Well, there are only three days until I submit my midterm video to demonstrate my progress thus-far on the ukulele. All I can say is that I may have bit off more than I could chew when I created my musicianship growth plan! I’ve been practicing hard, but continually finding myself frustrated by a multitude of variables. First off, my instrument seems to be determined to stay out of tune, so much of my valuable time allotted to practice that ukulele is spent agonizing over correcting each string. It doesn’t help that I am a perfectionist by nature, and the fact that my attempts at playing the song are less that melodic (to say the least) can be a bit of a disincentive to continue.
Although I may not have mastered “I’m Yours”, I am proud of how war I’ve come. I had absolutely no idea that I would struggle this much trying to learn a new instrument, so it is important for me to recognize that the fact I’ve learned the chords for my song and can play them in sequence is better than nothing.
Perhaps this whole process has been such a struggle for me because it is completely foreign to me. High School AP and University have conditioned me to be an expert in putting in work in the traditional academic sense. However, learning the ukulele is nothing like crafting a well researched essay or clocking in hours in the library over a textbook. Allocating the energy and getting in the mindset to play the ukulele feels so vastly different to any other school work I’ve done so far.
I do feel, however, I’m getting used to it and that my progress is coming more quickly. Perhaps, by the end of the term, I’ll be strumming away like nobody’s business.
But for now, all I can do is appreciate how far I’ve come.
