing my skills this week, and for the most part I have made good progress. I've given an attempt to play around on a few simple songs, however I have not really shown mastery on anything quite yet. The first song I tried was just a simple nursery rhyme, where I only changed between two chords. That song, though simple, was used to create a bit more of a rhythm to my playing.
This week, however, I found out a surprisingly great source. I went on to www.reddit.com/r/ukulele, which is an online community of ukulele players. On there, I created a question for the community, where I asked how to turn my aimless strumming and chords into music, and I got a slew of great responses. Of those responses, I had tips telling me to just to practice moving from one chord to another to develop muscle memory, all the way to tips to the actual songs to play. They said mostly to play songs that I just like, not boring old songs that ukulele books recommend. I understand that these people are not experts necessarily, however they are real people who play the instrument, which is definitely a valid source for such a relaxed and simple instrument. Also during this week, I learned how to read ukulele music, which is much different from normal sheet music. Because of how chord-intensive the ukulele is, sheet music for it begins with a picture of each of the chords used. Then, because the ukulele is typically used with singing, the rest of the music is the lyrics of the song and the respective chords to be done at those times. There are a few technicalities, such as some chords being displayed differently if a string in not to be played, however that is the main gist of how the music is read. To learn a bit more about how to read ukulele music, click here! Also, I recommend going onto www.reddit.com/r/(whatever your genius project topic is), many times there will be a community of people who want to help you, or at the very least there will be posts on your topic that could be very interesting.
In the future, I intend to continue to learn songs. Using other various sources, and the tips of the people of www.reddit.com/r/ukulele, I hope to revolutionize the way in which I learn the ukulele. In addition to just learning the music, I will do many chord exercises where I just sit and change between chords. This should be a simple way of accelerating my learning, so playing is more natural, something very important for playing the ukulele. I still must meet with Ben C, and I may play something with Nick P if time allows. Playing with other people, as I have said in past posts, will be a great way to expand my ukulele horizons, making playing less of a solitary activity.
Blogs that I commented on this week:
1. Ben's Bluegrass Blog, Ben C.
2. John's Perspective Drawing, John A.
3. Jeremy Basketball Tricks, Jeremy S.
This week, however, I found out a surprisingly great source. I went on to www.reddit.com/r/ukulele, which is an online community of ukulele players. On there, I created a question for the community, where I asked how to turn my aimless strumming and chords into music, and I got a slew of great responses. Of those responses, I had tips telling me to just to practice moving from one chord to another to develop muscle memory, all the way to tips to the actual songs to play. They said mostly to play songs that I just like, not boring old songs that ukulele books recommend. I understand that these people are not experts necessarily, however they are real people who play the instrument, which is definitely a valid source for such a relaxed and simple instrument. Also during this week, I learned how to read ukulele music, which is much different from normal sheet music. Because of how chord-intensive the ukulele is, sheet music for it begins with a picture of each of the chords used. Then, because the ukulele is typically used with singing, the rest of the music is the lyrics of the song and the respective chords to be done at those times. There are a few technicalities, such as some chords being displayed differently if a string in not to be played, however that is the main gist of how the music is read. To learn a bit more about how to read ukulele music, click here! Also, I recommend going onto www.reddit.com/r/(whatever your genius project topic is), many times there will be a community of people who want to help you, or at the very least there will be posts on your topic that could be very interesting.
In the future, I intend to continue to learn songs. Using other various sources, and the tips of the people of www.reddit.com/r/ukulele, I hope to revolutionize the way in which I learn the ukulele. In addition to just learning the music, I will do many chord exercises where I just sit and change between chords. This should be a simple way of accelerating my learning, so playing is more natural, something very important for playing the ukulele. I still must meet with Ben C, and I may play something with Nick P if time allows. Playing with other people, as I have said in past posts, will be a great way to expand my ukulele horizons, making playing less of a solitary activity.
Blogs that I commented on this week:
1. Ben's Bluegrass Blog, Ben C.
2. John's Perspective Drawing, John A.
3. Jeremy Basketball Tricks, Jeremy S.
Post 2, "The Expert"
Aloha! Today, I have received important news in my ukulele adventure. Another participant in the genius project, Ben C., has agreed to assist me with my learning. He will be the "expert" mentioned in the previous blog, and he had also commented on my previous post.
In his comment, he suggested that I should learn the ukulele through a very relaxed manner, where I test out random chords on the ukulele to find what sounds good to me. He also mentioned that in this way of playing I should switch chords that feel comfortable to me, and to let the music flow. This is especially important to me, because I had a problem with switching chords, and this will make it much smoother and easy to do so. I like the sound of this manner of learning, as it gives me a freedom in my learning, while still honing my skills. In addition to my lax style of learning, I will still pursue learning a specific song, as it will be a fair assessment of my skills while depicting a style of learning where it is structured.
In my practice for this post, I have been doing basic styles of learning, continuing to practice my hold of the ukulele and basic chords. I am going to begin practicing a song between this blog and the next, to see how practicing a song on the ukulele works. The first songs that I will try to pursue will be Hallelujah, I Wanna Be Like You(Jungle Book), and my final song to be played in the Ted Talk will be Somewhere over the Rainbow. Don't worry, these specific songs will not restrict me once I have learned them, as I intend to continue my learning and master more songs once I have learned these.
In general, my ukulele playing has been tough to do during the week. For this past week and next week, I am working on the sound board for the musical, which is going to take up much of my time on weekdays, so I will most likely get most of my practice done on weekends. In addition, this will probably cause me to meet with Ben on a weekend, which should merit me a large sum of time to be "tutored". Until next time, aloha!
The blogs I have commented on this week:
1. Ben's Bluegrass Blog
2. ERB Cinematography(Ethan B.)
3. I Got the Magic (Noah D.)
Works Cited
"Learn How to Play Ukulele." Ukulele Hunt RSS. Woodshed, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
(P.S- I apologize for posting this after midnight, I was sick all day and I threw up each time I looked at the computer. Fun stuff.)
In his comment, he suggested that I should learn the ukulele through a very relaxed manner, where I test out random chords on the ukulele to find what sounds good to me. He also mentioned that in this way of playing I should switch chords that feel comfortable to me, and to let the music flow. This is especially important to me, because I had a problem with switching chords, and this will make it much smoother and easy to do so. I like the sound of this manner of learning, as it gives me a freedom in my learning, while still honing my skills. In addition to my lax style of learning, I will still pursue learning a specific song, as it will be a fair assessment of my skills while depicting a style of learning where it is structured.
In my practice for this post, I have been doing basic styles of learning, continuing to practice my hold of the ukulele and basic chords. I am going to begin practicing a song between this blog and the next, to see how practicing a song on the ukulele works. The first songs that I will try to pursue will be Hallelujah, I Wanna Be Like You(Jungle Book), and my final song to be played in the Ted Talk will be Somewhere over the Rainbow. Don't worry, these specific songs will not restrict me once I have learned them, as I intend to continue my learning and master more songs once I have learned these.
In general, my ukulele playing has been tough to do during the week. For this past week and next week, I am working on the sound board for the musical, which is going to take up much of my time on weekdays, so I will most likely get most of my practice done on weekends. In addition, this will probably cause me to meet with Ben on a weekend, which should merit me a large sum of time to be "tutored". Until next time, aloha!
The blogs I have commented on this week:
1. Ben's Bluegrass Blog
2. ERB Cinematography(Ethan B.)
3. I Got the Magic (Noah D.)
Works Cited
"Learn How to Play Ukulele." Ukulele Hunt RSS. Woodshed, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
(P.S- I apologize for posting this after midnight, I was sick all day and I threw up each time I looked at the computer. Fun stuff.)
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