Mountain Yard Summer Sharings

Let’s do some math!

Do the worksheet from the screen, or download the image and print it if you want  to work on paper!

For recorder, there’s a website called youcanplayit.com that has excellent videos showcasing how to play a variety of old traditional songs, modern popular songs, and even songs from some movies, TV shows, and video games. The videos show note names and recorder fingerings for every note and function as a fantastic learning and practice tool. The videos show fingerings for both Baroque recorder and German recorder; you’ll want to follow fingerings for the Baroque recorder.

For ukulele, the first step is getting your instrument in tune. If you’re not sure how to tune your ukulele, a youtuber named Elise Ecklund has this straight-forward how-to video on the subject. Tuning may require some parent assistance at first but is a process children can master!

If you’re new to the Ukulele, you’ll want to know how to play some basic chords. Elise teaches a few chords in this video.

Elise has tutorials for a lot of songs that you can find in the video playlist or on her YouTube Channel.

If you want to learn a specific song that Elise hasn’t covered, searching the internet for that song with the words “ukulele tutorial” will almost always return several different video tutorials and sites with the chords written out; usually with chord diagrams. For example, see my result example for:  “hey jude ukulele tutorial.”

In case you need an instrument…

If you don’t have a recorder at home, I recommend ordering a simple, plastic Yamaha recorder. They’re affordable, durable, and have a decent tone (I play myself on a plastic Yamaha all the time.) You can order one with a variety of color options.

If you don’t have a ukulele and want to get one, there are a lot of good options available. I would recommend starting with a concert or soprano ukulele in the $20-$60 range.

Nitai reads The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson