October (2019) Update

Happy October, everyone!

As I write this post, the main YouTube channel (YouTube.com/ukeplayalongs) is approaching 35,000 subscribers! Thank you very much for your support and thank you for watching videos on my YouTube channels.

I continue to have two goals with this work channel–beyond providing resources for ukulele players and music educators. The first is to have this channel, which cannot be monetized, reach 100,000 subscribers. I’d love to have a Play Button that can be displayed on my classroom wall…my students would love that!

The other goal is to have my second channel, which CAN be monetized, reach 1,000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours so I can earn some income from this work. If you haven’t subscribed to that channel, I would appreciate it…it is at youtube.com/ukestuff, and I do all kinds of ukulele stuff there, including tutorials for every ukulele play along that I make, as well as unboxing, reviews, and more.

A couple of other things…I’m currently in a pattern of being able to create one tutorial video a week while I’m teaching. My teaching job is at a whole new level for me (elementary) so I am having to spend a lot of my time preparing content for my classes (seven different grade levels at two different schools). I’m really enjoying the new job, but it does have to be my focus right now. I still have videos ready that I created this summer, but they also need tutorial videos.

You might ask why I don’t just post those videos–but I’m trying to make a tutorial video for each new video to avoid the comments such as, “Strum pattern?” And also, I am trying to develop some kind of income from this work, which could easily be a full time job.

I continue to try to respond to every comment, but I do delete the rare comments that are mean. For example, I have a video from Ariana Grande where I misspelled her name on the first slide. It has one extra “n.” You can’t simply replace a video on YouTube…you have to delete the original and then re-upload…so to do all that work for one extra “n” just doesn’t seem worth it. It was a mistake…mistakes happen…and while I try to produce the best content I can create, if I keep going back and republishing old content (as I did for “I’m still standing”), I’ll never get any new content out there.

But back to this situation, I have had three or four comments from Ariana Grande fans who act as if I have attacked Ariana Grande by adding an extra “n” to her name, or that I am attacking them for putting an extra “n” in her name. I’d simply say this: I don’t think Ariana Grande has any idea that this channel exists. That said, if she ever contacts me about the issue…then I’d immediately drop what I was doing and go back and edit and recreate the videos. Now that I know, I’ll never make the mistake again, but I’d really rather not go back and change an old video.

That all said, thank you to all of you that leave positive comments, and to those of you who ask questions about things (critical questions are okay, too). I’d like these channels to have a positive vibe and to be a place where people enjoy sifting through the comments…and I will continue to do my best to respond to each comment!

Thanks, everyone! Watch for some new Halloween content in the coming weeks, and remember that I do have a Halloween playlist on the channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiD05Ao-vh8&list=PL6m5m3jQoANAEfyQoM7Ntb9RQWAwjfFq5

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