Welcome to my very last blog post about my inquiry project!

It is hard to believe that the semester has come to an end, but super rewarding to look back and see how much I have learnt these past few months. Anyways, without further adieu, let’s get to it!

The last few songs I have learnt are “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, “City of Stars” by Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone, and “The Cup Song” by Anna Kendrick.

Using the following chords: Am, C, D7, F, G, Gm7, C7, F, Am, F7, and Dm7.

The first song I learnt was “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, using the chords Am, C, D7, F, and G, and the strumming pattern DDU UDU, following along to the Uku Tabs website.

This was one of the songs that I selected at the beginning of the year to try and learn by the end of this inquiry project. Luckily, I have come to know all of the songs throughout these past few months so it was fairly easy to pick up! I feel pretty confident with my ability to play this song, and I have been able to sing while playing as well – which is a big accomplishment for me!

Secondly, I learnt the song “City of Stars” by Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone from the movie La La Land, using the chords Gm7, C7, F, Am, F7, and Dm7, and the strumming pattern DDU UDU, following along to the Ukulele Teacher on Youtube.

I absolutely love La La Land and have loved this song from the first time I heard it. I will admit, it does sound quite different on the ukulele than it does on the original with the piano, but it a beautiful piece nonetheless. It used some more advance chords – quite a few of which are completely new to me! Luckily, the hand positioning for these new notes is fairly straight-forward and not too spread out so I found them fairly easy to get used to. I feel like my timing can definitely improve with the song, but I have found humming along helpful (I find it difficult to sing during this one).

The last song I learnt was “The Cup Song” by Anna Kendrick from the movie Pitch Perfect, using the chords Am, G, C, and F, and the strumming pattern DDU UDU, following along to the Uku Tabs website. 

This song is very kid-friendly, and many children and preteens will recognize it from when the “Cup Song” trend went viral on the internet in 2012. I was already familiar with the lyrics of this one, so it made blending playing and singing much easier.

Lastly, I have been working really hard on “Bear Necessities” and I feel I have improved a lot! Places where I would like to keep working would definitely be my transitions. Overall, I think my transitions between notes are very good with very little hesitation – this has improved a lot since I started this project are started practicing regularly. However, I still struggle a bit when switching to/from a new and/or more difficult chords (D7 trips me up a bit with this song). I believe that this will improve with practice as it already has with chords that are now very easy to me! Otherwise, I think the faster parts of the song are much better than they have been when I have attempted this song in the past, and I am proud of my ability to sing while playing the song – especially as it does have a very fast tempo.

I feel like generally, my transitions are very good, that my strumming pattern is consistent, I play each chord with accuracy,  I do not look hold while playing, and I hold the instrument properly and with good posture.

My progress video below demonstrates my ability to play the whole song while singing (please excuse my horrible singing, it is for demonstration purposes only, not performance):

-Jess