Learning Ukulele: Musicianship Portfolio Project

This semester I've been assigned to either create a song or create a cover of a song on the Ukulele.  I've decided to cover the song Lean on Me by Bill Withers.  I will have two posts which will show my progress in learning the song.  In addition to these two posts I will have a final product of a multitrack video.  I picked this song because I had an experience making music with a complete stranger on this song that really changed the way I viewed music.  This person and myself sang like no one was listening and talked about how music is about being yourself and not being afraid to do what your heart says.  Some of the biggest challenges I assume I'll be facing include; switching chords fast enough, getting all of the correct pitches consistently, and lastly syncing all the videos up together for a tight recording.   Some of the chords used in this song are C, D, Em, F, G.  I will aim to incorporate percussion techniques and other elements scubas a bass line in my arrangement.  

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Check In 2

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Finished Product

Final Product of Lean On Me

Originally I thought this experience was pretty silly and wouldn't teach me much of anything.  Through the process of check ins, and really just learning the instrument I realized what this project means to me.  So often as music majors in college, we tend to perform at such a level where we forget what it is like to learn.  We preform all of the hardest and most popular repertoire and not the grade 1 repertoire which is just as important.  We forget what its like to learn, and how to learn.  Learning the ukulele put us right back in kindergarten.  I felt as if I knew nothing about the instrument and wouldn't progress without a ridiculous amount of time and private lessons.  Through this process I developed a sense of individual want to succeed.  I began to be feel accomplished.  As I accomplished more I wanted to continue expanding my knowledge.  I ended up learning more chords than I needed on ukulele and guitar.  Learning a new instrument is very difficult and time consuming but the pay off is indescribable.  That feeling of accomplishment and self pride is what we need to strive to get our students to feel.  We can achieve this by teaching multiple methods and searching for ways to implement more individualized learning.  The ukulele project also allowed m to work with technology and tested my mastery of it.  Recording the ukulele project took many attempts either for tuning or synchronization.  I enjoyed using Bandhub as it is an easy program to navigate around.  The only limit is that you have to wear headphones so that is cancels out the other sounds.  Lastly, this experience is one of the few projects that I've taken on in college where I truly feel that I have retained past the flashcards (terms).