Wishing all Bayside Ukes members and our readers a very happy festive season wherever you may be.
Bayside Ukes sessions will resume on 31 January, 2017 at the Hampton Community Centre. Hope everyone has a great holiday break with lots of ukulele.
Kat and Zilla
Bayside Ukes members
Singing with a group is different from singing on your own. You must try to harmonise with the other voices, as not everyone can easily sing in the particular key of a song. It helps if you have had some singing lessons. Before taking up the Ukulele I learnt to sing a cappella, that is, unaccompanied by an instrument, in a small group class. We learnt how to find our vocal range and to sing different parts in three or four-part harmonies. It was great experience for singing in a Ukulele group, but anyone can learn to sing in harmony.
It takes practice to hold your part with other singers, but it helps if you sit or stand next to someone with the same vocal range. Over time and by listening to the other members of the group, you should be able to do this with ease and without damaging your voice by singing out of your range. It is well worth the effort to persevere with harmony singing and it will give your ukulele group a more integrated sound.
A good way to develop the harmonies for a song is to sing them unaccompanied before bringing in the ukuleles. You can then tell if they are working and that everyone is in sync before adding the instruments. This makes for tighter vocals and allows everyone to learn their parts.
I have also noticed that in some larger ukulele groups not everyone plays their instrument when they are singing. This tones down the volume of multiple ukuleles and makes it easier for the singers to hear their harmonies. When you are doing tight harmony singing it takes a lot of concentration and it is probably better if you do not have to think about what you are playing at the same time. Also soloist singers in a group often do not play their ukuleles because they are putting all their effort into the vocals.
A good example of the above technique can be seen in the performances of the Langley Ukulele Ensemble from British Columbia. They perform beautiful vocal harmonies and vary the numbers of those playing their ukuleles. Below is a video of a performance that they did this year in Hawaii.
So don’t worry if you find it difficult to play the ukulele and sing harmonies simultaneously. If there are enough ukulele players in the group, it is not detrimental that you do not play your instrument while you are singing and this can improve the overall sound.
Kat
Going to ukulele festivals is great. You get to see many different performers and improve your playing technique by doing workshops over several days and in convenient close proximity to one another. It can be a very inspiring experience but also overwhelming when you have so much choice and new information to absorb. So how can you get the most out of a ukulele festival?
These days many towns and cities all over the world have their own Ukulele festivals that reflect the culture of that particular region and are great to include on an interstate or overseas trip. If you cannot for whatever reason travel far to attend a festival, make the most of those in your hometown or nearby locations. Those easily accessible by car or train can be visited on a day trip if you are unable to stay for the whole festival.
Many festivals offer a discount if you buy advance tickets to several performances. This is good value if you are able to attend most events over the whole of the festival, but not so good if you can only visit on one day. In the latter case you would be better to buy individual tickets for the events that you are able to attend. Many festivals also have plenty of free performances or inexpensive ones that you can go to straight off the street and these are great value.
When faced with a smorgasbord of ukulele workshops it can be difficult to decide which ones would be most beneficial. I use a process of elimination in deciding which workshops to pick. If I have done a workshop before then that is automatically rejected. Secondly I give priority to workshops by overseas performers, as they might not be back to Australia for several years. Thirdly, I choose a workshop with a subject that I have not done before, that will improve my skill and sounds like fun. If you are a beginner it would probably be best to start with the types of workshops that cover new chords and various strumming techniques before moving on to more complex subjects, otherwise you may feel lost and frustrated. You want the experience to be enjoyable.
I find that it is better not to do one workshop straight after another, as it is difficult to assimilate a great amount of new material over a short period of time. Better to learn a few new things well than to struggle with a large amount of new techniques and possibly get things wrong or forget them altogether. So choose workshops that are not held consecutively. A break makes a lot of difference in the prevention of mental fatigue that can hinder your ability to concentrate and retain information.
Take a note pad and write quick notes when you are able during the workshop. This may sound basic but if there is a lot to learn you may not remember everything correctly. When given the chance, ask questions to clarify anything that you find confusing. As soon as possible after you have completed a workshop, sit down and go over what you have learnt to commit the new techniques to your long-term memory. I found after a blues workshop, the sketchy notes that I had taken allowed me to work out the blues chords, progressions and turnarounds. It also helps if you attend a workshop with a friend so that you can compare notes and fill in any gaps that you each may have.
Having the opportunity to meet ukulele players from interstate and overseas is another great benefit of festivals. Often these performers sell their CDs directly to their audience or in the festival market hall. If you can, have a chat with some of them and buy a CD or a teaching DVD, as these are less expensive at festivals, often hard to find locally and are a great way of hearing more of the performers music and learning something new. In 2014 a friend and I had the pleasure of having a chat with Jim D’Ville in the market hall of the Melbourne Ukulele festival. We had been unable to attend his workshop and he generously gave us, and those nearby, a mini talk about his technique of playing by ear. We wanted to find out more and bought his DVD lessons. So talk and listen to other players. It will make your experience that much more interesting and entertaining.
Even if you can attend only one day of a festival you should be able to enjoy many performances, add to your ukulele playing techniques and have a great time. They are a fantastic community resource.
Kat
Bayside Ukes member
It is springtime down under, and in Melbourne, as opposed to the far north of Australia, we have the benefit of enjoying the four seasons, sometimes even in one day. In spring there is a lot to do in the garden so my ukulele has been rather neglected lately. Life can get busy for various reasons and this got me thinking about how to make sure that you give time to your ukulele no matter what the circumstances.
As I help to run a Ukulele Group I need to prepare for the next session. I always devote some time for this at least one day in advance and on the Tuesday afternoon before we meet in the evening. These times are set aside for song preparation and ukulele practice. Making a regular appointment with your ukulele is a good method to ensure that you do not forget to put in some practice. You would not miss an appointment made with a professional service provider or a friend without a very good reason and you should treat your ukulele with the same respect. This is easy to justify, as playing an instrument is good for you as well as fun.
Another way to keep up your practice is to always keep your ukulele handy so that you can pick it up when you have a free moment. Just be careful if you have a puppy or small child in the vicinity or you might find that it disappears or gains tooth marks. In these cases it is probably best to have an inexpensive instrument lying around. It is amazing how a few minutes here and there can add up to a lot of playing time.
If you live in a noisy environment where there are a lot of demands on your time, it is a good idea to have some sort of bolt hole where you can play undisturbed or take your opportunity when no one is around. If you are really lucky you may have a dedicated music room or maybe it is time to clean out that junk room, attic or basement and claim it for your own. You could also use the garage or garden shed if your home is too crowded. On a fine day playing under a shady tree would do or you could go to the local park (provided they don’t have those draconian laws against playing musical instruments in a public place). Find a quiet place where you won’t disturb anyone, not that the ukulele is very loud. If no one can track you down, you will have no more interruptions.
Playing with others provides good motivation. Having a “study buddy” is a great help when you are doing a course at university and this will work for the ukulele. If you regularly play with another person it will give you incentive to keep up your practice, as you won’t want to let someone else down. You could alternate playing at each other’s homes to lessen complaints from other housemates or family members. Just an hour’s practice together a week should be enough to make a big difference.
As the saying goes “if you want something done always ask a busy person”, so you should be able to find some time to give to your uke. Now that my garden is tidy, I am looking forward to many fine spring and summer days when I can spend any free moments outside and play my ukulele.
Kat
Bayside Ukes Member
Is there such a thing as a Ukulele phobia? I was forced to ponder this question after the addition of a new puppy to our home.
As you have probably learnt from previous blogs on this site, I love to play my uke and interact with a dog. Our other dog, although being a bit naughty as a puppy, is never bothered by the sound of the ukulele. When we first brought the new puppy home, I practiced my uke while standing in the same room and everything seemed fine. A few days later when we had a guest, I got out my ukulele to demonstrate a song. I accidentally shut the lid of the case when she was standing nearby and she jumped. When I started to play the puppy became distressed and ran away. She would not come anywhere near me while I was playing the uke and I was not even playing loudly. I tried to show her the instrument on her level. She sniffed it but when I carefully plucked the G string, she ran away again. I wondered what I had done wrong as she was not bothered the first time I played when she was in the room.
When you Google “ukulele phobia” there is only one case of a human who has a phobia about ukuleles (because they thought it looked like an alien), but there is nothing about dogs being scared of this harmless instrument. It must be uncommon for dogs to have this particular fear as there are plenty of videos on You Tube with dogs trying to play the uke or doing a sing-a-long and they look perfectly happy.
How could I prevent the puppy’s anxiety about the ukulele from developing into a permanent phobia? I love to play my ukulele and it is a big part of my life, so I thought that the solution was to introduce it gradually. To get her used to the instrument I left it in it’s case on the floor. She sniffed it then walked away. I made the mistake of leaving the handle upright and she came back and began to chew it, but when I put the handle down she left it alone. The next day I decided to give playing another go but this time standing up again. I set up a music stand carefully, did some vocal warm-ups and then began to play and sing. No reaction. She completely ignored me and went back to puppy activities. So what was the difference?
I think that because I was closer to her level when sitting, the sound of the ukulele was much louder to sensitive puppy ears. Shutting the case suddenly startled her and made her anxious before I had even started to play and this did not help. Also the human-like shape of the instrument when upright could have been threatening. I don’t sit down often which is just as well and I won’t be doing this again until she is well and truly used to the sound of the ukulele and feels more comfortable in her new home.
It just goes to show that each dog is different and you need to be very careful when introducing them to new experiences. In the future I hope that she will be able to sing-a-long with our other dog, who really enjoys the ukulele.
Kat, Bayside Ukes Member
Sometimes when you buy a product it does not always fulfill your expectations or ends up creating unforeseen problems. I have found this to be the case with the Ukulele Straps that I have purchased. Luckily I was able to come up with some creative solutions.
My first Ukulele was concert sized and did not come with a strap button at the base so I bought a common lasso type that hung around my neck with a hook to support the ukulele at the sound hole. I thought that this was the best option, as the ukulele did not have the internal support needed to drill a hole for a strap button. After playing with the lasso strap for I while I found that the neck of my ukulele would wobble around as I played and always felt unstable which did not help my left hand fingering. I thought that if the strap anchored the neck in some way that this would resolve the problem. I had seen the type of straps designed for classical guitars where one end of the strap was tied to the neck and the other end came from behind the guitarists back to hook into the sound hole. I decided to change the lasso strap so that it supported my ukulele in this manner.
First I undid the strap from its buckle, removed the hook and turned it to face the opposite direction. Next I reinserted the strap into the buckle and adjusted it so that it was long enough to go diagonally over my back and under the ukulele to connect to the bottom of the sound hole at the front. Then I sewed the free end of the strap back on itself to form a loop and ran a strong shoelace through this and tied it to the head under the strings. (a word of caution: don’t let go of the neck or the ukulele will flop forward, come adrift from the strap hook and fall to the floor). Now with the ukulele supported in this way the neck no longer wobbled when I played and I did not need to buy a new strap.
My second ukulele does have a strap button and I first bought a thin leather Mandolin strap, but this always slipped around on my back and drove me crazy. Fortuitously I received a colourful brocade strap as a birthday present that was wider and less likely to slip. It had leather fittings to attach to the neck and strap button. When I went to attach it I found that the leather was very stiff and thick and it was really hard to fix it around the button, which is also the output jack of the electric pick-up. Eventually I managed to get it on. It was quite a tight fit because the jack button was not very deep. Over time the tightness of the strap started to unscrew the jack and that was not very desirable, so I took off the strap. As I really liked it, I decided to shave off some of the leather on the back of the strap with a scalpel blade to reduce the thickness by about half around the jack button. Now the end moves freely without undoing the jack and I can still use my favourite strap.
You don’t need to put up with these irritating problems. There is always a solution and a bit of simple DIY can customize a strap or you could even make your own. So get creative!
Kat, Bayside Ukes Member
Hi Everyone,
Bayside Ukes will return to the Hampton Community Centre next week on Tuesday 12 July at 7pm.
New members are welcome to join our friendly group of ukulele players. Please be on time to register for the evening. The session will begin at 7:15 sharp and remember to bring your copy of The Ukulele Club Songbook and a music stand.
We hope everyone had a fabulous holiday break. If you have not picked up your ukulele because of too much holiday cheer, now is the time to start practising.
We would also like to thank those members of the group who gave up two days of their holiday to perform for two local groups of senior citizens. We all had a great time.
This term we plan to be doing more performances so get ready to learn some new songs.
The two ten week term dates for the second half of the year are:
TERM 3: 12th July – 13th September
TERM 4 : 4th October – 13th December
You’re on the stage, your throat and mouth go dry, you have shortness of breath and a sick feeling in the stomach. You fumble the chords on your ukulele and the audience seems to morph into a scary monster. You don’t have a virus. You have Stage Fright. If you have never experienced this before, don’t panic. It can happen to anyone, even professional musicians.
After a couple of years occasionally playing with a small group, I experienced a sudden attack of stage fright. At a small community event I made the mistake of focusing on a grumpy looking member of the audience and started to imagine that there was something terribly wrong with my performance. This made me really tense and nervous and I found it difficult to concentrate on my playing. At the time I did not consider that the grouchy faced person may have had a bad day or was unwell and it probably had nothing to do with me.
Once it had manifested I found that this type of anxiety kept happening, so I searched for information about coping with the problem on numerous websites. Here are a few strategies that I find helpful, as well as some I worked out for myself:
Remember to smile and have fun as this is contagious and the feel good aspect of playing the ukulele will prevail.
Kat
Bayside Ukes member.
Someone once told me “you can never have too many ukuleles”. I heartily agree.
For a long time I have been considering the purchase of a second ukulele. The first ukulele I bought was a concert, and I still find it enjoyable to play, however sometimes I have thought it would be nice to buy a second ukulele with a different sound.
The trouble with buying another ukulele is there are so many styles and makes available that it became difficult to make a decision. It is not just about the size of ukulele to buy, whether soprano, concert, tenor, baritone or bass. Or whether it is an acoustic or acoustic/electric. You must also consider whether you want a commercially manufactured ukulele from Australia or overseas, or do you want your ukulele custom made by a luthier to your own specifications. Maybe you would like to build your own ukulele just for fun? In any case you must choose how your ukulele is constructed. This is where buying a ukulele has became more complicated and I referred to several buying guides.
http://coustii.com/types-of-ukuleles/
http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/folk-instrument-buying-guides/ukuleles-how-to-choose
http://www.get-tuned.com/types-of-ukuleles.php#baritone
http://liveukulele.com/gear/buying-tips/
I found this information very helpful but it not make my decision any easier.
My next line of enquiry was to look at ukulele players to see how they have built their collections. For a start, does the collection show the progression in quality from a cheap ukulele to an expensive ukulele as the collector’s playing ability improved? Or does the collection seem a random mix of ukuleles with different body shapes, woods, finishes and construction methods? Ultimately does the collector continue to play each ukulele? On the Internet you can find many ukulele collections, but I find the most interesting sites are of collectors talking or writing about their ukuleles.
http://www.nutthouse.com.au/ukulele/mystory.html
Both of these collectors seem very passionate about their ukuleles, and I think it is inevitable for players to develop an emotional attachment to their instruments.
As I already owned a concert size ukulele I did not really want to buy another one. I could have looked at a resonator, but another member of our group has one and I thought that two could be too loud at the one time. I ruled out buying a soprano ukulele, as my two arthritic fingers would have trouble negotiating the shorter fret-board and I ruled out a baritone ukulele because it uses guitar tuning. So this narrowed it down to buying a tenor ukulele.
After my research I finally decided it was the moment to buy my second ukulele. I knew I did not have the patience or skill with tools to make my own and I did not want a custom made ukulele from a luthier as my skill as a player is not good enough justify the cost. Also I did not want to buy an instrument online because I wanted try a variety of ukuleles to find the one that was comfortable to play, had a good tone, was visually appealing and was an acoustic/electric. Sometimes it is nice to be loud.
After checking out several music sites online to see what was in stock, I went to a local music store to look for a ukulele. The selection was between three good quality tenor acoustic/electric ukuleles. I did not want to be indecisive and go from store to store so I knew it was between these three ukuleles. There was an eight-string ukulele that sounded rather impressive. In the past I had considered an eight-string ukulele for the different sound it would bring to the group. It was not for me. Unfortunately I found it difficult to play, as I could not always evenly press both strings with my arthritic fingers. Also there was the annoying thought of restringing the eight strings. The other two ukuleles had the usual four strings. Both were beautifully made with a good tone, with fingerboards of the same dimensions and they were the same price. The difference came down to one having slightly deeper sides on the body than the other. This was the one I chose. It has a good tone, is easy to play, it produces a good volume of sound and is pleasant to hold and to look at.
I will not reveal the manufacturer’s name because that is not the point of this article. When you choose a ukulele it is a totally subjective decision that should not be based on advertising and brand recognition. When choosing a ukulele you need to use both your head and your heart and buy the instrument of the best quality you can afford. After all, you will be spending a lot of time together. Happy hunting!
Zilla
Bayside Ukes Member
Recently one of Bayside Ukes members attended a local rock band gig where the lead guitarist said something like “ukulele players should have their fingers broken”. What! The performer may have been joking, but I have also been in music stores where sales people have made snide comments about ukulele groups. Why the hostility towards such a harmless genre of music?
Treating the little ukulele as a bit of a joke is not a recent development. In a 1939 Pathé short film about music and musical instruments, the sneering narrator, after praising the piano and various other instruments, refused to believe that the noble Greek Lyre was the father of “this instrument” as the film displayed two young women happily playing ukes. Some of the instruments mentioned in the film have for years become highly institutionalized, with structured teaching syllabuses and exams. While you can have paid lessons, the ukulele has always been an instrument of the people, where knowledge is shared between players and beginners so anyone can learn. You can also play any style of music you like from rock anthems to classical melodies. Maybe this is threatening to some elitist musicians and traditional educators who like to have control over their forms of music. Or maybe the uke is considered to be too cheeky for serious music, hence the snobby attitude towards the uke. Well that’s their problem.
We as ukulele players can be proud of our heritage that includes legends such as George Formby, Tiny Tim and George Harrison. Like other musical genres we have our virtuosos: Jake Shimabukuro; Taimane Gardner; The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, to name a few. We have our rock and pop heroes like Eddie Vedder; Vance Joy; Amanda Palmer and many more. There is a history of actors who have promoted the uke, like Marilyn Monroe and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. So there is no need to apologize for being a uker.
All ukers should be congratulated for being part of a grass roots cultural and social movement that has grown from the ordinary person’s need to make their own music and is not directed by “the powers that be.” This is one of the reasons why the ukulele has become so popular. Another reason is that members of the ukulele community enjoy giving their time and energy to entertaining others and this is very rewarding. Think of all the small communities that have benefited from the free ukulele performances in shopping centres, seniors’ facilities, local festivals etc. At a period in history when there is so much gloom and doom in the media, it is wonderful that there are so many people who want to generate some joy.
Let’s ignore the naysayers who are probably envious of the ukes success. There are countless more fans of the ukulele so the detractors have no real power. Individually we may not all be brilliant musicians, but as members of a ukulele community, we can enjoy both the benefits of making music and sharing it with others and after all, that is what playing an instrument is all about.
We can all play our ukuleles with pride. Power to the Uke!
Kat
Bayside Ukes member
baysideukes.com 