As an amateur musician and ukulele enthusiast I often find myself sharing my passion for music with friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, and pretty much anyone else willing to listen to me. That being said, I have frequently been asked by these people if I could teach them how to play. At this point I've casually taught a good number of people how to play the ukulele. It has been a highly rewarding experience. After all, the only thing more satisfying than taking part in your own passion is sharing it with others. I would like to share some of the strategies and techniques that have helped me both personally learn to play better and also teach others more effectively. These are mostly just thoughts and ideas largely opinion based (so let me know what you guys think and how your own opinions vary!)
First things first, you are born a musician. Sure, some people have a little more or a little less natural talent but everyone is born with the ability to identify rhythm, recognize patterns and differentiate between pleasing sounds and dissonant ones. This is good news! It means anyone that desires to has the ability to learn to play.
Second, the goals of a musician:
In my opinion, no matter what instrument you're learning, no matter your ability level, and no matter the style of music you like to play, the ultimate goal for any musician is the same.
They are: 1) The ability to reproduce any music they hear on their chosen instrument
2) The ability to interpret and create music proficiently from written symbols i.e. notated music or tablature
3)(and in my opinion the most important) The ability to take the musical ideas they come up with in their head and effectively execute them on their instrument i.e. improvisation or the writing of original songs
All work put into learning an instrument, all technique, all theory and ear training etc are to further those 3 goals. Having goals in mind makes for more focused and disciplined practice.
Conversely, the teacher's focus should be to bring the student to a level where they can pursue these goals independently.
Next, some practice tips that I feel are under focused:
1) Get a stand for your instrument and keep it in the room of your house you spend the most time in.
Take advantage of the human condition. If you get home and sit on your couch after work and the closest thing to you is the TV remote while you're ukulele is in its case in your bedroom you're probably going to spend the evening watching TV and not practicing. So keep it where you can see it and play it, you'll be shocked how much more you practice. If you're trying to learn an instrument, keeping it in its case in your closet is setting yourself up to fail.
2) Listen to music.
No I mean really listen. You're not a spectator anymore. Start simple, identify the rhythm, figure out the meter the song is written in, identify the chord progression. Visualize what the performers physically doing to produce the music he or she is making. You will rapidly start incorporating ideas you heard into your own playing.
There's something to be learned from every performance.
3) Don't go straight to the tabs!
Want to learn a new tune? Try and figure it out by ear first. Yes its exceedingly frustrating at first but you will improve quickly. Think about it like this, if you were blind folded sitting at your keyboard and someone asked you to type a sentence out for them, could you do it?
Probably not 100% accurately but most people this day and age could take those words they hear and without looking at the keyboard more or less spell them out. Think about the mental processes that are going on, you're taking spoken words, deriving meaning from them, translating them into symbols and without looking, physically hitting associated keys to input them into the computer. This is not so different than learning a song by ear and the more you do it, the more familiar you are with your instrument and the relationship between different pitches the easier it becomes.
4) Play everything you hear
A jingle from a commercial on TV? That new Miley Cyrus single? The sound of your doorbell? Try and recreate everything you hear. You're ear will improve leaps and bounds.
This will also help to ward off something I call circular practicing. Where you learn 3 or 4 tunes and every time you practice you still only play those 3 or 4 tunes.
5) Invest some time in learning about the history and mechanics of the instrument
When was the instrument invented and for what purpose?
Why does pressing down on a fret make the pitch higher?
What materials is this instrument made out of ?
Answering questions like this not only makes you more knowledgeable about the instrument and how it works but also creates a personal investment in it. You're far more likely to stick to something you've invested time and research into.
Well there's my 2 cents I hope at least some of you guys can extract something useful from my ramblings. Please feel free to give input as well and let me know if you disagree with anything I'm always looking for ways to improve.
Learning an instrument is like hiking up a large hill with a gentle slope, anyone can eventually make it to the top as long as they invest the time it takes to get there.
First things first, you are born a musician. Sure, some people have a little more or a little less natural talent but everyone is born with the ability to identify rhythm, recognize patterns and differentiate between pleasing sounds and dissonant ones. This is good news! It means anyone that desires to has the ability to learn to play.
Second, the goals of a musician:
In my opinion, no matter what instrument you're learning, no matter your ability level, and no matter the style of music you like to play, the ultimate goal for any musician is the same.
They are: 1) The ability to reproduce any music they hear on their chosen instrument
2) The ability to interpret and create music proficiently from written symbols i.e. notated music or tablature
3)(and in my opinion the most important) The ability to take the musical ideas they come up with in their head and effectively execute them on their instrument i.e. improvisation or the writing of original songs
All work put into learning an instrument, all technique, all theory and ear training etc are to further those 3 goals. Having goals in mind makes for more focused and disciplined practice.
Conversely, the teacher's focus should be to bring the student to a level where they can pursue these goals independently.
Next, some practice tips that I feel are under focused:
1) Get a stand for your instrument and keep it in the room of your house you spend the most time in.
Take advantage of the human condition. If you get home and sit on your couch after work and the closest thing to you is the TV remote while you're ukulele is in its case in your bedroom you're probably going to spend the evening watching TV and not practicing. So keep it where you can see it and play it, you'll be shocked how much more you practice. If you're trying to learn an instrument, keeping it in its case in your closet is setting yourself up to fail.
2) Listen to music.
No I mean really listen. You're not a spectator anymore. Start simple, identify the rhythm, figure out the meter the song is written in, identify the chord progression. Visualize what the performers physically doing to produce the music he or she is making. You will rapidly start incorporating ideas you heard into your own playing.
There's something to be learned from every performance.
3) Don't go straight to the tabs!
Want to learn a new tune? Try and figure it out by ear first. Yes its exceedingly frustrating at first but you will improve quickly. Think about it like this, if you were blind folded sitting at your keyboard and someone asked you to type a sentence out for them, could you do it?
Probably not 100% accurately but most people this day and age could take those words they hear and without looking at the keyboard more or less spell them out. Think about the mental processes that are going on, you're taking spoken words, deriving meaning from them, translating them into symbols and without looking, physically hitting associated keys to input them into the computer. This is not so different than learning a song by ear and the more you do it, the more familiar you are with your instrument and the relationship between different pitches the easier it becomes.
4) Play everything you hear
A jingle from a commercial on TV? That new Miley Cyrus single? The sound of your doorbell? Try and recreate everything you hear. You're ear will improve leaps and bounds.
This will also help to ward off something I call circular practicing. Where you learn 3 or 4 tunes and every time you practice you still only play those 3 or 4 tunes.
5) Invest some time in learning about the history and mechanics of the instrument
When was the instrument invented and for what purpose?
Why does pressing down on a fret make the pitch higher?
What materials is this instrument made out of ?
Answering questions like this not only makes you more knowledgeable about the instrument and how it works but also creates a personal investment in it. You're far more likely to stick to something you've invested time and research into.
Well there's my 2 cents I hope at least some of you guys can extract something useful from my ramblings. Please feel free to give input as well and let me know if you disagree with anything I'm always looking for ways to improve.
Learning an instrument is like hiking up a large hill with a gentle slope, anyone can eventually make it to the top as long as they invest the time it takes to get there.
