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My goal for the month was to complete the Classical Technique and Style course. It was a busy month for me, but I kept plugging along with my daily practice and was able to complete the course, including learning Adelita. I am still working on getting the pull-offs to ring out, especially with some of the tricky fingering. The song is not nearly polished enough for me to be happy with any recording I could submit. So I am going to embrace my partial success and let go of the goal of full participation in the challenge nor entry into the prizes. Thank you for a challenging but fun course. Best wishes to all.
Sorry if this is a duplicate post, my recent submission didn’t seem to go through. . .
1) Execution – plan to complete the course on Classical Technique & Style. I had started this course a while ago but never completed it. I plan to start over and complete all units and the capstone. I plan to practice 20+ minutes per day, completing the units by the 3rd week in January so I can have a solid week to work on the capstone piece
2) Application – I will complete the captone piece, Adelita. I expect I will also use the techniques in future challenges that include classical options. It will also be nice to have additional techniques to augment my playing and when just “noodling” around.
3) Evaluation – I will evaluate my progress at the end of each of the units’ performances piece. Although a perfectionist by nature, I will try hard to focus on progress rather than perfection.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here is my December submission of O Come, All Ye Faithful. It was fun to learn this lovely arrangement. It’s been a hectic month for me, but I am looking forward to taking some time to view everyone’s submissions! I wish you all a happy holiday season. And may your 2025 be filled with peace, joy, good health, and lots of ukulele!
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here is my November Challenge submission of Fingerpicking Etude #5: Travis Picking. I was drawn to this in a recent challenge so was happy for a reason to spend some more time on this fun picking technique and great tune.
I am thankful for the Rock Class 101 community and for all of the joy that ukulele brings to people around the world. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.
Take Care
KarenI AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my October Submission of Spooky, Scary Skeletons. (I hope this isn’t a duplicate, but I just tried to post and it didn’t show up here.) This was a fun song to learn! I always get so tensed up when I record and it never sounds as good as when I am practicing. But here it is, wacky rhythms and all.
happy Halloween!
KarenHere’s my September submission of Wildwood Flower. This was certainly a month for me to work on some new things! I picked up the U-Bass just a few weeks ago and have enjoyed learning this backing track. And learning how to do 2 recordings and make a split screen video was another learning curve. I don’t think I got the meshing of videos quite right, but it seemed the best I could do. I didn’t memorize, and there are plenty of mistakes and variable tempos, but I had to let that go too. And my dog’s collar shake at the end makes me laugh. I love the clawhammer style and enjoyed this lesson very much. Thanks again to the Rock Class 101 community. I’m looking forward to your submissions.
Here’s my August submission of Hawaii Five-0. What a fun song to learn! This is still pretty rough, but I am out of time so this will have to do. I am working hard to focus more on progress rather on all of my mistakes. I wish a happy Labor Day to all in the USA. Thanks again to RC 101 for a great month of music!
Take care,
KarenHere is my July Challenge submission of Aloha Dreaming. I really enjoyed learning this lovely melody. I wish my harmonics were clearer, but between that and measures 9 and 10, this was my best take. I am looking forward to checking out everyone’s submissions this month. I wasn’t up for it right now, but I do hope to try an original song some day. Thanks again to the Rock Class 101 community.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my June submission of Axel F. What a fun song to learn! Keeping in time with that backing track was certainly a challenge, especially the D section which I could barely keep on the rails. I have company coming soon, so here’s the best of my million takes.
I’m looking forward to everyone’s submissions. Happy Summer to all!
KarenI AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here is my submission of Clocks for the May challenge. It still isn’t quite up to speed, but I still struggled to get a consistent tempo and rhythm. But it was a fun song to learn. And since my Sister and Nephew are big Coldplay fans, it is fun to say this is in my repertoire (at least sort of). I am looking forward to viewing this month’s submissions. Very impressive so far! Thanks again to RC 101 for another great month of songs.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my submission of Bella Vita for the April Challenge. What a lovely piece! It was tough to decide which option to select this month, but this beautiful melody called my name the loudest. Thanks again to Andrew and the team for all of these great lessons. And there have been so many wonderful submissions so far!
Take care,
KarenHere’s my March challenge submission of St. Anne’s Reel. Yowza. I really struggled with this one and gave up getting anything close to a clean take, even at a slower speed. I know my tempo and rhythm is all over the place At times it felt more like St. Anne’s Surreal! That said, I enjoyed learning the triple pick technique and hope to play it in a more relaxed style some day.
Thank you to the Rock Class 101 team for a great course and another great challenge. All of the submissions have been fabulous this month!
Take care, Karen
Here is my February Challenge submission of Amazing Grace (Harmonics Version). I had started working on harmonics in January but caught a flu bug and had to break my challenge submission streak. I was so happy to have flexibility this month for a “take two” opportunity. I love the tone of harmonics, especially on that rare magical moment when I hit it just right. And this song will always have a special place in my heart. One of my goals has also been to focus on progress and not trying to get it perfect. So here is my best of a million takes.
I have been blown away by everyone’s recordings so far. Amazing work! You’ve inspired me to find some time to pick through the extensive catalogue of songs/lessons. So much to learn! Thanks again to RC 101 for the wonderful harmonics course and everything else.
Take care,
KarenMy goal for the month is to work on Harmonics. I love this sound and am so happy when I have been able to “hit” the right note on occasion in various monthly challenge songs. I hope to be able to do this more consistently. And another one of my overall goals is to continue to work on letting go of my perfectionist tendencies and focus instead on my progress.
Execution:
Complete the RC 101 Harmonics course. I had started this awhile ago but never completed it. I will thus restart the course and am committed to completing it and learning Amazing Grace.Execution:
I will practice at least 20 minutes daily. I will complete the Harmonics course by January 20th and use the remainder of the month to improve my performance of Amazing Grace.Evaluation:
Record and submit the Capstone piece, Amazing Grace by the end of the month. I will also record early practices to reinforce progress over perfection. I will also work to add some harmonics to my other ukulele playing.I’m looking forward to everyone’s submissions this month! Good luck to all in reaching your goals.
Karen