Ukulele

Kia Ora,

You guys know that I've been posting different types of counting the beat, I've done the topic about guitar an orchestra, there will be more topic that is coming up, but for now I will be focusing about ukulele. 

What is a ukulele? A ukulele is a four nylon stringed musical instrument, it is originally made from Hawaii, it resembles a classical guitar that is made out of woods. English and Hawaiian's pronoucation of "Ukulele" is kinda different, English speakers pronounce it as "you-ka-ley-ley", but Hawaiian pronounce it as "ju-ke-lei-li". I just found out that it is invented in the 1900's, interesting right? 

What do you know about the ukulele? The ukulele has only 4 strings. It's originated from Hawaii. It has some similarities with guitars (not exactly). It is related to the guitar family. It is a stringed instrument, and it has different types and sizes. 

What do you think about ukulele?Not much people knows about ukulele. It's easy to learn especially for little kids. 

But, did you actually know that ukuleles has many different sizes? I just learnt that today. Different types of ukulele is a Soprano, concert, tenor and a baritone, I just found out about the pineapple ukulele. Parts of ukulele also has: Head, tuning heads, frets, neck, fret markings, body, sound hole, rosette, saddle and a bridge. 

Soprano: A soprano ukulele have been named the "classic ukulele". They have the type of a metalic sound, this is because they have more modest body than a guitar or a baritone and tenor ukulele. 

Concert: A concert ukulele is about three inch longer than the Soprano ukulele, since it is longer than soprano, there will be more tension on the string. 

Tenor: The tenor ukulele is only a bit of spot greater than the concert ukulele. Because it has more frets, you're able to reach the higher notes on the fret boards. 

Baritone: A baritone ukulele is also referred to as "bari". It's the biggest ukulele among all of them. It produces a deeper sound because of its tuning. 

Here are some ukulele glossary: 

Strumming - A way of playing which includes running the finger of the string to rhythm (to make a sound).

Tuner - Turning the tuners fixes or loosens the string permitting them to be tuned to pitch.

Chord - A mix of notes played in harmony, affected on a ukulele by holding strings at different frets. 

Frets - The thin pieces of metal place into the neck of a ukulele to permit you to change notes. 

To be honest, I just found out some of these facts. It's really interesting knowing that there is many types of ukulele, I use to think there's only 1 ukulele. I've learnt playing ukulele when I was in Primary, I joined the strum strike blow festival. I recommend you guys to try playing ukulele if you haven't, it's similar to guitar but a small version with 4 strings. 

Have you played one of these type of ukulele before? Let me know. Thank you for taking your time to read this blog, I really appreciate it. I hope you learn something new today, I would be glad if you could leave a comment/feedback, goodbye. 

Cultural Terminology

 Kia ora everyone,

Welcome back to my blog. During Wananga, we've been focusing about culture. We start off by playing kahoot, there are questions about our country that we answered. 

Then we had to write the definition of these words: Heritage, Values, Whakapapa, Tikanga, Traditions, Kiwiana, Cultural Identity and cultural practices. We also have to add pictures that relates to the words.

I made it using google drawing, and used the shapes to write on the meaning of the words. 

 Here's mine: 

Thank you for reading, I hope you learn something new. I'll be posting very often about the works that we've been doing, goodbye.  

An Orchestra

Hello everyone,

 

Last week, I posted a blog about guitar, and now in "Learning the beat" we're doing an Orchestra. We have brainstorm some ideas about this word, I'm going to explain to everyone about this topic. 

 

An orchestra is a mixture of different types of instruments. They combine string, woodwind, brass and percussion, we can also call this the family of instruments. A group preforms it using different types of instruments with their conductor who leads the group. Have you heard of these type of instruments? do you know what it means? Well if you don't, I will be explaining it. 

Woodwind: A woodwind is a type of musical instrument, it is obviously part of the family instrument. It is a instrument that is made out of wood, plastic and metal. When blown into the hole/mouthpiece, it makes a sound. 

Brass: A brass is also a type of musical instrument. It produces sounds by the vibration of air that is blown  with the player's lips. It also has another meaning, it's called "labrosones", meaning "lip vibrated instruments". 

String: It is again part of the family instrument and type of musical instrument. A string makes a sound by strumming the string, it plays soft notes, you could also change the way how it sounds with the tuner.

Percussion: A percussion makes a sound when an instrument is hit, shaken or scrapped. 

 

These are the different types of instruments that are used during an Orchestra: *There are more instruments that are used in an Orchestra*

 

String family:          Woodwind family:          Brass family:          Percussion family: 

Violin                       Flute                               Trumpet                  Snare drum

Viola                        Saxophones                    Horn                        Bass drum

Cello                        Clarinet                          Trombone                Triangle

                                 Piccolo                           Tuba                        Xylophone

                                                                                                        

These are some glossary words of Orchestra: 

Conductor - The person who directs/leads the performance. 

Harmony - The musical effects from combining different pitches. 

Melody - A sequence of notes describes by a pith and a rhythm. 

Tempo - The speed or pace of the music. 

Movements - Self contained sections and parts of a musical work. 

This video is shown to us: 

I've heard most of these instruments before but haven't played some of them. I honestly wanna try the violin, it seems fun to play and learn at the same time. The cello looks hard to learn but I'd be glad to try it. Learning different types of instruments is really helpful to show your skills and talent. 

Have you played one of these instruments before? Let me know. Thank you for taking your time to read this blog, I really appreciate it. I hope you learn something new today, I would be glad if you could leave a comment/feedback, goodbye. 

Sports hero

Kia Ora everyone, 

We have been talking about sports hero this past few weeks. We had to choose one sports hero and research about them. Questions to answer like: how did their career starts? What makes them a hero? Tons more. 

The sport hero that I chose is Cristiano Ronaldo, for me he is a hero because he had inspire many people out there who wants to be like him. He worked hard to be in the position where he is now, he was a role model for everyone who wants to be like him. 

Here is what I found: 

Cristiano Ronaldo is a famous and professional soccer player. Everything started when Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced to the game soccer through his dad (his dad works as a equipment manager at a boy’s club). He has gone through many hard days, his father died from alcohol because of a kidney problem. In 2005, Ronaldo decided to play for Manchester United, but during 2007 his mother has struggled with breast cancer. His grandfather claimed that all he wanted when he was young was all about soccer. 

How everything started: 

In 2001, Ronaldo was just 16 years old, he was paid by Manchester United more than $12 million to sign him. Ronaldo performed with Portugal against Manchester, surprised even his opponents with his mesmerizing footwork and deft skills. Everyone was delighted seeing his performance that tons of United players had asked their manager to offer the opportunity for him in their teams. In 2004, Cristiano Ronaldo made a promise to score his team the first three goals to help them reach their goal, the championship, years later, he managed to keep his promise and did not disappoint the soccer world. In 2007, he then signed a 5 years contract - a $31 million contract. Throughout the year, In December 2016, he won his fourth ballon d’Or award for being a sport’s player of the year. 

His life was tough from the beginning, knowing that his dad died because of alcohol, and that his mum is struggling with breast cancer. He deserves all what he has now, he made it to the top because of all his hardship. He managed to fulfill his dream to be a soccer player from the start. He showed leadership and determination. He was able to teach young people that no matter what, always follow what you love to do. Some facts about him: Cristiano Ronald is named after Ronald Regan because it’s one of his father’s favourite actors. He is described as: A role model, independent, courageous and confident. 

On his retirement, he exclaimed that “He is 36, we are in 2021 and I will remain here only in 2024.” His career and his journey is still going well, he is happily married with their four healthy children. He also donated/gave money for associations for children, those who aren’t well (sick). He gave opportunities to the children to be able to see him, he has inspired those people who wanted to become like him, he has accomplished what he wants. He knew that the day he had to sign up for Manchester United he had to take a risk, many responsibilities will come and he has to be a leader. Cristiano Ronaldo proves that hard work pays off. He gets better and better everyday, which means more and more people will keep on inspiring him. 

As a conclusion, He proved and taught many people that anything is possible whether if you’re in a tough situation or at a young age, you will achieve anything with hard work, his inspiration will always be himself, he is who he is now. 

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you learn something new, you could give me feedback about this blog, and I'll see you all next time, bye. 

Changing the world

Good afternoon everyone,

 

During hurumanu 3, we have been learning about inventions, and the topic that we're doing is about cars. We have read 3 articles related to cars with some questions that is set for us to answer. It took me many time to finish this because of researching more information about it, but most of the answers is in the article which makes it easier for us. 

These are the work I have done: 

SuperBike - Jane Buxton

Replace The Words But Keep The Meaning: 

“When it sprints past factory bikes on the race track, you can hardly believe it yourself!” - Before

 At the point when it runs past processing plant bicycles on the race track, you can scarcely trust in yourself! - After

How would you feel?: Describe how you would feel watching a bike designed by YOU win an international race.

I would probably feel proud, glad and delighted because It’s my own creativity. Watching others riding it, especially when it won in an international race makes you feel relieved. All of the hard work you did was extremely worth it. You’ll immediately remember the first time you tried to build that bike, it usually fails if you make it the first time, especially if you did it many times and it fails and you have no more hope that it’ll actually work. 

The Introduction Information: Change the title. Change the title of the article, but make sure it is still a suitable title yet an interesting title. State what ‘Genre’ the text is. Is it a play, story, article etc? List the Author/s and Illustrator/s of the text. In a paragraph, write a short synopsis/review of what it was about.

Title: Superior bike 

Genre: Article, non-fiction

Author/Writer: Jane Buxton

Review: This story is about a man who created and designed a superior bike. He tells his story about how he made it, what inspires him to create it, and how he feels about his creation winning in an international race competition. 

Comprehension Questions:

What was the name of the first bike John Britten made at home?

• The first bike John Britten made at home was Britten V1000. It is a handbuilt motorcycle that was built during the 1990's, and was designed by John Britten and with his other friends from Christchurch New Zealand. 

How long would it take John to build a go-kart?  What did he build them out of? 

• John Britten claimed that his father used to own a bike shop. When he was 5 years old, he used those boxes to make go-karts every 3 weeks, it may have taken him about 1 or 2 and a half weeks to build a go-kart.  It was built out of big wooden boxes. 

What does John have trouble with?

• He experienced difficulties with reading. He doesn’t remember so he’d continually work them out like he has never seen them.

What type of car did John design when he was 12? 

• The car he designed when he was 12 years old was go karts.  Back in the days, he got all of his ideas from magazines, he collected them and would draw pictures. 

The Steam Powered Car - Pat Quinn

Replace The Words But Keep The Meaning:

"Now that the cost of petrol has risen over the years, and the air is becoming polluted with fumes, a steam powered car could be the car of the future." - Before 

Since the expense of petrol has ascended throughout the year, and the air is getting contaminated with fumes, a steam controlled vehicle could be the vehicle of things to come. - After

Would you buy one?: Would you own and drive a steam powered car?  Why/why not?

If vehicles these days weren’t invented yet such as trucks, busses, bicycles, and more, I would gladly buy a steam powered car. It looks pretty useful and unique, It will totally catch many other people’s attention. 

What are the pluses and minuses to the steam powered car? (Positive and Negative)

There were tons of pluses and minuses to the steam powered car. About their promotions, the pluses were that whenever they drive the car, people would certainly notice both of them, but the minuses about their promotions is that when someone wants to buy their car, they would have to pay it in cash, no payments and deposits were accepted. If there’s any problem about the Stanley steamer, you will be able to take it back to the factory. The Stanley steamer is one of the fabulous cars back in the days, it was clean, fast and easy to use, but the problem is that the car needed to be refilled most of the time with fresh water. 

The Introduction Information: Change the title. Change the title of the article, but make sure it is still a suitable title yet an interesting title. State what ‘Genre’ the text is. Is it a play, story, article etc? List the Author/s and Illustrator/s of the text. In a paragraph, write a short synopsis/review of what it was about.

Title: Bro-ST.car (bro - brother (Because they both made it together), st - steam, car 

Genre: Article, non-fiction

Author/Writer: By Pat Quinn

Review: This true story is about two brothers who builded a car called the Stanley Steamer. As they both share their experiences and thoughts while making the Stanley Steamer. 

How Cars Changed The World - Bronwen Wall

Replace The Words But Keep The Meaning:

“Cars made it even easier to move around and keep in contact, but they were very expensive. Only wealthy people could afford one”. - Before 

Vehicles made it so much simpler to move around and stay in touch, however they were extravagant. Just wealthy individuals could manage the cost of one. - After

Would you buy one?: Would you own and drive a steam powered car?  Why/why not?

If it’s today’s society, I wouldn’t because I’d still prefer cars, but if it was in the 1900's - 2000’s then I would because during those years, cars weren’t as popular as it is now. But if it’s useful I’d buy it. 

What are the pluses and minuses to the steam powered car? 

Sometimes, we don't really need to use cars, it helps us to exercise even more by walking, running or jogging. Because using cars can have positive, and negative effects, such as: 

Pluses: We use cars to travel and get to places fast, we don’t have to carry heavy things (we can put it in the car). Car gives us shelter. 

Minuses: These cars can cause car crash (which we can’t avoid), We don’t wanna get use to keep on using car (make us unfit and unhealthy because we won’t be able to exercise <walking, running>), More cars more roads, we have to fill up the fuel, SOME cars are very expensive. 

The Introduction Information: Change the title. Change the title of the article, but make sure it is still a suitable title yet an interesting title. State what ‘Genre’ the text is. Is it a play, story, article etc? List the Author/s and Illustrator/s of the text. In a paragraph, write a short synopsis/review of what it was about.

Title: Vehicles changing society

Genre: Article, non-fiction

Author/Writer: By Bronwen Wall 

Review: This tells us about how the vehicles changed the world, What life used to be like WITHOUT the cars, and how life  is now WITH the cars. When did cars arrive in New Zealand? Find out about it by reading this short story. 

Timeline: 

First car - The first car was invented in 1886 by Karl/Carl Benz, It has three wheels and it was an internal combustion. 

First Engine - The first gasoline engine was also made by Karl/Carl Benz in 1879 during new year’s eve. 

Car radio - The first car radio was invented in 1930 to receive a radio broadcast in the road. 

Car keys - The first car keys was invented in 1949 and that was created by Chrysler 

First engine steering wheel - It’s invented in 1926 created by an engineer named Francis Davis.

First seat belt - A man named Nils Bohlin has saved many lives for inventing the first V-type three-point seatbelt in 1959. 

Air bags - It was made in 1988, but it was originally made for drivers but is now used to protect the passengers as well. 

First self-driving car - The first self-driving car was invented in 2020 not too long ago, It was a project to release a self-driving car. 

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy and learnt something new. I'll see you all next time, bye. 

Guitar

Good morning/afternoon everyone,

Today, I will be explaining about what we have been doing during hurmanu 2. We are currently doing "Learning the beat", we are focusing on guitar. We started with brainstorming our ideas.

The first question was: What do you know about the guitar? These was everyone's answer: Some are electric, they make music/sound/beat, they are tuned instruments, there are tons of different instrument, is made out of woods and some guitars has 4 or 5 string but usually 6 strings.  

Then we started learning about different types of guitars, just like: Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Spanish guitar, bass guitar, air guitar, travel guitar, mini guitar, grand concert guitar, dreadnought guitar, jumbo guitar, gypsy jazz guitar, arch top guitar and classical guitar. Every single of these guitars has pro's and con's. If you don't know what "pro's and con's means, well then let me tell you: Pro's means the positive effect of something, and Con's means the negative effect of something. For example, 'Should I quit staying up late at night?' The pro's of this is there will be a big possible that you will wake up early in the morning if you sleep early at night, but the con's is that you won't be able watch your favourite movie because you're sleeping early.

Anyway, back to the topic. We then learnt the parts of guitars (electric guitars and acoustic guitars): Head-stock, tuning keys, nut, fret, fret board, position marker, body, pick guard, sound hole, pickup (electric guitar), pickup selector switch (electric guitar), saddle, volume/tons knobs (electric guitar), whammy bar (electric guitar), bridge and strap bin (electric guitar). There is also a genre called "your own style", you could make your own style of playing this guitar. 

We also learnt about the guitar strings, and then watched a video of some artist using different types of guitars. All guitars may seem like to look the same, but sometimes the shape makes it look different and especially the tune. 

These are some glossary words of guitars: 

Tuner - an electronic tuning device

Chord - a three or more notes that combines harmoniously

Bend - a guitar technique - pushing or pulling a string to change the pitch of a note.

 

To be honest, I never knew there were this many types of guitars, I only knew 4 or 5 guitars but after learning about these was totally shocking. I've tried playing guitar before, but it's really hard when you have such a small fingers because you wont be able to reach for the chords, especially switching chords is the hardest part. These facts are so fascinating and interesting. 

Do you know how to play guitar? I'd love to know. That's all for now, I hope you learn something new, bye. 

International women's day

Kia ora,

Today, I will be talking about what we did during Wananga. Today is March 8, which means we will be celebrating International women's day. we are acknowledging the tech women and their innovations, sports equality for women, educating the women’s health decisions, workplaces and women’s creativity.

You all know about the woman's suffrage movements that was lead by Kate Sheppard. I will be going to share some facts about the woman's suffrage. I've researched information about the woman's suffrage, and I'll be giving you some facts:

International women's day/Women's suffrage movement: 

Before the protests happened, mans were the only gender that were allowed to vote, women were forbidden to vote whenever there were elections. Back in the days, women were known as wives, sisters, daughters and mothers while men were known as heroes, leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists. There was one woman who stood up for what is right and changed the men’s perspective towards women. Met Kate Sheppard, she was the leader of the women’s suffrage. They started a movement for this, however, in the end the testimonial appeal assisted with achieving a huge victory. Women’s suffrage movements were extremely important, helpful and effective. Both movements were able to help today’s society. If Kate Sheppard didn’t stand up, women aren't allowed to vote in elections in this society. She showed true leadership, she was also trustworthy and helped her fellow people. Most importantly, she showed resilience, she knew what she had to risk and have the guts to do what she has done, it takes tons of courage to be able to do that. All thanks to Kate Sheppard. 

New Zealand was the first country allowing women the right to vote. It took them 10 years until they received  an equal suffrage with men. It’s sad to think that back in the days, some people weren’t able to vote for politics because of their gender, age, race, education, wealth and social status. 

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you learn something new in this blog, I'll see you next time, bye.

Drama/Mask/Bully plays

Kia Ora everyone,

I will be talking about the mask we were currently doing in drama. We watched a video about these children who preforms while wearing a mask, we're trying to do the same but we must make our own mask. I've researched and got some ideas about mask I'm doing. I found a good mask that I was trying to do on google.

I watched a video on YouTube on how to do it. The equipment I used are: Hot glue gun, Painting and scissors. The first step I did was sketching it, after I sketched it, I eventually traced it using hot glue to make the shape I wanted. Honestly the hot glue part was when I started struggling. It's so hard to trace it with hot glue, but I managed to trace it anyway (It's just a bit messy). After waiting, I'll used the white painting to colour my mask. It also took a while till it dries. After drying, I'll have to add the elastic on the side. But I'm still currently waiting. 

In this picture, It is painted and is still drying.

[Update]:  

I still wasn't able to put on my mask (I haven't tried it yet), but it's currently looking good.  

Update:

 Kia ora everyone,

Today I will be updating about what happened on my mask. Apparently, the mask that I was trying to follow failed. The paint made it look weird, I still can wear it an use it but it's uncomfortable. We had to perform with our mask.

We had a group, it includes Rheanne, Talisa and Jasmine. In our play, I was bullying Jasmine, while Rheanne is the girl who helped her, she saw Jasmine while catching the bus, the bus driver is Talisa. The first time we act it failed because our back was facing the front, so we had to retake it. What makes it realistic is that the light and the music, we used white and mix red light, with a dramatic/sad music. 

Today we had to act, we were given a script, 4 people must be in the group. The play is about bully, Stryk, Kuff, Grynd and Boot, these are the bullies. I was Stryk, Cate is the Kuff, Grynd is Rheanne and Boot is Shontai. We practice the script many times. I think we have to work on our facial expression and our voice tone. 

The acting was fun but again, we have many things to work on.

Here's the link of our performance wearing our mask: Link

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy, you can give me some helpful, thoughtful and some positive feedback, I'll see you all next time, goodbye!