Week 3- Learning Chords Through Baby Beluga

I have made some changes to my genius hour plan. My original plan was to learn chords then learn songs. I found that this was not an interesting or practical way to learn how to play the ukulele. I decided to begin learning how to play the ukulele by choosing a song that interests me, would be applicable in classrooms with children, and is not too difficult to play. I then learned the ukulele chords for that particular song. And then I worked on transitioning from chord to chord in the sequence I would need to in the song. The first song that I have learned is one of my favourite books from my childhood, Baby Beluga by Raffi. This song waswritten and is presented in the form of a book. I remember reading this book as a child and singing along. I thought that this song was a good choice to integrate into a primary classroom.

Photo of the Baby Beluga books I own

I also chose this song because I already knew how to sing the lyrics. As a beginner I find it is easier to play a song that I can sing along too. This allows me to play the chords at the correct time based on the lyrics.

This week I learned that it is more interesting to learn musical skills through a song, rather than learning the chords separately and then finding songs. It was very motivating to learn the chords with a purpose and it was much more fun to practice the chords in the context of a song where I could sing along. In my future classroom I would like to teach my students chords through a song. This makes the learning more purposeful. It is exciting to actually be able to play a song, not just strumming isolated chords. I have also learned that when learning an instrument it helps to know the song ahead of time or have the opportunity to listen to the song. I would use this strategy in my classroom by picking songs that are familiar to students or by playing a recording of the song to help them learn the song.