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I used to have a yoga teacher that ending every session with that phrase "Be Thankful for your many blessings in life. It made aware of how good my life is every time she said it. So, be thankful for your family, friends, your music, your health…………..your many blessings, whatever they are.
Your tremelo flatpicking Blue Monday was impressive, especially as we got faster and faster. Keep working on that for future songs. We worked on Transposing the C scale but I think the way it is presented in this book is rather confusing. I will have to think of another way to approach it in the Spring session. However, the lesson on Transposing the I and V chords is very useful and easy to understand. For next week: We will warm up with Blue Monday Then we will play Jeu Jeu (pg 58) with 16th note tremelo. when you start practicing this, play it very slowly so that you get the tremolo even and steady. 1 quarter note = 4, 16th notes. Also practice Nu'a O Ka Palai. Elenke sounds good. Pat will come and play chords with us next week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. Please continue to practice March, which we will warm up with next week.
And then begin to practice tremelo flatpicking using the exercises on page 49 and Blue Monday. Try playing some of the other songs in our books and add some tremelo to extend the notes. Remember that it is more important to be steady, than fast. You can gradually begin to speed up. Next week we will work on transposing the C scale and chords in C Elenke parts for BUG Jam on Dec 5 (yes, we will use flat picks) : Uke I - Glenda, Wendy, Pam N, Jeff, Charley, Sal, Pam M, Uke II - Jean, Carla, Jennifer, Criss, Michael, Louise, Julie New Orleans was great but it is always wonderful to get back home… to my own bed, my friends and community.
We worked very nicely through Bella Bocca Polka (with picks) and Las Chaparreras (without picks). While strolling through the park offers many opportunities for learning. The unusual rhythm, the many sharps and flats, and the triplet strum. What fun. Keep working on this and we'll warm up with it next week. Thank You for "When the Saints Go Marhing In". It is such good practice to play a simple song by ear, and then another one….. If you do it regularly, you will notice that picking out melodies by ear becomes easier. Remember that the triplet strum takes time and lots of practice to perfect. It's something for doing while you are watching TV… or doing some other mindless thing. We decided to do Elenke for our performance song at the Dec 5 BUG Jam. We'll assign parts next week. Let me know if you have a preference. Next week we will play March from the Bach Notebook (pg 42) This song is all about the finger choreography. Spend some time working of small phrase to find the most efficient fingering. Be sure to practice the Uke II which is much easier that Uke I and give you a very good idea of the rhythm and the feel of the piece. BOOK 3 (continuation) class - will begin Feb 9, 2016. We will finish Book 3 in December by skipping some of the material and moving quickly through some of it. In Feb, I will be going back over the material in the Book 3, taking more time, reviewing, and playing pieces that we skip. This will allow some people to finish the book in December, and others to take more time, and do another session and finish in the Spring. It is up to you if you want to finish in Dec or continue with the class. I will teach this continuation class if I get enough people to participate in it. This is the first time I have done the class this way so it is an experiment. There may be some other people from previous classes who want to be in the continuation class but it is not open to the general public. Bellingham Ukulele Orchestra has some Holiday performances coming up. Click here for date and time. Remember the BUG mini-fest this coming Saturday. Click Here for details. This will be a short one since I have to leave at 5:00 am.
For Nov 10 practice Las Chaparreras triplet strum While Strolling Through the Park One Day Also.. when the Saints go marching in… by ear. It's in C, first note it C See you in a couple of weeks. Gail |
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