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Creativity, learning, Beethoven for ubass, trivia quiz and more! 
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Ukulele player and maker, Ian Foster from Ulverstone, Tasmania, was featured on the ABC News website during December last year, in a series of weekly, captioned photographs following his progress making a ukulele, and in conjunction with a full story on Tassie’s MUGS (Many Ukuleles Gather Socially). According to the captions, the wood for the ukulele was ‘a special piece of timber once used by his father as a wheel-chock.’ The final product, pictured above, is captioned in true art-installation fashion as ‘Ukulele on a workbench under spotlight’.
If anyone had trouble seeing the whole clip of Lord Foulkes playing with Shooglelele last issue, simply go to the timeline at the bottom of the video and drag the dot (which appears when you hover over the line) back to the beginning. Not sure why it decides to play from late in the video, just one of the mysteries of life and computer code.
6300 Uke Players a Failure?
That’s right, Tahiti tried to regain the world record but fell short of Hong Kong’s 8000 and in fact their own goal of 10,000. Never mind, it looks good and it probably sounded better than fair too!
Uke as a creative tool
Local schools ukulele teacher extraordinaire Dianne Murray often shares wonderful stories of her students’ achievements and their joy and enthusiasm when doing certain musical activities. One of the activities is an exercise I introduced to uke festival workshop participants and mentioned in Resonate last year.
Last week Di wrote:

I was about to start a lesson with Stage Two (Grades 3 and 4), and one girl asked "Can we do that game we did last year?” (the game where each group is given four words and chords and they have to write a song). So I said "Yes".

What followed was amazing. One group of girls wrote four verses in 20 mins. They had a lovely melody and tied it all together by repeating the last line each verse with a sort of drone... another group of four girls had each instrument playing a different rhythm and it sounded great and tied-in with the song.

Then a group of boys used the riff from Cream’s 'Sunshine of Your Love' and tried to play it in straight 4/4 time as a drone. The other boys (a group of three) played dreadful chords that they had made up.... but these chords were related in that they were a third apart. They knew it was an 'edgy' song so they tried to replicate that sound. It was dreadful but so clever in concept. The music matched the words.


I love that children’s (and anyone’s) innate creativity and self-expression is let loose with simple catalysts and permission to go right ahead. If you’re interested in using the sheets as a guide for your students, adult groups or even yourself, you can download them here:
Write A Song (young children to early teens)
10 Minute Chorus (adults or older teenagers)
Basket Case to Brilliant – music turns a school around
A primary school in England had been described as a basket case, but instead of concentrating on the usual literacy and numeracy results, a new head teacher introduced a music programme. Now the school is well above average on everything – academic scores, performance by disadvantaged students and attendance (98%).
Read this inspiring story here (and try not to get frustrated about the incessant focus on NAPLAN in this country!).
Passion, Persistence, Performance

Uke teacher Shaun Chandran of the North Perth Ukulele Group (Western Australia) has decided to start collecting stories of uke players in his area. In this first one he interviews Winnie (pictured above with Shaun and his daughter).

Winnie started playing the ukulele in 2009 at the age of 71, and has since been involved in numerous ukulele groups, clubs and bands around Perth. A few years ago, she was invited by the City of Fremantle to run ukulele classes for their Seniors Program.

What inspired you to start playing the uke?
Well, considering my Irish heritage with music surrounding and enveloping me, it was probably fate and ‘the luck of the Irish' that played a big part in my journey toward 'ukulele enlightenment.’ Into my 70s and being widowed some years previously, I was rather at a loss. I had always enjoyed a challenge and at that moment in time I just did not have one.

Then came that momentous day when my grandson who was 12 years old at the time dragged me into a music shop and we emerged with a brightly coloured ukulele, a tuner, some fancy picks and a beginners ukulele handbook for him.
A week later I spied an advert in the local Fremantle Herald which read, ‘Never played a musical instrument in your life? Always wanted to? Come down to the Men’s Shed for six ukulele lessons.’

Hmmm… this could be interesting, I thought, maybe if it’s good enough for the grandson, it’s good enough for the Grannie. And so, down I trotted to that same music shop and emerged with a brightly coloured ukulele, a tuner, some fancy picks and a beginners ukulele handbook for myself. Ditto, I thought.

I enrolled in those six lessons at the Men’s Shed and this is where my addiction began. First came the agony and ecstasy of the ukulele challenge – the joy when, after hours of practice, the ageing fingers manoeuvred their fragile journey across the fretboard to form different chord shapes.

I had been promised by our illustrious leader Alan Gowland that those four chords we learnt would enable me to play hundreds of songs and much to my amazement, he was right! Then came the added joy of singing along with gusto.

What impact has playing the uke had in your life?
A whole book could be written about the amazing ukulele characters that I have met throughout the years. A tumultuous experience of amazing characters from all walks of life, all shapes and sizes – as were the ukuleles, characters in their own right; beloved and prized by their owners and strummed upon with pride.

Friendships have been forged, camaraderie,support in my hours of need, an abundance of fun and fundraising gigs, volunteering, parties, workshops, big uke groups, small uke groups – a never ending story that will never end in this my present time and lifetime of memories.
 
What words of wisdom do you have for others wanting to play uke?
I am still a very basic ukulele player with very little musical theory, in fact, none! But I am blessed to have had 3P’s to guide me along the journey. These are Passion, Persistence and Performance. You just have to get out there and perform bringing the magic of the ukulele to the masses.

So, dearest people, never mind the ageing process,forget the pain and groans of arthritic fingers, forget the health problems and the stresses and sometimes sadness and loneliness of everyday life. Remember, you are not alone, and when you bring ukulele into your precious life I can guarantee that you will never be lonely again.
SNIPPETS

Moving Smoothly to the Beat

Although not directly uke-related, this is an inspiring story of the freeing and joyous effect that dance classes, and by association singing, can have on people with Parkinson’s Disease.
It is worth remembering that dance is beneficial for us all, both physically and mentally, and from my uke teaching experience, I also believe there is a close correlation between movement to music and developing the ability to strum instinctively.


When breaking your G-string is a good thing...
I’m not a beneficiary of any manufacturer or retailer’s largesse and don’t generally mention different brands of products unless I get specific questions from players. I also don’t change strings until the things are practically dropping off the uke/ubass and sounding that way too.

After returning from performing at the Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival having taken only my ubass, I discovered that my sad, left-behind ukulele had decided, in a fit of self-pity, to break its G-string. This turned out to be very much a blessing as the Worth fluorocarbons (CT63) I have now put on SOUND LIKE BELLS!!! The tone and resonance is extraordinary AND you get enough string for two sets.

The (AnueNue) tenor is happy with its new lease on life, and I’m really enjoying the sounds it is making. To anyone who has ever asked me about whether they should get a set of these fancy-sounding fluorocarbon strings, I can now say, they’re definitely worth a try!
 

Community Building at Indiana University
An informal uke group has spring up at this University and it is comprised not only of students, but staff and academics from different faculties. It has proven to be a community-builder, bringing people together who may never have otherwise met at the Uni. Read about it here.
Ubass corner
Last month I supplied Melody and Harmony uke parts for Beethoven’s Minuet in G. In the Melody, the first note in the second last bar (ending No. 1) had one wrong tab - should be 3 on the second line not the first line. An amended file is here. I’ve now written out a ubass part to fit with the melody and harmony, so get your three-piece or uke group with ubass ripping into the whole lot!

Baby Blue
Baby Blue was a hit for British band Badfinger who recorded with Apple Music and who's first hit Come and Get It was written by Paul McCartney. This article from online magazine Classic Rock gives the story behind the song, its use in the closing episode of the TV hit Breaking Bad and the final tragedy of Pete Ham –  one that unfortunately befalls music creatives at a much higher rate than others in Western society.
This is a well-crafted pop song with great riffs and a smooth adjustment from the key of C to the instrumental in Bb and back to C again!
The clip is in B, so if you want to play along without transposing, just tune your uke down a semitone to Gb B Eb Ab. The chords and the instrumental music are on page 2 of the songsheet.
Whadda Ya Know?
For a few years, at the end of a 13 week programme with one of my groups, we’d play a bunch of our favourite songs, a uke game or two and have a short trivia quiz. Eventually I had to stop the quizzes after running out of questions, but here’s one to try with your group or non-uke friends.
(And here are the answers).
Try and answer them before you look...!
Danielle
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