Above I have attached my video of myself playing the three desired songs that I chose. The three songs that I chose were “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, “Somebody that I Used to Know” by Gotye and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. I chose these songs because they all had a limited number of chords used throughout, and also had simple strumming. Chasing Cars and Somebody that I Used to know are two of my favourite calming songs that I listen to at night before bed or sometimes while doing homework. I decided to learn these songs because I listen to them rather often and am familiar with the lyrics. I chose The Lion Sleeps Tonight because I grew up listening to this song and have heard it played in my past jobs while working with kids. Also, I believe that students will know this song, which will make it fun to play and sing along to in the classroom.

While I tried my best to learn the full song to each of my three chosen ones, I found that learning the choruses from each song sounded better. I had some complications with the tuning of my ukulele, which required me to take it to a friend of mine that plays the guitar. He was able to tune it correctly for me, but it was a minor setback in my progress. However, setbacks can happen and are inevitable and all that matters is how you adapt to them, improvise and overcome them! Because of this, I worked extra hard to master the choruses to these songs and will continue to learn more and more songs as this program continues and as I progress through my teaching career. I found the most challenging part of learning the ukulele was the concept of multitasking. Especially when first learning a song, it was difficult to try and visually watch the YouTube instructions of where to put my hands, while also singing and strumming at the same time. However, with practice, multitasking got easier as I got more familiar with the chord transitions and more comfortable with strumming. Over time, I was able to not look at the video on my screen as often and was able to sing accordingly. However, matching up the singing and doing quick finger movements to the different chords was the biggest learning curve for me.

Overall, this was my favourite activity of the semester! I enjoyed learning a new skill and a new hobby as an assignment. While being in six classes and working part time, it is difficult to find time to relax or learn new hobbies because of pressing due dates and homework deadlines. However, since learning the ukulele was a project it was enjoyable and interesting to learn as a school assignment. I will always cherish this class and project and will continue to keep up my ukulele practice to learn more songs for my future classroom.