My daughter and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

consitter

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This one pulled at my heart strings tonight and I thought I would share with those that like that kind of stuff.

To start off, my youngest daughter who is 7 years old, is developmentally delayed, and thinks like a 2 to 3 year old due to a severe seizure disorder. Unfortunately, she does not speak, and relies on the few signs she has learned for communication. She also has some much more forceful ways of letting us know she wants something, but we'll not get into that...

Tonight, it was within 5 minutes of her bedtime, and I pulled out my uke to play for a few minutes, until I put her to bed. I was in our bedroom, and she was in the next room with her Moma. When she heard me start to play, she came running into the bedroom and let out a loud grunt.

I have never to that point played twinkle little star, but I figured you can play just about anything with a G, C, and F. I was right. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out the order of the notes and the strum pattern, but when I did, I started singing it. Well, her little face lit up, and she crawled up into OUR bed and covered up with a blanket, and giggled through the whole song.

When I finished, she did the sign for 'more'. So, I gave her an encore. She laughed and laughed. When I finished this time, she clapped. Let me tell you folks, I couldn't have felt better if I was playing Carnegie Hall and getting a standing ovation. Between my young'un and my uke, I got a real blessing tonight.

Scott
 
This is amazing, maybe you can setup a ukulele time with her and try to communicate via music every day.
 
This is amazing, maybe you can setup a ukulele time with her and try to communicate via music every day.

She absolutely loves music, and dances anytime she hears it. In the car, in the tub, in wal-mart, etc., ect. She especially like Kanye West's "Golddigger" (the clean version of course), but she's a sight to watch when she gets started.

But yes, I already let her sit on the love-seat with me when playing. I hold notes and let her strum...with my help. She doesn't know her own strength and just about pulls the strings off unless I'm guiding her hand!
 
Mark Keilana Nelson wrote a book called "Learn to Play Fingerstyle Solos for UKUlele.

It has 2 chord/fingering versions of Twinkle twinkle little star and a couple of versions of all through the night.

Get it. I'm learning that stuff for my newborn child. He's gonna get uke everynight
 
Amazing, Scott. Thanks for sharing. I'm all teared up now.

Rick
 
Mark Keilana Nelson wrote a book called "Learn to Play Fingerstyle Solos for UKUlele.

It has 2 chord/fingering versions of Twinkle twinkle little star and a couple of versions of all through the night.

Get it. I'm learning that stuff for my newborn child. He's gonna get uke everynight

Thanks!! I'll do just that. I also want to find some girl scouting songbooks for our troop with guitar chords, since they translate pretty much the same, but google or anything else isn't giving me any help.
 
Aloha Scott!
What an amazing and heartwarming story. Mahalos for sharing your "Kodak Moments" with the rest of us as I'm sure your daughters will continue to provide you with many more.

Mason671
 
Thank you for sharing your story. Sounds like you need to add a Dolphin or Flea to your list of ukes.

It is always sweet and amazing when we get to have a glimpse into the real world of fellow UU members. It is an amazing collection of interesting and generous people.
 
I love it.

A few weeks back, before my Father-in-law had passed away, my Nephew-in-law was here with his 13 month-old. I was playing for my Father-in-Law, and Jet was crawling around, being a normal rambunctious kid.

One of the vocal exercises we'd do was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". So I started to play that, when suddenly the kid just stopped what he was doing, stared at me, and sat on the floor in front of me. My father-in-law and I kept singing, and when I was done, Jet started laughing and clapping. He'd look over at Great-Granpa, then a me, then his dad, and laugh and clap (very off-rhythm, but he's gotten better!).

I had to play it another 5 times before he started crawling around again.

A\mazing the reaction you get from kids, when they recognize the song.

My nephew-in-law says I'd have been a great father - I told him that I didn't have a big enough budget for the duct tape or rubber lining for the closet.


.........-Kurt
 
What a touching story! One of those days in your life as a dad that you'll never forget. :)

Thanks!! I'll do just that. I also want to find some girl scouting songbooks for our troop with guitar chords, since they translate pretty much the same, but google or anything else isn't giving me any help.
If you don't already have it, I'd recommend Jumpin' Jim's Daily Ukulele book. A nice all around collection, with plenty of kid stuff and campfire songs.
 
What a touching story! One of those days in your life as a dad that you'll never forget. :)


If you don't already have it, I'd recommend Jumpin' Jim's Daily Ukulele book. A nice all around collection, with plenty of kid stuff and campfire songs.

Thank you! I'll get online and look for it. You can always count on Jumpin' Jim.
 
Actually did that last week, have forgot to add it. She stii wants to "play" daddy's uke though.
Same here, I gave my first ukulele to my kid after I had second, he is 5 year-old btw. However he can identify the difference that my uke sounds better than his. Everytime I say "music time!" he just grabs his uke and sits besides me, but his focus is always putting on my uke.
 
I'm so glad you shared this story. Twinkle Twinkle is a real familiar comfort and it's the song I go to when I get frustrated at my limited ability to change chords.

Hope you and your little girl have a lot more happy musical moments!

Nix
 
Hope you and your little girl have a lot more happy musical moments!

Nix

We did this evening. Except this time it was with "Friends in Low Places." Gotta watch her close when I'm playing around her too. She durn near pulled my uke outta my hands by the strings the other day! Makes me shiver to think.
 
I sure have enjoyed following this thread. My greatest joy is playing my uke for my (kindergarten) students. They LOVE the ukulele. It is a kick watching them play "air uke" when we are doing our music. Even my autistic student will stand up and sing when I play. It touches a deep part of the human heart, that ukulele does. Here's to music! Here's to the children! Cheers!
 
Wouldn't it be nice....

The children are all that really matter! After all, they will be running the world soon. Wouldn't it be nice if they all played the uke. It would be a little harder to get angry, and especially to stay that way. Ukuleles tend to have a happy, calming influence on all. Thanks, Joe for your kind comments.
 
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