How to Play Ukulele 5 Easy Ukulele Songs

How to Play Ukulele 5 Easy Ukulele Songs Megan L. Once youve mastered playing chords on the ukulele, youre ready to move on to tackling some songs. Here are 5 easy ukulele songs that are great for beginners. Remember, its okay to start slow and gradually increase your speed until youre playing the song at its normal tempo. Alouette This French folk song is light and breezy. With just two chords for you to master, this is a great song to practice singing while playing once you get the chord transitions down. Tabs and chords for Alouette Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star This childrens classic uses three basic chords. Tabs and chords for  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Old MacDonald Old MacDonald Had a Farm is another classic childrens song that is easy to play on the ukulele. Tabs and chords for  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Amazing Grace This hymn is a little more challenging. Once youve mastered simpler songs, try adding Amazing Grace to your repertoire. Tabs and chords for  Amazing Grace Knocking on Heavens Door This classic Eric Clapton ballad is a bit more challenging than the other songs, but certainly doable for a beginner. Just remember to stay focused on learning the chords and start slow! Tabs and chords for  Knocking on Heavens Door Use these songs as a jumping off point to get started playing the ukulele. There are lots of other great resources online that can help you learn to play just about any ukulele song you can think of. In fact, if youre looking for more songs to play, here is a guide that lists  songs based on category and experience level. If you feel like you need a bit more help learning how to play ukulele, music lessons are another great option to explore. When you take private music lessons, your teacher can tailor lesson plans to you, to make sure you learn what you really want to know! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher

The Best Drum Books for Beginners

The Best Drum Books for Beginners Timeless Works to Help You Become a Drummer ChaptersCan You Learn to Drum with the Help of a Book?Basic Drumming VocabularyStick Control for the Snare Drummer by George Lawrence StoneTime Functioning Patterns by Gary ChaffeeMaster Studies by Joe MorelloThe Language of Drumming by Benny Greb4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set by  Marvin Dahlgren and Elliot FineAfrican Rhythms and Independence for Drumset by Mokhtar SambaThe Best Books on Different Musical StylesDrumming Definitions“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” - Ludwig van BeethovenNearly half of all internet users use a streaming service to listen to music.Could you use it to teach yourself how to play the drums?Maybe, but it’d be difficult. You'll need more resources than that!A lot of drummers are self-taught including John Bonham, Buddy Rich, and Keith Moon. In fact, Keith Moon was calling himself a drummer before he even had a drum kit!How did they learn?Buddy Rich learnt by l istening and used his sense of rhythm to help him along.  John Bonham and Keith Moon must have learnt some basic techniques.Learning to play the drums outside of a music school and without a music tutor isn’t for everyone.  In this article, we're going to look at a few books that every drummer should consider investing in in order to improve their playing.Future Sounds by David Garibaldi: This is great for rhythm and control.The Basics of Jazz DrummingJazz drumming isn’t for everyone, especially not beginners. However, if you want to give it a go, here are a few useful books that should definitely have a home on your bookshelf.Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin: This legendary book can help you become a jazz drummer. However, it is one of the most difficult books.The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley: For learning modern jazz drumming.Modern Rudimental Swing Solos by Charley Wilcoxon: For learning swing rudiments.Learning Snare Drum TechniqueTo learn some s nare drum rudiments, Buddy Rich can help!Check out Buddy Rich’s Modern Interpretation of Snare Drum Rudiments by Buddy Rich and Henry Adler.After all, Buddy Rich is probably the greatest drummer of all time.Drumming DefinitionsWhether you're a beginner, intermediate, or expert drummer, when you learn to play drums, you’ll also need to learn the lingo.In a few of our articles on drumming, we've included a short glossary on drumming terms to help you on your way. If you want to become fluent in drumming, you're just going to have to read all our articles on the drums!Playing, anywhere and at any time, is the best way to improve. (Source: StockSnap)Tension RodThis is a metal part that attaches to the drum that helps hold the skin onto the drum.ForteForte means to play loudly. It’s the opposite of piano, which means quietly.

Online Community For Young Writers

Online Community For Young Writers Young people interested in writing have a new home, and its Figment.com. The site launched in early December, calling itself an online community for young writers to share work samples, receive feedback from other young writers, read and explore new, young fiction writers. Jacob Lewis, a former managing editor at the New Yorker, and Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at the New Yorker, created the site, originally envisioning it to be a similar to a social network site, like the young adults literary Facebook. However, the two noticed that young adults didnt want another Facebook. What they wanted, was to read and write and discover new content, but around the content itself, said Lewis, quoted in an article in the New York Times Figment is a free platform for young adults, encouraging them to write and read new fiction. The site also includes a mobile platform where aspiring writers can read and submit work, ranging from poems to short stories and novels. This idea came from Goodyear in 2008, when she wrote a 6,000-word article for the New Yorker about young Japanese women who were writing fiction on their cellular phones. Since then, the two have been promoting Figment at schools, literary organizations and libraries throughout the nation, recruiting several hundred students who would be willing to participate and post literary work. We wanted people to be able to write whatever they wanted in whatever form they wanted, Lewis told the New York Times. We give them a piece of paper and say, Go. He noted that people have posted work, including fantasy, science fiction, biographical work, and long serial novels. Theres a very earnest and exacting quality to what theyre doing. Many publishers will be paying close attention to Figment and the most popular work on it, trying to glean key insights into the literature young adults gravitate toward and introducing them to certain books and work. Lewis said that he hopes figment can at least capture a million users, serving as an opportunity for publishers to pluck young talent out of and promote their own authors by publishing novel excerpts. For publishers this is an amazing opportunity to not only reach your consumers but to find out really valuable information about how they are reading, Lewis told the New York Times. Figment has already signed on a few publishers, most notably Running Press Kids, a member of the Perseus Books Group. They will provide a novel excerpt from Purple Daze, a historical novel for young adults by Sherry Shahan.

How is the STAAR Scored

How is the STAAR Scored What is the STAAR? The STAAR is the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. The STAAR replaced the TAKS in 2012. This exam tests students at multiple stages of their education in mathematics and reading (grades 3-8), writing (grades 4 and 7), science (grades 5 and 8), and social studies (grade 8). There is also an 'end of course' test (similar to the Regents Exams in New York) at the conclusion of Algebra I, Biology, English I and II, and U.S. History. These assessments compare student growth across the state with the desired and expected learning outcomes. They are now required for graduation. Here are some essentials for the new STAAR teststhat you may want to take look at. How is the STAAR scored? All scores fall within three categories: advanced, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory academic performance. Individuals must earn a satisfactory or advanced mark on end of course (EOC) exams in order to graduate from high school with a diploma. Students with special education or English language needs may receive modified assessments. Each tests rubric is available via thestate website. Raw Score versus Scaled Score Each STAAR report includes a raw and scaled score. The raw result consists of the number of questions that a student answers correctly, with one point awarded for each problem. The scaled score takes into account the difficulty of the test version. Note that the scaled score fluctuates with the levels of academic performance each year. 2012-2014 is within the first testing phase, and thus, the scale has slightly lower thresholds for satisfactory academic performance. Advanced academic performance remains consistent. The score report also includes an analysis of an individuals strengths and weaknesses within the test. Preparing for the STAAR Many strong students struggle with standardized testing, but they cannot graduate with unsatisfactory STAAR scores on their EOC exams. Though the state releases some test content, preparing for a strictly timed and high stakes exam involves more effort. Timed writing or reading drills will assist individuals in gaining control of testing situations and developing confidence. Reading and understanding the rubrics for each test is also an important technique. You may want to consider a STAAR tutorto help you prepare. As a whole, this assessment system is still new to the state of Texas and it has been heavily scrutinized, as all new exams typically are. However, as the tests are increasingly regulated, additional materials should become available to schools, students, and teachers.

5 Things You Must Do to Convey Your Personal Brand To Someone Who Doesnt Yet Know You - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / 5 Things You Must Do to Convey Your Personal Brand To Someone Who Doesn’t Yet Know You - Introvert Whisperer 5 Things You Must Do to Convey Your Personal Brand To Someone Who Doesn’t Yet Know You If you are a job seeker, you already know the challenges you face trying to get the attention of hiring managers for both your resume and you.  For the most part, we have to rely heavily on our resume or LinkedIn profile to bubble to the top and dazzle. No matter how you magically attract the hiring manager to you, the challenges is to quickly and powerfully distinguish yourself.  You need to convey your personal brand to stand out and be memorable. Use the Right Amount You want to think about your Personal Brand like the seasoning to a meal. (Tweet this!)  The seasoning is the thing that transforms an entrée from plain to Italian or Greek.  As with seasonings, you can’t be heavy-handed.  You don’t pile on an herb without dire consequences, nor do you add such a small pinch that you have accomplished nothing.  Look for opportunities to inject a word or phrase throughout your job search tools. Repetition Reinforces With items like your resume and LinkedIn profile, you want to add words and phrases in multiple forms, several times that reflect your Personal Brand.  Repetition is how we learn and the reader of your information is essentially learning about you. Word Usage Creativity The repetition you are going after is the Personal Branding concepts you want to convey but you must be cautious not to overuse any single word or phrase.  This becomes redundant and boring for the reader, who will quickly get lose interest and move on.  Let me give you an idea of how this might work. Let’s say you want to convey that you are dynamic.  Dynamic is the sort of word that isn’t overused in general but is unique enough it’s easily remembered.  If you repeated the use of that word a few times in your resume, the reader would start losing focus and quickly dump your resume.  If you check the dictionary, you find the following words associated with “Dynamic”: vigorous, energetic, aggressive, assertive and forceful.  Any or all of those words could be used to help reinforce the idea that you are a dynamic person.  You can use different words to keep it interesting to read and still portray your Personal Branding idea. You do frequently see a list of overused and meaningless words. (My personal pet peeve phrase is “people person”, seriously? What does that mean?)  I suggest that if you are working to strongly brand your job search materials, you find some of these lists so you can avoid the use of those words. Consistency Everywhere, All the Time Although your resume and LinkedIn profile is the main thing you need to stamp with your Personal Brand, you have other things you need to pay attention to in this process.  Everything that represents you must be consistent and in alignment with the picture you are portraying.  You never know what someone will look at to make a quick assessment about you.  Here are some of the additional things you need to pay attention to for portraying your Personal Branding: Business cards All social media Your elevator speech The items on this list don’t have enough space to allow you to portray much more than one Personal Branding idea.  That’s ok because you have to remember that the people that don’t know you will still learn a few things about your Personal Brand from one sentence. Your Job Interview We don’t always think about our job interview as a place to reinforce our Personal Brand, but what you say about yourself speaks volumes.  No one can guess what you bring to the party; you have to fold in your Personal Branding as you respond to various questions. The interview is more than just your qualifications; it’s about you as a person and future co-worker. If you repeat your Personal Branding concepts across all of the various platforms you use and are consistent with everything a hiring manager reviews, you will be more than a piece of paper or a job title.  You will be a person they want working for them. Go to top Personal Branding starts with how well you speak about YOU.   I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook â€" The Definitive Guide to Creating and Using an Elevator Speech.   In this guide, I give you simple to follow instructions for creating a “wardrobe” of ways to talk about you â€" to leave a lasting impression.   Get your copy now: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential. What are some areas of your Personal Brand that you’d like to work on? Share your thoughts in the comments! This post originally appeared at FlexJobs. Image Source

Translation Card Game

Translation Card Game By Derivative work: RodelarOriginal: User: André Costa (WMSE) Own work based on: Translation A till Ã…-colours.svg, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55643225 English has borrowed 60% of its vocabulary from French over the centuries. Some words have entered English almost unchanged. Some loanwords are unrecognizable. Some words look the same in both languages but are used in different ways. False Cognates These false-friends or faux-amis are often referred to as false-cognates, from the Latin co  for together and natus for born. These words were born together, but have gone their separate ways ever since. Examples abound. Heres one. Réunion is a plain old meeting in French, but a reunion is a special kind of get-together for people who have been apart for many years. The two words look and sound similar, but they are not translations of each other.   Learning about false-cognates can be extremely boring if presented as a list of translation facts to memorize. However, turn false-cognates into a translation card game, and students will love every minute of the lessonteaching and correcting each other, laughing and smiling the whole time. English-French Translation Card Game To help my students with the confusion produced by false-cognates, I have created a test, a chart and translation card game. This card game was taken from my English Second Language textbook for college students in Quebec called  Actively Engaged Online.   Free Download French-English Translation Card GameDownload For a grammar checker that can detect many false-cognate errors, try the Virtual Writing Tutor.   Please follow and like us:

14 Phrasal Verbs with FALL with meanings - Learn English with Harry ????

14 Phrasal Verbs with FALL with meanings - Learn English with Harry ???? In this post you will learn 14 Phrasal Verbs with FALL with meanings and examples. Scroll down to watch a video lesson.English verb TO FALL is short in letters but has many applications. Fall, fell and fallen are its three forms.I always fall in love with the wrong guys.He has fallen in love yet again.We can also use FALL  as a phrasal verb or in idiomatic expressions in so many ways. Take a look at these: Enjoyed this infographic? Here’s what you can do next: 14 Phrasal Verbs with FALL FALL DOWNMeaning: to collapse or to fall to the groundHe was not feeling very well and he collapsed or fell  down.FALL OVERMeaning: to topple overThe wind was blowing very strongly and the bicycle fell over (toppled over) on  to the ground.FALL APARTMeaning: to go into pieces, to break upI made a book shelf but when I put some books on it, it fell apart. I had forgotten to put in  the nails!!FALL ABOUTMeaning: to laugh continuouslyMy friend has a great sense of humour and tells very funny stories. I always fall about  laughing at him. So literally you cannot stop laughing as the stories are so funny. Please share now FALL BACK ONMeaning: to turn to somebody or something for help when other plans have failedKeep some money in the bank to fall back on in case you lose your job.FALL BEHINDMeaning: to fail to keep up with, to fail to do something on timeAfter losing her job, she fell behind on her mortgage repayments.I was ill for 3 weeks, and fell behind with my final project.FALL FORMeanings:1. to fall in love with somebodyPeter fell for Sarah the moment he saw her.2. to be deceived by somethingIt was amazing how everybody fell for his lies.FALL INMeaning: to collapseIf that is not rectified, the roof will fall in, and eventually the walls and so on. Phrasal Verbs with FALL FALL FLAT (ON)Meaning: When someone hope you do not succeed at something or if you make a mistake and something turns out to be a disaster we can say: I hope he falls flat on his face or he fell flat on his face.David did not like Paul. When he heard he was opening a new business he said. “ I hope it’s a  disaster I hope he falls flat on his face with this!”FALL OUT WITHMeaning: When we have an argument with a friend or family member and we do not talk to them for a long while we can say that we have fallen out with Mike”.He fell out with his cousin  over an argument about who owned the bike.FALL OUTMeanings:1. soldiers fall out and move out of lineSoldiers fell out and started talking.2. to have a row and stop talking to someone, to quarrelSarah has decided to ignore Paula since they fell out last night. Phrasal Verbs with Fall with Meanings Don't keep this to yourself, share it! FALL INTOMeanings:1. to start doing somethingHe quickly fell into the habit of drinking too much, a habit, which lasted over 10 years.2. to be divided into (categories, parts)The book falls into two main parts.FALL IN WITHMeaning: to agree withAll members of the board readily fell in with the suggestion and the necessary expert was quickly engaged.FALL THROUGHMeaning: to fail to happen We ended up cancelling the lunch. The plans fell through. Common Idiomatic Expressions with FALL TO FALL ON DEAF EARSYou make a suggestion that you believe is good but nobody agrees or takes up your suggestion. It fell on deaf ears.ex. Mike suggested that we advertise the new product on the  internet as that is where everyone looks first these days. Nobody agreed and they advertised on the  radio as they always did. His suggestion fell on deaf ears.And finallyIT DIDNT FALL FAR FROM THE TREEWhen someone has a characteristic that was also part of theirmothers’ or fathers’ character we usually say “Well, it did not fall far from the tree”.John had a  short (quick) temper and he got angry very quickly. His father reacted in the same way when he was  young. His grandmother would always say well it did not fall far from the tree your father was  always the same at your age.I also have a short video lesson for you about common phrasal verbs with FALL. Phrasal Verbs with FALL - Video Lesson

SWE and PepsiCo Kick Off Student Challenge

SWE and PepsiCo Kick Off Student Challenge Image via: The Society of Women Engineers website From now until July 17, 2017, college undergraduate students are welcome to form teams to participate, with no greater than four members. The team(s) are encouraged to compete in the PepsiCo/SWE Student Engineering Challenge by proposing a solution or response to one of these real-life issues: Water: Consider how water is used at different points along the life cycle of PepsiCo products and propose how we can lessen our net environmental, water extraction or overall usage. Packaging: Present a sustainable packaging solution applicable to a food or beverage product. Equipment: Design what the next core category of PepsiCo beverage equipment will look like to accompany our current offering of coolers, fountains, and vending machines. Image via: The Society of Women Engineers website Out of all the submissions responding to these three prompts, three teams will be chosen as finalists and they will be invited to present their findings and solutions to a panel of judges, comprised of PepsiCo RD leaders. The winners of the contest will be officially announced at WE17 during Society of Women Engineers’ “Celebrate SWE!” event. This is one of the largest professional development and networking conferences for women pursuing careers in engineering and technology. Over 11,000 women engineers are expected to attend this event. Winners of this competition will also earn cash prizes, along with the chance to present their submissions in front of the panel of judges. Thanks to The Society of Women Engineers and PepsiCo, thousands of women will have the chance to make strides toward creating a better tomorrow today, while also making advances toward the careers of their dreams. To learn more about the PepsiCo/SWE Student Engineering Challenge, (rules, deadlines, criteria, etc.), find everything you need to know here.