Week 16 of 24
Goal: You hear whether a chord is major or minor and know why.
Review
“Drunken Sailor” with Dm and C – does your Dm sound clean?
Step by step
- Major sounds bright and happy (C, F, G). Minor sounds soft, darker, sometimes sad (Am, Dm). You spot minor by the little “m”.
- A chord is made of three notes. The middle one is the third. If it is one semitone lower, major becomes minor.
- Example: C major is the notes C, E, G. A minor is A, C, E. More: Major and minor.
- Listening game: play a chord for someone without saying which. Major or minor? The chord detective tells you if you guessed it.
Time to make music: your piece
“Shenandoah” and “Amazing Grace” mix major and minor (C, F, Am, G7). Listen carefully as you play for when it gets darker.
Homework for next time
Five days, about ten minutes each:
- Play C and Am in turn: bright – dark.
- Major-minor guessing game with someone in your family.
- “Amazing Grace” with the backing.
- Fun: find a song on the radio – major or minor?
Done when …
- you can tell for C, F, Am and Dm whether major or minor
- you accompany a song with major and minor
If you get stuck
- You can’t hear the difference? Play the chords very slowly and pick them string by string. Closing your eyes often helps.
- Sad isn’t always minor – tempo and volume change the mood too. Focus on the chord itself.
For teachers: lesson plan
- ≈ 10 min Warm-up: the teacher plays major and minor, the class answers with sun (arms up) or rain (fingers wiggling down).
- ≈ 15 min Practice: show the third – sing C major and C minor (C E G, C Eb G). Where does something change?
- ≈ 20 min Song together: “Amazing Grace” – slow, picked or with a calm strum.
Differentiation: those who are confident play the piece with down-up or help a partner; those who need more time strum only on beat one of each bar.
For the board: openstring.de/ukulele/en/lesson/16/