Nui Ukulele Newsletter June 6, 2008
Windy City Uke Fest, Challenging Yourself, Jo Kirk, Chord Progression Music Notation, Uke Events Calendar
If you wisely invest in [beautiful music], the music will remain with you all the days of your life.
--paraphrase of Frank Lloyd Wright
We are all always on the learning curve for something.--TT
Announcements
Web Site of the Month
Learning Corner
Ukeaholics Blog
Ukulele Events Calendar
Web Site Updates
Annoucements
Whoo! Hoo! What a wonderful time to be in the ukulele world. The ukulele world is growing and it exciting to be apart of it. The secret is OUT! The ukulele is easiest and most fun way to start playing and singing music. More and more people are giving up their other musical instruments and becoming ukulele converts everyday. And I have to say the internet is driving this “third wave” of ukulele interest. Independent of your age, color or creed, or the flavor of your breakfast cereal, people are taking up the ukulele, and enjoying it tremendously. Every week there is at least 50 new ukulele videos on YouTube.com. You can’t keep a ukulele player down. Check out my favorites at www.youtube.com/terrytruhart for a good sample set. Note: Nearly everyone on my favorites is better uke player than me.
Windy City Uke Fest
I would also like to officially announce the best ukulele event to be held in the Midwest this year. The Windy City Uke Fest, to be held August 1st, 2nd and 3rd 2008 in Des Plaines, IL just outside Chicago. The main webpage is http://www.windycityukefest.com We will have 3-day workshops taught by world class ukulele instructors. Come and delight in the three fun-filled days of ukulele paradise. We will have an UkeTube stage where any uke player can show their stuff. The main stage will have top performers from the ukulele community. We will have starter workshops for people and kids that have never played a musical instrument of any type.
We have lined up:
Mark “Spanky” Guiterrez, Gerald Ross, Victoria Vox, Windy City Islanders, Kimo Hussey, Ali Lexa, Tim Sweeney, Seeso, Lil’ Rev, Abe Lagrimas Jr., Populele, Steven P. Slivka and the Boar’s Head Orchestra, Barefoot Hawaiian, Jonathan Carreira, Keenan Kamae, Lopaka, Ukulele Tonya, and others.
We will have raffles, ukuleles, sing-a-longs, and ukulele instruction workshops for all levels. We will have the best ukulele vendors, and suppliers. All the ukulele merchandise you’ve dreamed about will be there. Drooling is not allowed.
http://www.windycityukefest.com
Sorry guys and gals, I can not keep you a secret any longer. Ok, Ok they’ve been out for a little while! These people, lead by Aldrine, are breaking new ground. They are the first ukulele group is sponsor a ukulele webcast open mike. They are the Ukulele Underground http://ukuleleunderground.com and they are getting better and better with ukulele instruction videos, a newsletter, and great performances. Kudos to you Aldrine and all the UU members. I’m one too.
Learning Corner
Challenging yourself, and Jo Kirk Notes on Learning Music.
In order to be successful in music, you need to challenge yourself at all times when you practice. You must ask yourself questions like “Is what I’m doing positive?” What new thing am I learning? Is this action generating the sound I want?” “How can I do this cleaner, and better?” What do I need to work on? What part(s) seem the most difficult? Can this action be simplified? When you ask yourself questions you stimulate you brain more and you have a tendency to remember your answers. This process helps reduce your mistakes, and hones your music skills. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions. Just realize that the answers are there. You just need to discover them gradually as you become PREPARED to receive the answers.
Jo Kirk
Every now and then you get to meet someone that is extraordinary. In March, I met such a person. Her name is Jo Kirk (mrsjo@wejoysing.com ) She is a Kodaly teacher with a M.A in Music for Akron University, and Kodaly Certified from Silver Lake College, and is currently teaching in music programs at Wichita State, and Capital University. At 95 lbs, she is a tested warrior in the musical education arena, and her methods and music tools are really great. Here is some of the bullet points from her seminar.
CAPTURE the Child’s Energy, Imagination & Mind: The 3 P’s to Music Literacy Skills (Prepare, Present, and Practice)
When you teach sometimes it is best to whisper. People will strain to listen, and then remember what you said.
Reinforce through repetition. Let the people practice on their own.
Music is a listening art. Kids don’t all have ADD. They are just not taught to listen.
I hear I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
If you learn something by rote method, you are memorizing it. If you want to learn any piece of music, you generally need at LEAST 4 times through to learn a short piece of music or melodic sequence.
Quality rote teaching is the preparation. Don’t sing with the students all the time.
You need to explore the pitch possibilities before you can sing the piece.
Teach your students by asking questions? Questions get more attention than statements. The stress or natural inflexion at the end of question stimulates the brains learning functions better.
Singing is the instinctive language of people. Singing or humming help people feel, and express music better.
More to come one the (Present and Practice Stages) in upcoming newsletters
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Under the class section, I posted some ukulele beginner info
Top 10 Tips for Ukulele Beginners from Al Wood of Uke Hunt.
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New Music Notation: Chord Progression Music Notation
I have been aggravated by standard music notation. My major complaints about standard music notation is NOT that is does not represent music well. The problem is just too much information for beginners to read, and not easily used in standard word processors and maintain the necessary formatting. I like beginners to learn some chords so they can play a few songs without having to read music. But I would also like to have them be able to switch keys or use sol-fa (solfege) as opposed to learning just one key, and not understand the relationships to other chords progression changes and patterns. I like the Alligator Boolaloo’s representation of chords, which appears right in with the words with square brackets around each chord. So, you need to switch chords before you say the words. To extend this notation, I would like to put the chords numbers instead of the chord names in the chord charts. Thus, you learn the scales, and you learn the basic chord progression relationships. After all, music at its most basic is the relationship BETWEEN sounds. Here is a link to the new music notation. I call it “chord progression music notation”, and how it works.
http://www.nuiukulele.org/class_subjects_and_materials_cov.htm
UKEAHOLICS BLOG
My friend Karen at the Molokai Ukulele Workshop coined the term. I loved it and embraced the concept right from the beginning. The whole concept of Alcoholics’ Anonymous works for us. But unlike alcoholics, Ukeaholics love their addiction, and try to share, and get people into the ukulele experience. The basic motto is:
“This is a place for ukulele people can come together and foster their addiction. No ONE wants to be cured.” The main categories are: General Uke, Look at my Ukulele, Ukulele Events, Ukulele Learning Corner, and Ukulele Teacher, and the ever so important category. “Hey, I want to be a ukeaholic”.
The link is on my main page (www.nuiukulele.org.) under Ukeaholics Blog
Ukeaholics are great. Have you hugged a ukeaholic today?
I have created a google calander with all the ukulele events I could find. My primary sources are fleamarket music, and key performance schedules of people in the uke community. I have also included stuff from ukulele newsletters, and ukulele blog sites.
My primary mission is to post all ukulele events by the following priority:
1) Multi-day ukulele festival events
2) Multi-day ukulele workshops
3) Multi-day music education workshops
4) Ukulele Club meetings, and few-hours-one-time uke workshops
5) Other multi-day music seminars/festivals with an educational focus.
6) Ukulele Performances.
You can access the Ukulele Events Calendar three different ways.
1) Through my www.nuiukulele.org link on the right side of the main page.
2) Subscribe to the Ukulele Events Feed on my blog.
( http://ukeaholics.wordpress.com )
3) Bookmark the link, listed below.
Here is the link for the Ukulele Events Calendar, you can bookmark it.
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ukeaholics@gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago
You might have to eliminate the carriage return to get it to work. If you want to put any events on this public calendar, please email the details to nuiukulele@pobox.com, and I will do my best to post the event. Remember ukulele events that match the criteria above have priority.
Web Site Updates
--new class schedule for May, June and July.
--New Blog ( http://ukeaholics.wordpress.com )
--added http://moorebettahukes.com to professional uke recommendations
--New Ukulele Events Calendar
--Lil Rev Ukulele Classes
--Festival Announcements including the www.windycityukefest.com
--added new instruction DVD recommendation “Introduction to Rhythm”.