IN THE BEGINNING...
When we were first introduced to the Passion Project, a project which could be on anything and everything imaginable, I immediately started racking my brain for ideas. I then came to realize that while limitless possibilities may have the potential to produce many nifty and creative ideas, narrowing down and selecting the best idea is quite difficult. I started out trying to make a list of everything I was passionate about. Turns out that list isn't very long. I thought of reading, drawing, photography, music, and that's about it. I couldn't really think of any solid project ideas to do with reading so I discarded that one right off the bat. Then I took into account that while I love art and drawing, I take forever to finish drawings (I got so behind in art last year) and I didn't think I could motivate myself to draw enough to make a worthwhile project out of so that one was crossed off the list too. It was down to photography and music for the longest time but then I realized that I don't own a fancy camera, and while Mr. Lambert said there were ones from the school I could possibly have access to, I wouldn't really be able to continue on with that after the project was over. Settling on something to do with music, I now had the struggle of coming up with what it is I would do that related to my passion for music. I decided I wanted to either make some sort of website of playlists where people could go and discover new music, or learn a new instrument. I realized that there were already multiple apps and websites doing my first idea and so the last thing I had to narrow down was what instrument I should learn to play. I have always wanted to be able to play the guitar but those are really expensive so I went for the cheaper alternative: I would learn the ukulele.
When we were first introduced to the Passion Project, a project which could be on anything and everything imaginable, I immediately started racking my brain for ideas. I then came to realize that while limitless possibilities may have the potential to produce many nifty and creative ideas, narrowing down and selecting the best idea is quite difficult. I started out trying to make a list of everything I was passionate about. Turns out that list isn't very long. I thought of reading, drawing, photography, music, and that's about it. I couldn't really think of any solid project ideas to do with reading so I discarded that one right off the bat. Then I took into account that while I love art and drawing, I take forever to finish drawings (I got so behind in art last year) and I didn't think I could motivate myself to draw enough to make a worthwhile project out of so that one was crossed off the list too. It was down to photography and music for the longest time but then I realized that I don't own a fancy camera, and while Mr. Lambert said there were ones from the school I could possibly have access to, I wouldn't really be able to continue on with that after the project was over. Settling on something to do with music, I now had the struggle of coming up with what it is I would do that related to my passion for music. I decided I wanted to either make some sort of website of playlists where people could go and discover new music, or learn a new instrument. I realized that there were already multiple apps and websites doing my first idea and so the last thing I had to narrow down was what instrument I should learn to play. I have always wanted to be able to play the guitar but those are really expensive so I went for the cheaper alternative: I would learn the ukulele.
| WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED... I picked up a ukulele for $30 at some music store by the mall on December 8th but to be completely honest it then sat in my room doing nothing for a while. I finally got started after the first progress report check-in when all I had to say was that I had bought the ukulele. I learned everything using youtube tutorials, starting off with the 3 most common chords: C, F and G. I worked quite a bit on just practising transitioning from one chord to another ( a lot harder than it seems) and then I started on trying to learn different strumming patterns. After nailing a few of those I just kept watching new song tutorials and playing around with what I had learned. Also my mom's birthday was on January 5th and I learned how to play Happy Birthday for her on the ukulele which was pretty neat. |
IN THE FUTURE...
I think I probably will at least try to continue learning new things on the ukulele (knowing more than 3 chords would be a good start). It would be a really cool talent to have in my opinion. I just feel like I might struggle with finding the time and motivating myself to learn. I already take piano lessons and have a job and homework to worry about so fitting in ukulele time might be kind of hard, but I want to try and do my best! I could also maybe try and learn more in the summer when I have a lot of free time, but that's kind of far away and I might not be as inspired to do it at that point. Maybe march break. When it comes to something like learning an instrument you really do need to encourage yourself and put a lot of time and effort into it, but the thing is I'm just not sure I am passionate enough about it to make that happen. But we'll see.
I think I probably will at least try to continue learning new things on the ukulele (knowing more than 3 chords would be a good start). It would be a really cool talent to have in my opinion. I just feel like I might struggle with finding the time and motivating myself to learn. I already take piano lessons and have a job and homework to worry about so fitting in ukulele time might be kind of hard, but I want to try and do my best! I could also maybe try and learn more in the summer when I have a lot of free time, but that's kind of far away and I might not be as inspired to do it at that point. Maybe march break. When it comes to something like learning an instrument you really do need to encourage yourself and put a lot of time and effort into it, but the thing is I'm just not sure I am passionate enough about it to make that happen. But we'll see.