Google Final Day

At long last, Julia and I presented our ukulele project (side note: ukulele is pronounced oo-ku-leh-leh). It went rather well, I think. Both Julia and I were really nervous when we were playing in front of the class. There's this thing that happens when you have to give a presentation in front of a whole bunch of people; a tiny voice tells you that you're going to mess up. If you listen to the voice, you're going to mess up (obviously), but if you don't, it nags at you for the entirety of your presentation. Julia and I did our best to ignore the tiny voice, and people seemed to enjoy our music, so I would call this year's project a success. Hopefully we can do this thing next year as well!

Signing out,

Allegra

Almost done :(

I am practicing the pieces for if we present tomorrow, I hope the class appreciates our holiday spirit!
My ukulele keeps going quite flat really easily, I am going to need to research about that to see if there is anything I can do to fix this without buying a new instrument. While practicing the pieces for tomorrow, I started playing around online and sight read a couple of songs that are quite fun! I am really happy that I can actually sight read the songs that I want to sing along to now, it feels like a good accomplishment.

Last google day!

Since today was the last google day, we decided to have some fun and looked up random songs to play! This let us practice our chords and singing abilities, while having fun with it. I have really enjoyed this google project, I think the ukulele is a great distraction from everyday stress, similar to clarinet or other musical instruments. Now I can pull out a ukulele and confidently play around with some chords or pluck a little tune, or play a song from memory. I have also learned about the world of stringed instruments through this, I didn't know anything before!
Lots of fun and a wonderful experience!

Just Bored

I got bored today and decided to mess around with the ukulele. I found the chords to one of my favourite songs, "Futile Devices" by Sufjan Stevens, and it made me happy enough to post :) I'm really enjoying the ukulele- much easier than the guitar!

Google Day #4

So far, Julia and I have had a great time learning to play the ukulele. All we need now is to choose the song we want to preform for the class and then learn it. I'm so excited, and I'm so happy to see that we've come this far! Hopefully we can continue learning more and apply what we've learned so far on the ukulele to other instruments. I've had a lot of fun, and I hope to continue learning more!

Google day #4

Allegra and I worked out what our presentation is going to be!
We decided to demonstrate multiple ways to play a scale, so we practiced the fingerings of our basic scales for a while. Also, we practiced "Clementine" to play so that we can show how to pluck a whole song. The search for a song to strum to and sing is still going on!
I have memorized about three scales and Clementine is basically all from memory! My fingers are getting used to sight reading pieces now.

Google Day #3

Today we spent some time looking up songs to play for the class. Julia and I are pretty solid with our chord understanding, so we thought we might as well take the day off from practicing to look at what other people have discovered on their own ukuleles. We set up a poll for the visitors to our site and will probably post a video of our performance, so if any visitor knows a song or would like to hear it played, vote on the poll! Also, we may be posting videos of our playing, too, so if you want to hear a song, feel free to ask.

Thanks!
-Allegra

Google Day #3

Today Allegra and I made our own fingering charts of chords, there are charts already out there but wanted to write it down to help our memory. Most the chords are pretty well memorized now! Also we searched for a possible song to play for our presentation, we dont know whether to stick to the traditional ukulele songs or break the boundaries and try something new.
Any song suggestions or requests?
Thanks!

-Julia

Ukulele during homework breaks

Just taking a break from the piles of Junior Year Homework, and playing my ukulele was a great mental break from all of that math homework.
Today I was working on my transitions, my fingers tend to get sloppy or all twisted when changing notes so I drilled a couple scales for a while to get my fingers in shape. I can now play amazing grace, home on the range, and shalom chaverim without any awkard pauses! I am quite proud of myself.

Yay! Day 2!

Last Google day, my friend Julia and I pretty much played ukulele for the entire time. I really love playing the ukulele (even though mine is cheap plastic and sounds pretty horrible). This morning (Saturday) I went out with a friend of mine who also plays the ukulele and the guitar and we worked on chords. I can already feel the callouses forming! I'm really enjoying this project.

This is Louanda. He's pretty.

Google day #2

I have had such a crazy weekend that I have hardly had time to post but now I am!
On friday allegra and I really focues on playing notes instead of chords, plucking is much more difficult then simply strumming!
I am begining to memorize all of these notes, I can now play four scales and amazing grace! Reading music while playing ukulele is so different, you dont have to focus on breathing for one thing! :)
So far I feel like I am learning tons, I just have to continually practice so my fingers and brain can connect. Also then I will feel comfortable sight reading music and it wont take a long time to figure it out.
I love the sound of the ukulele! So relaxing and calm,
thats all for now!

-Julia

My computer flips the image (I swear I'm holding it correctly) but here is the first picture of my ukulele and me!

Time to start!

Yesterday I bought my first ukulele from tigard music! nothing fancy, but it should do the job of leaning how to play!
Today I tuned my ukulele for the first time, it was really really out of tune and now actually sounds pretty. It was a fun challenge for my ears! Some fun things I learned about tuning a ukulele:

1) tune the E string to a tuner

2) Press the E string on the 5th fret, this will produce an A 

3) Press E string to the 3rd fret, this will produce an E

4) Press E string to the 4th fret, this will produce a C

 After that first task, I started looking at a few basic chords. Now I can finger G, F, and G7 chords! Thats all the information I could take in today. For now I am just practicing changing back and forth between chords so my fingers get used to the new placement.
Its so much fun to play!

Allegra can finally post!

I finally figured out how to become an admin of the blog so now I am ready to post! I am so excited to learn to play the ukulele (this will be my fifth instrument including flute, piano, guitar, and bass guitar). I am looking forward to doing this with a friend, too. Hopefully I will actually learn to master this instrument!

First Google Project Day!

Today was the first inclass google project day! Allegra and I established the fact that we both really want to learn the ukulele, for fun entertainment purposes and a challenge musically. This is only the third instrument I will have learned, but Allegra is far more experienced.
Allegra and I will learn basic chords and will be playing duets together once we figure it out! It should be a very fun project to work on!

-Julia