BY VIERNES CARISSA KRISTEL VILLAMARZO
Playing a musical instrument is something many people do to relax and get away from the stresses of life. With the stress of midterms looming up ahead, it was a joy to have two instructors from Ukulele Movement teach us how to play the ukulele.
We started by learning to tune the ukulele to the standard “G-C-E-A” tuning, singing the words “My dog has fleas” to the tune of each of the four strings. This strange exercise led to an animated retelling of the history of the ukulele, whose name translates to “jumping flea”, while the instructor wowed us with his skills.
Following that, we learned how to play chords by matching the position of our fingers with a chord diagram. Starting with a simple nursery rhyme, we learned how to strum and sing with a simple strumming pattern. As we went along, the instructor taught us more chords and different strumming patterns, teaching us familiar songs like “Just The Way You Are” and even oldies like “Stand By Me”. Under the guidance of the two instructors, we had a great time learning the songs. Some seniors even strummed and sang “Love Story” when we were given a break to rest our sore fingers!
To end off the session, we were split into three groups and tasked to learn a song to perform for everyone. Although it was quite challenging to learn a new song on our own, each group got together to perform our own renditions of three different songs.
The workshop may not have been long enough to teach us all the techniques needed to play the ukulele, but it did leave us with lasting memories and an eagerness to learn more. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience which opened our eyes to the joys of learning a musical instrument.