"Down in the Valley" seemed to be our most challenging song yet on ukuleles! The song has an odd feel to it, which is the feel of a waltz. Therefore, the students had to strum differently, in patterns of 3 rather than in patterns of 2. They had to strum down-up-up, down-up-up, etc. instead of down-up-down-up. So, not only were the students focusing on playing the correct chord, they also had to make sure they were strumming correctly! It's A LOT to put together, and they had a great start! It will only get better and better!
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The kids are discovering how difficult it is to go back and forth between the home and away chords on the ukulele! We are definitely trying to go slow so that we can really feel comfortable changing fingers for each chord. I keep telling the kids that if we can just get the basics down and feel comfortable with the chords, then we will be able to progress faster in the long run. But if we don't get the basics down, we will struggle later on!
A couple of the classes are starting the first song with two chords, a traditional folk song called "Long, Long, Ago." We actually took a lot of time learning how to read and sing the music first, considering both rhythm and melody, before we were able to add the ukuleles. Below is a visual of the music we are following. The letters tell us which chords to play, and the slashes tell us when to strum. Each strum represents down, up, down, up, etc. If you really think about it, the kids are performing so many different tasks all at one time! They are strumming on a beat, they are fingering the chords, they are changing chords at specific times, and they are singing! I love music! It really engages the children and gets their brains going! |
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