Why Differentiation?

Have you ever tried to learn a tune and felt completely overwhelmed? Did it ever feel too easy or like you weren’t challenged? Differentiation is a way of teaching that incorporates multiple levels of difficulty and approaches. This allows for students with different experience levels and different learning styles to all be able to connect with music in a way that is effective and rewarding. It is an important concept in education and can be the key to finding the right material and content that works for you. A good teacher understands how important this is and strives to deliver their content to a wide variety of students, each with different learning styles and experience levels.

The Right Amount of Challenge

During my journey as student, a teacher, and a player I’ve seen what happens to folks (myself included) when they are challenged too little or too much. The result can be the same in both situations, that learning is difficult or frustrating…or worse yet stops all together. I spend a lot of my time as an instructor thinking about differentiation, about how to approach a song, concept or subject with a variety of approaches. Differentiation means there is an easier version of a trickier chord shape in a song. Differentiation means there is a variation of that strum pattern that incorporates a little fingerpicking for players with more time. Differentiation can mean there is different voicing of a chord higher up the neck if you already know how to play a Dm chord. Differentiation is such an important concept when creating educational material and we strive to incorporate it in all of our UkeLab resources.

Sustainability

Differentiation also means sustainability in learning. Having arrangements and content that vary in level and approach means that you as a player can connect with material that presents the right amount of challenge. You can also return to that same material in the future and challenge yourself further by incorporating elements from more difficult arrangements. I’ve found a deeper connection and new insights each and every time I revisit a song, especially if that song is meaningful and resonates with me. If you learn a song at the beginning of your musical journey it is such a benefit that we can revisit that tune further down the road. We are then able to bring a more developed and mature skill set to the tune and find new and more sophisticated ways to bring that song to life. It’s always a goal for me when teaching musicians to provide something that can help anyone improve, no matter what their experience level.

Deeper Connection

Music is deep and meaningful and something that is universally sought out by all of us. So many times I see ukulele education that is superficial and one dimensional in its approach. We often use the labels easy or beginner, hard or advanced to describe a tune. I use the language as well and it is important to use these labels. But sometimes it gives the impression that some of these songs might not be attainable for you if you're just starting out. That some of these songs might not present enough of a challenge if you have more time with ukulele. The truth is that any song can be presented in a multitude of ways. We may think of a song as having this strum pattern or these chords but the the truth is so much more expansive. We can approach a song with differentiated rhythmic ideas that can incorporate techniques that are level appropriate. We can alter voicings of chords to make them easier to play or more challenging depending on your comfortability on the fretboard. When we gain the understanding that music can be approached in a differentiated way, we find a deeper and longer lasting connection with it. We can see a music not as a static set of directions to memorize but more as an evolving universe where we can grow, explore and create. Be sure to check out our video on differentiation if you want to continue to explore this subject.

For those of you who are wondering if ukulele is easy or not you can check out this article to learn how this is a really nuanced question. Do you have any ideas for things that you’d like to see included in future content? Is there a topic or subject that you’d like to see in a video course that would help to get you further with ukulele? Please let us know in the comments, and CLICK HERE if you’d like to learn more about UkeLab and start learning with us!