March 2019 Resonate

Dancing, remembering and learning music for a better IQ (and world)

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A Kickstarter that didn't quite make it
Great video, nice piece of (Italian) design but Astro the smart folding ukulele only achieved just over half its funding goal. Why? Maybe because ukuleles aren't that hard to carry around or squeeze into a small space. Plus most of us don't really need a 'smart' one. But even a sopranino has more visual authority than these sleek but seriously undernourished whippets. I tip my hat to the attempt though. The great thing about kickstarter is that it tests the market before you manufacture yourself out of business.

THANK YOU to the many people who responded to Resonate's return.
It was wonderful to discover just how much people not only enjoy, but utilise the information it contains to include in their teaching and/or playing practice.

Shake Your Booty

Although this article from Biomedical Central was published in 2016, the topic still has great currency, especially with our ageing population. Dance and its results in reducing the development of dementia by up to 76% prompted me to include it in my ukulele and the brain workshops, but the article notes something that points to music playing as much as dancing for mental stimulation.

The point is that building new neural pathways is key. That means once you've learned the basic steps that make up a dance, e.g. waltz, tango or foxtrot, that's just the beginning. Listening to the music and adjusting, improvising, trying new things and making the many split second decisions that go with that are what keeps your brain building new connections.

Even freestyle dance with all the thought processes that go into physically responding to music (and staying upright?!) has a beneficial effect.

So it's the same with playing music, although the gross motor skills aren't as involved, learning new songs or techniques, or trying different things with the songs you know – strums, improvisation using scale notes, or having a go at riffs – are how you keep your brain fit and functioning.

Of course you can always play a song, sing it AND dance at the same time (a la Uke Scooting Baby from the ukulele and the mind workshop) or simply dance with your uke like the happy woman pictured!

Memories...like the corners of my...whatsammicallit?

Australian memory champion Daniel Kilov has resumed sharing his knowledge about how to remember things. In this piece about memory and ageing, he makes the very good observation that we mostly don't remember things 1. because we haven't tried to; and 2. we haven't learned the best way to do it.
Have a read of Kilov's piece, and see if you can apply it to a chord progression or the lyrics of a song.

Music Education for better reading...and the rest!

This article by Anita Collins and Misty Adoniou from the University of Canberra, highlights the benefits that learning music can have on children's reading ability. Early on they state:

"From an evolutionary perspective, the human brain developed music processing well before language and then used that processing to create and learn language."

At birth, babies understand language as if it was music. They respond to the rhythm and melody of language before they understand what the words mean."

So apart from learning music being beneficial for children's reading, these two statements tell you almost everything you need to know about why music is so important in the lives of human beings!

The article is a quick read and has links to the relevant supporting research. It also includes an inspiring TEDx talk by Anita Collins who, as well as telling an extraordinary story from her own childhood, looks at the broad and evidence-based social implications of universal music education.

U-bass bits
The 2019 (third edition) of U-BASSics is now available and includes links to video demonstrations of the exercises, the much louder volume backing tracks and more info about strings, tuners, and amplification. The music theory as it relates to bass section has also been made easier to navigate visually.
Naturally, the price has gone up a bit, but at $19.95 AUD it's still good value. As a Resonate subscriber, use the discount code learnubass to purchase U-BASSics for 30% off until one minute to midnight,
31 March 2019!

SNIPPETS

Ukulele Death Squad
A news story has just appeared about this super entertaining South Australian band (pictured above) who were one of the headliners at the Newcastle Ukulele Festival in October last year. Lucky they're such a good band because the journalist's ignorance about the uke scene in general ('little guitars', Tiny Tim and writing like uke popularity happened yesterday) is erksome!!! Might send him a a few links...

Plank You Very Much
Late last year my duo partner in crime Cynthia plunged into a ukulele making workshop with no woodworking skills whatsoever. Three months later and she has a beautiful looking instrument with excellent sound. However, if you don't fancy the idea of bending delicate slices of wood, here's an online tutorial for making a Tahitian uke out of a solid piece (try smashing that Ukulele Death Squad). I was impressed by lesson titles such as Wake the Neighbours and Drilling Holes in Your Head.

Trivia
Uku is also known as Grey Jobfish, a shallow water Snapper.

We Can Work it Out

Even if you don't get around to playing this Beatles number, it's worth watching the clip just to see the priceless glances and facial expressions of both Lennon – on a keyboard that sounds a bit like an accordion – and McCartney.

Whatever the context, the song itself is a wonderful attempt at relationship negotiation and includes almost characteristic time signature changes in the bridge and at the very end. Those bits also require a touch of uke dexterity in both hands – a pluck - strum - strum and one changing fret position.

Interesting to watch George strum - from the glimpses it appears he's doing little more than downstrums on the beat. That may explain why he and Ringo look less than impressed!

It was pretty hard to avoid the media saturation even if you weren't actually watching TV episodes of The Bachelor in Australia last year, but it was by accident I discovered that the most media-saturated bachelor Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins plays ukulele.
He's been playing for a while and reportedly played it to a previous partner, artist Martine Thomassen, while she painted. The former Australian representative rugby player and natural funnyman stars with another player in this purported world music day tribute from 2012, which is essentially an excuse to horse around on the beach, top and tailed by a skerrick of skilful playing!

Honey badger - an incredibly courageous and persistent underdog (weasel actually) that punches above its weight in the self defence stakes, i.e. lions, venomous snakes, collapsing scrums.

Danielle

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