{"id":332,"date":"2025-03-28T22:07:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T05:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/?p=332"},"modified":"2025-06-09T22:10:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T05:10:21","slug":"music-class-in-uncertain-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/28\/music-class-in-uncertain-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Class In Uncertain Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This is a post that I sent to my ukulele students.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many people consider taking a music class at some point in their lives. Studying an instrument or using your voice in new ways can be a little bit challenging, and I think people think about doing these activities when things are peaceful, and they are feeling expansive, like they have some \u201cwiggle room\u201d in their schedule. That makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That being said, my own music practice has grown out of my tendency to focus on music at times in my life that were difficult. For me, playing music and singing is a powerful emotional regulation tool\u2013when life is feeling chaotic or overwhelming, musical activity helps me focus on parts of myself that I can control and nurture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I may have spent the whole day at work having to bite my tongue or not express my difficult feelings about my working atmosphere, but then I can come home and channel all of those feelings into a musical activity that helps to lower my heart rate, regulate my breathing, and stimulate my creative mind. I can learn to play a song that I then share with my friends or family, which creates a sense of shared experience, which also helps to relieve my stress and help me feel connected to my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, even though taking on the challenge of learning an instrument might seem like an extra thing to have to manage in a busy schedule, that time that we spend making music can provide a welcome balance to our regular working life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-ryk-039-s-uke-class wp-block-embed-ryk-039-s-uke-class\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"SeNyaKECyT\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.communityuke.org\/2025\/03\/28\/music-class-in-uncertain-times\/\">Music Class in Uncertain Times<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Music Class in Uncertain Times&#8221; &#8212; Ryk&#039;s Uke Class\" src=\"https:\/\/www.communityuke.org\/2025\/03\/28\/music-class-in-uncertain-times\/embed\/#?secret=uWvWWs7VQt#?secret=SeNyaKECyT\" data-secret=\"SeNyaKECyT\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a post that I sent to my ukulele students. Many people consider taking a music class at some point in their lives. Studying an instrument or using your voice in new ways can be a little bit challenging, and I think people think about doing these activities when things are peaceful, and they &#8230; <a title=\"Music Class In Uncertain Times\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/28\/music-class-in-uncertain-times\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Music Class In Uncertain Times\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,5,9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-music","category-musicology","category-reflection","category-ukulele"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paor1p-5m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":210,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/02\/why-we-make-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":0},"title":"Why we make music","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"August 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently worked up an arrangement of Sunny by Bobby Hebb for my uke students. I always like to do a bit of research about the songs I share with students, being that we are in a time of cultural reflection and shift. Some songs that I am initially enthusiastic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;musicology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"musicology","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/musicology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":598,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/22\/%f0%9f%92%9e%f0%9f%92%9e%f0%9f%92%9e%f0%9f%92%9e\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":1},"title":"\ud83d\udc9e\ud83d\udc9e\ud83d\udc9e\ud83d\udc9e","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"August 22, 2025","format":"image","excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;chronicle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Image-8-22-25-at-10.51-PM.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Image-8-22-25-at-10.51-PM.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Image-8-22-25-at-10.51-PM.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Image-8-22-25-at-10.51-PM.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":615,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/23\/%e2%9d%a3%ef%b8%8f\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":2},"title":"\u2763\ufe0f","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"August 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"all the little things you do are done for love. don't doubt it. shout about it. shout about the things you do for love. (it's about the little things) little things are moved toward love. (If you are moved, move the little things toward love) love this, sweetie lovethislovethislovethislovethislove","rel":"","context":"In &quot;chronicle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/17\/neurodiverse-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":3},"title":"neurodiverse community","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Affirming neurodiversity is recognizing that, in a musical space, one person is tuned into the soprano register, even though their voice presents in the bass register; another person hears long melodic phrases when everyone else is creating short rhythmic phrases; and someone else's brain is turning the patterns of sound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;chronicle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":334,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/23\/adhd-journey-1-month-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":4},"title":"ADHD Journey: 1 month in","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"March 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"So far so good. After 2 weeks on meds and a consultation with the pharmacist, I doubled the original dose, and i don\u2019t see increasing any more going forward. My sleep patterns have stabilized and I am actually sleeping more and deeper. This is probably in part due to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;neurodiversity&quot;","block_context":{"text":"neurodiversity","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/neurodiversity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-4.png?fit=977%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-4.png?fit=977%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-4.png?fit=977%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-4.png?fit=977%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":590,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/15\/role-development-in-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":332,"position":5},"title":"Role Development in Children","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"August 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of principles I see play out in my environments that connect my experience with my learning are verbal play and large motor play. We learn, in early childhood development circles, the importance of babble\u2013emergent non-structured sound production, to a child's language and musical development. Children need to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;chronicle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}