My second goal for learning my ukulele was to be able to recognize and understand the proper chords. In addition, by February 8^th, I was also hoping to be able to read sheet music and therefore have my three desired songs picked out that I was hoping to learn to play by February 15^th. It took several hours of hard work and dedication to efficiently understand the chords, memorize them, and be able to recognize them in sheet music to learn my desired songs.

Throughout this course, each week we are required to watch provided videos and complete a music literacy worksheet that corresponds to the video. Because of these assignments, I was able to learn the basics of reading sheet music. However, I noticed that while researching different songs for my practice, most videos show visual pictures of how to hold your hands on the ukulele while telling you which position to place your fingers in. Although I am still learning how to read sheet music, I personally find it simpler to learn while looking at a picture of which chords to use and how to position my fingers.

While researching songs to learn for the ukulele, I had a difficult time narrowing down three particular songs. I found that every slow, relaxing and calm song sounded so beautiful on the ukulele that I wanted to learn them all. One of my favourite types of music is indie music, which I believe sounds lovely on the ukulele in particular. Also, I found that faster pace songs also have acoustic versions that sound beautiful on the ears when played on the ukulele. Because of these findings, I found it difficult to choose only three songs. However, I began to narrow down songs that I believe were easier to learn since I am only a beginner. After learning the chords to the point where I could play a short section of a song, I began to see which songs that I could play the best. One of my favourite songs is called Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, which is the first song that I decided to learn. It consists of only three different cords, and fast and slow up and down strumming. After several hours practicing this song, I managed to learn the chorus rather well. In addition to this song, I have also been practicing playing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” because it only consists of four cords, and is a song that elementary students are hopefully familiar with. My third song that I have been practicing is “Somebody that I Used to Know” by Gotye, because it also consists of only four cords, and is a calm and relaxing song to play in the classroom.