Lilli Haire´s journey of learning to play the Ukulele
Hey guys! Tears of joy and sadness are currently streaming down my face as a type my final blog post of Genius Hour “Useful Ukulele”. It has been and overwhelming yet exciting twelve weeks. I have struggled, and learned. I can conclude that I still don't really know how to play the ukulele, but I am confident that I can whip out my instrument on presentation day and play “Riptide” to the best of my ability. I can't guarantee that it will be good, but I can promise that I will try. While I haven't mastered an instrument as I somewhat intended to, I have learned something much more valuable. Time management. Turns out learning to play a musical instrument is a lot harder than I anticipated, but so is managing time throughout a twelve week period. I was very hard to stay on track, and ensure that I completed each necessary goal when I was supposed to. While my Genius Hour Project did not necessarily turn out the way I imagined it would, I learned are lot more than I thought I would. Those things might not involve music, but I will use them for the rest of my life.
One exciting thing that I did accomplish this week was attending the Vance Joy concert. It was so incredibly amazing. He brought out his ukulele toward the end and I heard the A-Minor chord. I instantly knew that he was playing “Riptide.” I stood there in aw as i watched him play something so beautiful so elegantly. It was so amazing to be able to say “hey I can do that too” (minus the singing part). In that moment, I was proud, and thankful to Mr. Barker for giving the opportunity to improve myself and accomplish a goal that I knew would benefit me, and it did. This project was interesting, and educational in the sense that it did not turn out as I original expected it to, but I ultimately bettered myself in a much more useful way than I had planned to. I am sad to see it come to an end, but thankful that I no longer have the burden of trying to complete the project, It has been great, and hard, but I am so glad I did it and that Genius Hour was a success. Bye guys, thanks for hanging with me, and check out my presentation to hear the final project!
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Yo! So my life kind of sucks right now. All of my teachers are piling on the work, the AP World History exam is in less than a week, and I think I might die. While I now see working on genius hour project as a hassle and something that I have absolutely no time for, I have surprising found joy in it over the last week. When I am on the verge of tears and feel like my head is going to explode, being able to pick up my ukulele and play music has been extremely stress relieving. While I still have a lot of work to do, I find comfort in having the ability to make music so easily and accessible. I am very excited to see the end nearing and the light at the end of the tunnel for both this project and school. I am excited to see where I land in my ability to play a musical instrument, and am glad that I chose to gain the ability to play an instrument right as summer begins.
When I think ukulele I think Hawaiian hippie Summer vibe, and that is what is so exciting! I am ecstatic to be able to take my ukulele with me when I travel this summer, and get tumblr pics and play music. Another exciting thing is that the Vance Joy concert is this Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!! I already know that attending his concert will be so much more meaningful now that I know what it is like to have the ability to play one of the songs he created. Check back in next week (the final week omg) to see if I am still alive, and get ready for my presentation because it is going to be great! It is week 10, ladies and gents, it is crunch time. I am starting to panic. I have recorded a video every three weeks since the beginning of the project, but have decided, since I have never gotten around to posting them, that I will just present you with the videos during my presentation at the end of week twelve. I feel as if this is the best option because it will allow you to visualize the progress in week by week increments in order to give you a better idea of the overall accomplishment. I will be posting four videos in my final presentation (week 1, 3, 6, and 9) and instead of posting a video of week 12, I will perform the song in front of the class. I am kind of nervous about this, considering that I still really have no idea how to play the ukulele well. I have made progress over the past 10 weeks, but that doesn't mean that I am any good at playing the instrument. In the next two weeks, I plan on completing and practicing my visual presentation, as well as attempting to perfect the song as much as possible. I have decided that it doesn't really matter how good it sounds, as long as you can tell how hard I have work and that there is obvious progress. I have to get back to work, so I’ll see ya next week! Be excited to see my presentation!!
Week 9. As we begin to near the end of this 12 week project, the anxiety levels are quickly rising. While I have learned a lot about the ukulele, I am still not very good at it. Considering this slight issue, I am terrified to get up in front of the class in front of the class when it comes time to present. I went to the beach last weekend, and told yall that I would post a video. Well, I did not have time to record a video at the beach, and traffic on the way home was horrific. I got home at 9 o'clock and had yet to start any other homework so unfortunately did not have time to record. I have decided that I will post a video these last three weeks (week 9, 10, and 11), leading up to my performance in front of the classroom. I am not promising that any of it will sound good, considering that I am not very good at it, but I will sure as heck try. I did speak with Mikhail and Ayden this week in an attempt to check in on my progress. They have not been very helpful throughout this process considering that they are very busy people. They did say that they would be happy to work with me the week before my performance to help prepare me and add some finishing touches. Ayden has not given me a final answer on whether or not he is still interested in putting together a cover of “Riptide” including vocal and ukulele tunes. I have a feeling that considering we have yet to start the process of putting this together, that it will not happen in time for the end of project. I do have high hopes that we will produce a cover this Summer. Check out the video (for real this time) down below to check in on the progress that you probably have no idea about. Thanks for tuning in, and see ya next week! Hey y'all! Ok, so I am getting kind of nervous and slightly freaking out. It is week 8, which means that I have 4 weeks left and that is terrifying. I typically play my ukulele for a couple of hours every Sunday, which is not at all what I told myself I was going to do. I got kind of cocky when I realized that I could play somewhat well, so I decided that I only needed to practice a little bit. I have also not been diligent with photography and videography. While this is not what is most important about my project, I am disappointed in myself for not documenting my progress the way I should. I said that I would post a video every week, which has not happen. I have decided that I will post a video the last 5 weeks of the project (including this week), so check out the video below! Just FYI it doesn't sound very good, but I assure you that by the twelfth week I will be able to provide something for you. Whether or not it will be good? I am not sure, but I will try. I have realized that learning to play an instrument takes a lot more dedication and time than I assumed it would. It is irritating because I am not a patient person, but slowly and surely, I am making progress. By the end of next week I plan on being able to play the song all the way through and videoing it. I think I can do it, again, it won't be pretty, but it will be something. I have begun to contemplate what I want to do for my presentation. I think that I will record myself playing the song and then present the video, but if I am feeling brave, I might bring in my ukulele and play in front of the class. As terrifying that is, I know that it will be more enjoyable for my classmates than me just standing there. See yah next week! Hi! Welcome back, Spring Break was awesome! The weather on the other hand, was not. So, unfortunately I did not get to play the ukulele outside very much, therefore I do not have any pictures to update you with. While stuck inside, because it was cold and rainy, I did practice on Riptide. I can hear myself getting better, but it is still a struggle. I can tell that I am changing chords much more smoothly and efficiently, which makes the overall tune of the song much better.
I spoke to ayden, and he said that he is doubtful that he will be ready to work on a cover of the song by the time my project is due. I’m slightly disappointed, but it just means that I don't have to in front of the whole class, so it is a plus for me. I plan on working on recording a video this week, but if I am being honest, I probably will not have it ready until the actual project is due. One thing that I have learned from this project is that time management is crucial, and things like this take a lot longer to complete than I expected. I am not a patient person at all. For example, I want to just whip out the sing right now, but I have learned the hard way that these things take time. If I don't take time to perfect each skill, when I put it all together, it will sound horrible. Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll see yah next week! The Vance Joy concert is in a month, and I can not wait! Check back next week to keep up with my progress. This week was very productive! I spent the whole day last Sunday practicing and playing. Two of my friends, Ayden and Lydia, came over to help me out. Ayden helped me with chords and timing, as well as assessed me and determined that I am doing a lot better! Lydia took a lot of really great pictures for the blog, check them out above and in the gallery. You won’t be disappointed. I am going to the beach for spring break and my goal by then is to have the basics of the song done. It is week 6, so we are halfway through, which means I need to get busy. During spring break I also plan to record some videos to post so that you have a general idea of how my progress is coming. I am really excited to be able to sit on the beach and play my favorite songs, hopefully there will not be a ton of people there to watch me embarrass myself. I have decided to order some stickers for my ukulele to spice it up a bit, check them out below! Also, guess what!!! I just purchased tickets to go to the Vance Joy concert in may! I get to see the artist that I love live! Hopefully by then I will have the song down, so that I can feel like a more dedicated fan, and have the ability to say “hey Vance I can play your song on the ukulele”. I also feel as if I will have an even greater appreciation for him and his music now that I can play his songs. Check back next week after spring break to see the progress that I have made, and if all goes well I’ll have a video up for yall to watch! Hi y’all! This week I have been focusing on the lyrics of Riptide, and attempting to sync my recently acquired ukulele skills with the actually song. I have learned that focusing on the strumming pattern without listening to the song makes it a lot more difficult. So, instead of going by a strumming pattern of up-down up-up down-up-up-down-up-up-down-up, I have been just strumming along to the tempo I hear in the song. The hard thing about this that the song is pretty fast, so it is hard to keep up. I am just trying to take it in sections and take it slow. For example, I am making myself get the chorus perfectly down pat, strumming, singing, chords, everything, before I move on to the bridge and intro. Below is the lyrics, labeled bridge, chorus’, and verses, to give you a better understanding of the layout of the song. [Verse 1] I was scared of dentists and the dark I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations Oh, all my friends are turning green You're the magician's assistant in their dreams Oh, and they come unstuck [Chorus] Lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to the dark side I wanna be your left hand man I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause You're gonna sing the words wrong [Verse 2] There's this movie that I think you'll like This guy decides to quit his job and heads to New York City This cowboy's running from himself And she's been living on the highest shelf Oh, and they come unstuck [Chorus] Lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to the dark side I wanna be your left hand man I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause You're gonna sing the words wrong [Bridge] I just wanna, I just wanna know If you're gonna, if you're gonna stay I just gotta, I just gotta know I can't have it, I can't have it any other way I swear she's destined for the screen Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen, oh [Chorus] Oh lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to the dark side I wanna be your left hand man I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause You're gonna sing the words wrong Oh lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to the dark side I wanna be your left hand man I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause You're gonna sing the words wrong Oh lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to the dark side I wanna be your left hand man I love you when you're singing that song and I got a lump in my throat cause You're gonna sing the words wrong I got a lump in my throat cause you're gonna sing the words wrong I know that I have been pretty slack on posting pictures and videos lately, but I promise I will get there, I just need to record a little bit more, start actually sounding decent, and finish editing. Thanks for tuning in once again, see yah next week, and hopefully I’ll have some new content for you to watch!
Welcome back! This week I have been focusing on harmony, hints the title of this blog post. I met with my friend Ayden to discuss working on the cover of Riptide that he had shown interest in doing with me. We talked about how we would go about tackling this, and decided that our friend Jase would record our cover, once we figured out whether or not we could actually do it. Who knows if this so called cover will ever happen, and I might end up just playing Riptide by myself, but we might be able to produce something together before the end of the twelve week period that doesn't sound like absolute trash. If all else fails I can at least learn how to play the ukulele, and maybe be able to advance those skills by producing a cover this Summer. Throughout this project I have realized that nothing goes as planned. You live and learn, and learn through your mistakes. I haven't been sticking exactly to my timeline, but I think that is okay. Just because I'm not exactly on schedule doesn't mean I'm not making progress. It just means that I'm doing it differently than I imagined I would. I also met with mikhail this weekend so that he could check up on my progress and analyse what I am struggling with the most. He determined that I seem to be having a hard time with chord changes, which I could have told him. I am not coordinated in the slightest so I expected this to be an issue. Thankfully Riptide on has four chords, A minor, G, C, and F. It has been quite the struggle changing from A to G in a timely manner. He helped me exercise in this area in an attempt to become more proficient at it. He also told me to taking everything a lot slower. This makes sense because I am a very impatient person, so I just want to jump right in a start playing, but it isn't that easy. He said to not worry about strumming patterns or even singing, and that the most important part of any song is the rhythm. He helped me to understand that if I can't get the foundation of Riptide down, nothing else matters. So, that is all I have been focusing on this week, getting the chords down, and I think I'm making some progress. Check out the pictures and videos below to see my progress for yourself. Thanks for tuning in, see yah next week! Hey y'all, welcome back! This week I have been working on the singing aspect of my performance. I still haven't decided if I will be incorporating singing into playing the ukulele, but my friend Ayden that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is still interested in doing a cover of Riptide with me. He wants me to sing and play the Ukulele, but that is kind of terrifying so I don't know if it'll happen. I think I have decided to go for a cover like the one "Misterwives" did of Riptide. Give it a listen below and see what you think. I found their cover about a year ago and it essentially inspired my project. I definitely don't have a voice like that but I can try. I have also been watching tutorial videos so much so that I know them by heart, which is kind of sad. Although, I have learned that if I just hammer it into my head, I will be more proficient in playing it. Below I linked the three videos that I have been watching on repeat lately. These videos have been very helpful in giving me a clear and better picture of how to accomplish my goal. According to my parents, I don't sound like a dying cat when I play anymore, so I guess that means I'm making progress! It is still a challenge, especially changing chords, but I have learned to take it one step at a time. I am working on just getting chord changes down before worrying about strumming patterns or anything like that. I have realized that it is kind of hard to match strumming and chord changes with the singing and words of the song, but I am learning to take it slowly and just try to accomplish one thing at a time. If I do not do it like this, it is quite overwhelming.
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AuthorHi I'm Lilli Haire! I am a sophomore in High School, and I live in North Carolina. For my English two Genius Hour Project, I am learning to play the Ukulele. This is where I will keep track of my progress! Archives
May 2018
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