Newsletter von Ralph Shaw

Begonnen von Uketeufel, 25. Aug 2009, 12:01:05

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Uketeufel

Ralph Shaw gibt ab jetzt einen wöchentlichen Newsletter heraus, in dem er Gedanken und Ideen mit anderen Ukulelenspielern teilen und Tips geben will:

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The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
August 25 2009
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Dear Raimund,

Welcome to the very first issue of The Ukulele Entertainer! This is an email newsletter created to help ukulele players with both their playing and performance skills. These weekly newsletters are designed to inform, educate and entertain. They will also be short usually taking around 3 minutes or less to read.
You are on my email list and receiving this newsletter because, you are a ukulele player who has contacted me in the past and/or you are someone who has purchased my ukulele teaching dvds and/or you are a personal friend or client or a fan who may be interested in reading what I am up to. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend.
(If you don\'t wish to receive any more emails you can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 651 words

Estimated reading time: About 2½ minutes

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UE #1    Start by Making Some Mistakes!
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Do you ever have difficulty in starting something new? Such as writing a letter? That\'s what I\'m going through right now. I trust that in a month or two I will have an easier time writing these newsletters than I am having with this one. What to say? I intend that this be the first of many and therefore I\'d like to get off to an auspicious start. I want it to be good. But, then again, perhaps I needn\'t make such a big deal out of it...

I am reminded of something my friend and ukulele playing colleague (who I will call Andy A.) told me one day.  
I was at his home and I commented on his prolific output of oil paintings. They were displayed on his living room wall and mostly showed natural scenes from the area where he lives in California. It turns out that when he took up painting again in middle age his teacher told him to do a painting every day for 100 days.

I was surprised and I asked Andy A. \"Why so many?\".
The reason, he told me, was to get him to paint as many paintings as possible as fast as possible. It often happens that when we begin a new project we want everything to go just right. Our adult ego can get very attached to whether or not our first baby steps are successful or not. Babies of course do not have this problem. They just keep getting up and falling down until they eventually make it. So to prevent Andy A. fussing and fretting and trying to make his first efforts perfect he was instructed to just get them out of the way so that his baby steps lost their aura of importance.
 
Its a good lesson for all of us. When I teach my performance workshops to students who have a desire to get on stage I usually tell them about Andy and his 100 paintings. I tell them to get out there and do as many performances as they can and to make mistakes. Picasso said that to be a great artist you have to make at least 20,000 mistakes. So make as many mistakes as you can and make them as fast as possible!
And now look at that. I\'m already a good way into this newsletter with not much further to go. Phew what a relief!
 
So why am I doing this? Well, this newsletter is a coming-together for me of several interests and desires. I love to sing and play the ukulele. I also get a thrill out of performing and entertaining. And I like to teach these skills. More recently I rekindled a love of writing that, except for my songwriting, has more or less been dormant for many years. When the idea of creating a newsletter came I realized it was an opportunity to communicate my ideas of ukulele playing and musical performance that would add to the information I had already put out in my Complete Ukulele Course DVD series.

 
With these newsletters I will be sharing thoughts and ideas to help ukulele players to play better. And since most musicians also want to perform in one capacity or another I will also be providing tips on improving your chances of success when you get out in front of people. Much of the information will be useful for other musicians and entertainers besides uke players.
As we go along I\'ll also be writing about the things that interest and inspire me to become an ever better ukulele entertainer. Exactly where this road will lead I\'m not exactly sure. Right now though I invite you to come along on this journey with me and when I\'ve written 100 newsletters and/or made 20,000 mistakes we should have a better idea of where we are headed!

 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to be a better ukulele player? The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn outside of having an actual teacher right there with you. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish. Learn more about my ukulele dvds

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

I wish to publicly thank my friend Daphne Gray-Grant The Publication Coach for her invaluable help and inspiration in getting this newsletter project up and rolling. Any similarities in our newsletter presentation are purely my tribute to the quality of her work.

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.

© Ralph Shaw 2009


 
 
 
You can Contact me by...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:bowlerhat@shaw.ca
phone: 604 689 2937 (Intl +1)
on the web:http://www.ralphshaw.ca/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
 
Ralph Shaw Entertainment | 105-1035 Pacific St. | Vancouver | BC | V6E4G7 | Canada
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
September 1 2009
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Dear Raimund,

One of the simplest ways to add interest and musicianship to your playing is to pay attention to the loudness and softness of your sound. Todays newsletter demonstrates the importance of volume variation and offers suggestions on how to achieve this.
You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 791 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE #2    Make your Ukulele Into a Piano-Forte!

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One of the easiest but most neglected ways to make your playing interesting is through the use of dynamics. In music the word dynamics simply means, The variation in the volume of a musical sound.
 
Pianoforte is the original name of the instrument we now call a piano. The word \'Piano\' means soft and \'Forte\' means loud. Before the pianoforte came along keyboard instruments such as harpsichords only played at one volume. The new technology enabled the player to make their music louder and softer by pressing the keys with more or less force. The enormous increase in expressive range that this led to was considered of such importance that they named the instrument after it. Think about that!
 
Even if you are a complete beginner with only 2 chords under your belt you can already start making your ukulele playing much more expressive by varying the volume. Changing the volume of your music is easy to do, very effective and is not used nearly enough by many players. Listen to some of your favorite music (it doesn\'t have to have a ukulele in it) and pay special attention to how the volume and energy rises and falls.
 
In my mind\'s eye I can picture the swells and the drop-offs in volume as being like a series of hills and valleys. For many pieces of music you find that the ups and downs are small to medium but they rise to a crescendo somewhere near the end. Play a song that you know well and keep your mind on where volume changes can help with the expression of that song.
 
When I first started playing I had an inexpensive Japanese made wooden ukulele. And boy would I try and get some volume out of that little wooden box! The reason is that the only ukulele player I knew of in those days was George Formby the British star of the \'30s and \'40s. He played a banjo-ukulele and to me his playing sounded thrillingly loud and percussive. I wanted my ukulele to sound like that and I was surprisingly successful at getting every ounce of volume out of my small wooden instrument.
 
How did I achieve this amazing feat? Well here is my secret: You can play louder by hitting the strings harder. Ok I know its not much of a secret but hey work on it anyway! Get your wrist nice and relaxed and see how loud you can go. The movement can feel almost whip-like as your finger hits the string. Which brings up a point. Playing loud may be a little hard on the finger so here\'s a tip (a finger-tip?!!). Try using several fingers to strum down on the strings together. Or you may want to use a pick. The one I use is made by Jim Dunlop (USA nylon .60mm) and I keep it close by, right on the headstock of my uke, so I can quickly grab it for those moments where I want some extra oomf!
 
Playing quietly is as important as playing loudly. How soft can you go? This is where the sensitive and fleshy thumb can make your instrument whisper as delicately as the evening breeze in the leaves of a tree. How sweet it is ...hmmm!
When I finally did get a bona-fide banjo-ukulele I had to learn to play it very quietly indeed. If you have 30 wooden ukuleles playing together and only one banjo-uke it will be the banjo-uke that sticks out like a hippopotamus at a wedding. In order to make my instrument blend in as much as possible in these group situations I always aim to be as \'piano\' with my playing as I can be.
 
And think about dynamics before you begin to play a song. If you start too loud you have nowhere to go but softer. A softer beginning will make your later crescendo so much more effective.
 
One last, kind of related, thing. It was comedian George Carlin who made me aware of the incorrect use of forte in every day language.
People often say \"That\'s not really my forte.\" (Pronounced fortay with two syllables) As in: \"Mathematics is not my forte\".
They mean that math is not one of their strengths and they are showing off their knowledge of foreign languages by inserting some French into the conversation.  However if they were speaking French they would pronounce it with one syllable like the English word  \'Fort\'.
What they are actually doing is introducing the Italian term of forte which means loud. So when they say, \"Mathematics is not my forte\" (with 2 syllables) they are actually stating that they are not very loud at Math.
Oh well that\'s probably a good thing too.


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to be a better ukulele player? My DVD series: The Complete Ukulele Course will give you lots of new ideas to try. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn outside of having an actual teacher right there with you. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

I wish to publicly thank my friend Daphne Gray-Grant The Publication Coach for her invaluable help and inspiration in getting this newsletter project up and rolling. Any similarities in our newsletter presentation are purely my tribute to the quality of her work.

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.

© Ralph Shaw 2009


 
 
 
You can Contact me by...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:bowlerhat@shaw.ca
phone: 604 689 2937 (Intl +1)
on the web:http://www.ralphshaw.ca/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Spottdrossel

#2
Danke.

Ich habe es abonniert!

Spottdrossel von Rabenschloss

Floyd Blue

Zitat von: SpottdrosselDanke.

Ich habe es abonniert!

Danke, ich auch... :D

Spottdrossel

#4
Endlich habe ich etwas sehr einfach zu lesen auf dieser Seite!!!  :P    hehe

Aber er schreibt soviel wie ein Oper von Wagner!  hehehe

Spottdrossel von Rabenschloss

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
September 8 2009
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Dear Raimund,

The Soprano Ukulele is one of the only instruments that has more than one standard tuning. Weird eh?! Todays newsletter offers some suggestions on which tuning to choose as well as not offering advice about how to play in a hammock.
You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 823 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE #3  How to Tune Your Hammock

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Having spent the last 2 days lounging in tree dappled shade this week\'s newsletter was going to be about a very neglected subject: How to Play Ukulele While in a Hammock.
 
Just some of the awkward and irksome questions involved in hammock playing include: What kind of ukulele is best? Are banjo-ukuleles too heavy? Is the baritone ukulele too large? Where do I put my tuner?

And: Some hammocks suspend from a single point and have a tendency to spin around making it almost impossible to reach my beverage - if indeed I haven\'t already kicked it over. Hammocks that suspend from 2 points tend to squash my arms to the side of my body. This can lead to debilitating friction burns on the elbows.

Obviously the scope and magnitude of these issues would be better dealt with as a bound textbook rather than the economical newsletter format.
 
Instead I am going to talk about the question which causes more anxiety for beginner players than any other:
Which tuning should I use for my soprano ukulele?
 
Sounds simple, yes? Actually No. Here is why. Most instruments have one standard tuning that has long been agreed on. Example: Guitars are tuned EADGBE, mandolins (and violins) are tuned GDAE.
 
I find it somewhat bizarre that the soprano ukulele actually has 2 standard tunings. The Hawaiians and most of the world use GCEA tuning. This is often known as C tuning because it is really easy to make a C chord by playing the 1st string at the 3rd fret. The other and less popular D tuning has each string tuned a full tone higher: ADF#B.
 
D tuning was favored in the vaudeville era (1920s and 30s). The tighter strings packed more punch and power and were easier to hear in the unamplified theatres. This tuning was also adopted as the default tuning by the George Formby Society in the U.K. Interesting that George Formby didn\'t even know what tuning he was in. His ukes had bits of paper with them to remind which were his \'high\' and \'low\' ukes! Canadian Schools use ADF#B for teaching ukulele to kids. The schools also use a low 4th string making it implicit that ukulele is taught more for melody playing or as a stepping stone to the guitar. More on the low 4th string some other time...
 
Why 2 tunings? I\'m not really sure. The ancient ukulele instructional I had when first learning gave chord charts for both tunings but no help around which one to pick. I chose C tuning because I already played harmonica and recorder both of which also happened to be in C. Otherwise my choice was arbitrary.
 
I use GCEA for all my soprano, concert and tenor size ukes. I do this is because like an old dog I find it difficult to learn the trick of thinking in a new tuning. I know where all my chords are and I know their names. To start learning new chord names for familiar chord shapes would be like trying to learn a new language later in life. Possible but somewhat formidable.
 
Which is the better tuning? The vaudevillians definitely had the right idea. The extra tension on the instrument by having the strings slightly tighter in D tuning seems to work better for most soprano ukuleles that I have tried.
 
So why doesn\'t everyone use D tuning? The answer is I don\'t know. Does anyone still remember the 2 formats of video tapes -VHS and Betamax? Betamax was considered by most to be the superior system yet VHS was the one that most of the world used. Similarly Mac computers are generally thought to be better yet PCs outsell them by about 40 to 1.
 
Generally speaking whatever tuning you use doesn\'t matter as long as you know your chords. For example a G chord is always a G. The fingerings are different for C and D tuned ukes but if your music says to play a G chord and you are playing a G chord then it will sound right. This may seem patently obvious to many of you but you\'d be surprised how confused people can get.
 
Ukulele playalongs can be challenging if the songs are mostly in the keys of C and F. These are simple keys to play in on a C uke but more demanding on a D uke.
 
Importantly it must be remembered that most available learning materials, including my own DVDs, use the more universal C tuning. So I would recommend GCEA for most people who are starting out. There is nothing to stop you later on from switching to D tuning or even to try slack key ukulele where you essentially get to invent your own tunings!
 
This will have to be enough for now. I see a guy walking towards me very briskly. He seems somewhat annoyed that I am in his hammock again...gotta go!!
 



 
XTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to be a better ukulele player? My DVD series: The Complete Ukulele Course will give you lots of new ideas to try. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn outside of having an actual teacher right there with you. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

Upcoming October Tour: I\'ll be in California (St. Helena\'s Wine Country Uke Fest & Santa Cruz), Oregon (Eugene Uke-toberfest) and Eastern Canada (Moncton and Nova Scotia\'s Ukulele Ceilidh).
Details at: Tour Dates

If you are on Facebook you can join the Ralph Shaw Fan Club

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.


To subscribe: just visit my Newsletter Signup page where you can also see the Archive of previous newsletters.

© Ralph Shaw 2009
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
September 15 2009
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Dear Raimund,

Ever wondered what to do with that broken old ukulele? Here is a wonderful idea to turn your unplayable instrument into a delicious* fall beverage. You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 674 words

Estimated reading time: About 3 minutes

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UE #4  Turn Your Plink into Plonk - Ukulele Wine!

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Sometimes bad things happen to good ukuleles. Irrepairable accidents are, fortunately, not common but always heartbreaking when they do occur.

This summer a friend of mine was playing ukulele at a beach campfire singalong. Everyone sat on logs. Taking a break from playing he carefully laid his uke behind the log on which he was sitting. When someone piled more wood on the fire everyone got too hot and the log was rolled back...Crunch!!!
 
Now you might think that was the end of his ukulele - but no. I have been able to supply him with this recipe for delicious** Ukulele Wine.
 
This Recipe makes 1 Imperial Gallon of Ukulele Wine
 
You will need:
 
1 ukulele (crushed)
1 gallon of boiling water
6 cups of sugar (organic raw sugar eg. Sucanat will add more flavor and body than ordinary white sugar)
1 cup of prunes
1 Campden Tablet (crushed) Optional - this is a preservative but is also what puts sulphites in your wine. If you\'re not using this do make sure everything is scrupulously sanitized.
1¼ tsp Wine Yeast.
 
 
Remove strings and all plastic and metal parts; tuners, frets, plastic nut/bridge etc. from your ukulele. Rinse the ukulele well and crush as finely as possible. Remember, the smaller you make the pieces of your ukulele the more flavor it will impart.
 
In a large food grade bucket combine the crushed ukulele fragments and boiling water. Cover with porous lid and soak for 24 hours. Strain the liquid through cheesecloth (or clean pantyhose will do for this) into a large cooking pot. Bring to boil and remove from heat.
 
Return the heated liquid to the fermenting bucket (this is called your primary) and stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT the yeast.
 
Allow to cool until lukewarm then sprinkle wine yeast on top or prepare yeast as per instructions on the package. Cover fermenter with a porous cover to protect from fruit flies and to allow carbon dioxide to escape. You can use the other, left-over leg of your panty hose for this.
 
Allow to ferment for at least 14 days. Stir daily making sure to always sanitize your spoon.
 
Siphon wine off the sediment into a glass secondary. Attach airlock. When fermentation is complete (Specific Gravity = 1.000 about 3 weeks. Use a hydrometer to measure this) siphon off sediment into a clean secondary. Top up with cooled pre-boiled water. Attach airlock. Siphon off sediment again in 2 months to aid clearing and top up with cooled pre-boiled water again if necessary. Let stand until clear.
 
At long last, after the 6 to 12 month clearing period, you get to bottle your wine. To do so sterilize all your bottles and tools. Siphon wine into bottles allowing about an inch of air space between the surface of your wine and the bottom of a fully inserted cork.
 
Store the filled bottles on their sides to keep corks moist, ideally in a cool dark place. That\'s it - you\'ve just crafted your first gallon of delicious*** Ukulele Wine! (aka. Plink Plonk)
 
 
* ukulele wine probably should not be consumed internally. Non organic glues and varnishes may be enough to render this drink poisonous and yukky. Keep this in mind for the future. Next time you buy a ukulele do insist that it be made from all organic edible materials. I\'m sure most ukulele builders will be more than happy to help you with your request.
 
** like I said before. You probably shouldn\'t drink this stuff. I won\'t take any responsibility for the after effects .
 
*** again. This stuff could be toxic and you may be better off using it for putting a deep and lustrous shine on your wooden furniture and antique leather items****
 
****Please note that ukulele wine may be damaging to products made of wood and/or leather.
 
PS. If anybody actually goes ahead and makes this please let me know how it turns out.
 
Next Week: I\'ll tell you how to deep-fry your old ukulele strings to make a delicious and Ocean-Wise alternative to Kalamari.
 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you whining about wanting to be a better ukulele player?! My DVD series: The Complete Ukulele Course will give you lots of new ideas to try. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn outside of having an actual teacher right there with you. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

Upcoming October Tour: I\'ll be in California (St. Helena\'s Wine Country Uke Fest & Santa Cruz), Oregon (Eugene Uke-toberfest) and Eastern Canada (Moncton and Nova Scotia\'s Ukulele Ceilidh).
Details at: Tour Dates

If you are on Facebook you can join the Ralph Shaw Fan Club

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.


To subscribe: just visit my Newsletter Signup page where you can also see the Archive of previous newsletters.

© Ralph Shaw 2009


 
 
 
You can Contact me by...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:bowlerhat@shaw.ca
phone: 604 689 2937 (Intl +1)
on the web:http://www.ralphshaw.ca/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
September 22 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,

What makes a good ukulele? Or a bad one for that matter? This week we are looking at how poetry can give us the main things to look for when deciding on that all important ukulele purchase!
You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 840 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE #5  How John Keats Would Choose A Ukulele

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is wonderful news, for ukulele players everywhere, that the choice of ukuleles has increased exponentially in the last 10 years or so. Large music companies and private luthiers are all busy making playable ukuleles in every price range. It\'s great to have this choice but the variety can also be daunting to the musical beginner.
 
The amount you spend on a ukulele is not necessarily an accurate guide to instrument quality but it\'s a good place to start. Decide on the maximum you are able to spend and that way you eliminate the more expensive models.
 
How do we decide what qualities to look for in a ukulele? As with many of  life\'s important questions the answer can be found in the classics.
 
In 1819 when the poet John Keats penned his Ode On a Grecian Urn he may just as well have been writing about a ukulele. In fact I am certain that, if ukuleles had been around in his day, this would have been the subject of his poem instead of a dusty old jug.
 

They both start with \'u\'.

In many ways the urn and ukulele are quite similar. Both are functional yet beautiful, they both make a noise when you hit them and they each have a hole in the top into which Retsina and other liquids may be poured. This latter use however is not recommended for most ukuleles.  
 
Ultimately the main qualities you need to look for in either object can be put under 2 main headings. They are Truth and Beauty.
In his Ode On a Grecian Urn Keats suggests these qualities amount to the same thing but we won\'t get too deep into philosophy today!
 
1) Truth  
Find out if the ukulele is true by checking it for solid construction and good intonation.
 
What does solid construction mean?
The ukulele should be solid enough to still be in tune after being played for a few minutes or more.
If strings keep going out of tune the most usual culprits are dinky tuning pegs. They either don\'t hold the string firm or they move with the smallest touch. Sometimes they can be tightened with a small screwdriver and then they work fine but sometimes not so check that. (I will also add that with a new ukulele there may be some loss of tuning due to the stretching of the new nylon strings. It can take 2 days for strings to fully settle).
 
Although small and light a good ukulele should also be durable. Check for the quality of workmanship. You don\'t have to be an expert luthier to cast a critical eye over the instrument. If you saw a poorly made coffee table with gaps in the joins and rough unfinished edges you\'d probably notice that. Look for similar faults in the ukulele.
 
If you have ever held a wooden model aeroplane in your hands you may have noticed that it has qualities of both strength and incredible lightness. A good ukulele should have a similar feel.
 
What is good intonation?
When a ukulele has been accurately put together the frets, nut and bridge should all be mathematically placed in their correct locations.
If they are not placed correctly what happens is this: You get a string in tune but when you put your finger on a string it then sounds out of tune. Poor intonation is when the strings that have fingers on them are out of tune with those being played open. This can be expensive to fix so I would say that if you suspect a ukulele has poor intonation don\'t buy it!
 
2) Beauty
To make beautiful music it is important that our instrument have a beautiful sound. (It also doesn\'t hurt if it looks nice).
 
Ukuleles have a reputation for being \'plinky\'. What is \'plinky\'? In scientific terms some ukuleles sound plinky because they only produce a narrow range of frequencies. (When you adjust the bass and treble on your sound system you are adjusting the low and high frequencies).  In a poorly made uke the strings vibrate but the vibration is not supported by the body of the uke and so the sound dies off very quickly. A better ukulele will vibrate longer and more richly thereby creating resonance.

To quickly describe resonance I would ask you to think of a mighty organ note being played in an old European cathedral. Every bit of sound bounces off every wall to every other wall. When the organ stops playing the sound continues for several seconds more as the sound waves, settled in their harmonious rhythms, dance back and forth. That is resonance and your ukulele is your cathedral.
 
Listen to some different ukuleles and decide what sound you like before you buy one. Beauty is in the shell-like ear of the beholder and what sounds good to one may not always sound good to an other.
Generally, I would say that the more resonant your instrument, the more satisfying it will be for you to play.




 
\"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,\" - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats May 1819

 
XTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make beautiful music and sing your own truth!
The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will give you lots of new ideas to help you learn. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn outside of having an actual teacher right there with you. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

Upcoming October Tour: I\'ll be in California (St. Helena\'s Wine Country Uke Fest & Santa Cruz), Oregon (Eugene Uke-toberfest) and Eastern Canada (Moncton and Nova Scotia\'s Ukulele Ceilidh).
Details at: Tour Dates

If you are on Facebook you can join the Ralph Shaw Fan Club

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.


To subscribe: just visit my Newsletter Signup page where you can also see the Archive of previous newsletters.

© Ralph Shaw 2009


 
 
 
You can Contact me by...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:bowlerhat@shaw.ca
phone: 604 689 2937 (Intl +1)
on the web:http://www.ralphshaw.ca/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

Dear Raimund,


Why do some banjo ukuleles have great tone and others not? This week\'s newsletter takes a look at this intriguing question! Also we\'ll have a couple of references to songs by the great banjo-ukuleleist George Formby.
You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 742 words

Estimated reading time: About 3 minutes

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UE #6  Hey! This Drum has a Handle.

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In last week\'s issue I gave some pointers to help the new ukulele buyer in choosing a ukulele. I compared the qualities of a good ukulele as being similar to those of the Grecian urn mentioned in John Keats\' famous poem. I call this method of choosing a ukulele: \'Play as you urn\'. Ha Ha, thank you folks.
 
The type of ukulele mentioned was the wooden ukulele, the kind which looks like a miniature guitar. But what of the banjo ukulele? Are the qualities to look for the same?
 
There are actually some interesting differences. For example: Having exact intonation is paramount with a wooden uke but not as much of an issue with the ukulele banjo. This is because the bridge is moveable so the intonation can be more easily adjusted.
 
But before going further let\'s take a look at the history of the banjo.
 
The earliest banjo-like instruments originated in Africa. It was there, probably on the banks of the Limpopo river, where a bored drummer sat outside his hut wishing he could figure out a way to play The Chinese Laundry Blues on his drum. (That and other songs from the George Formby oeuvre).
 
The solution he came up with was to attach a piece of string (which in those days was probably animal gut or an early form of nylon) across the top surface of the drum. This was extended out to the side using a stick which now made his drum appear to have a handle, like a frying pan. A smaller stick was added as a bridge under the string to transfer the vibration of the plucked string to the surface of the drum.
 
The sound that this combination produced pleased our Limpopo tribesman so much that he soon added a couple more strings to his creation. Pretty soon he was grinning, winking and bashing out Leaning on a Lampost to his heart\'s content!
 
  It is important to remember that the banjo is closely related to the drum. I discovered this for myself when I first became interested in wanting to play the banjo-ukulele. I bought several banjo-ukes. All of them were fairly inexpensive and they all turned out to be not very good. I could never quite figure out what was wrong with them. They stayed in tune and were playable but none had that glorious sound that I heard in the old 1930s recordings.
 
It was when I was asked by the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum to perform a set of George Formby songs for his induction into the Ukulele Hall of Fame that I made the decision to finally purchase a reliably decent instrument. I ended up buying a 1926 Gibson UB2 from a store in the USA. The store owner strummed it over the phone and I had a good feeling about it so I bought it.
 
I was not wrong. My Gibson ukulele-banjo sounded fantastic. But I couldn\'t help wondering why? It seemed to me that all the sound comes from the vibration of the surface of the skin. So why would one banjo-uke exhibit great tonal quality and another sound really poor?  
The answer came when I visited a drum store and asked,
\"What makes one drum sound better than another?\"
Their answer was immediate, \"It\'s the pot\", they said.
 
For a moment, and you must understand I was in Canada\'s foremost hippy region at the time, I thought they meant that smoking certain plants would improve the sound. But that is not what they meant at all. The \'pot\' is the body of the drum. Or in a banjo it is the heavy ring of wood across which the vellum (or skin) is stretched.
 
It is no accident that some of the finest banjo-ukes of the 1920s were made by the Ludwig drum company. They knew the characteristics that make a drum sound good and transferred this knowledge to their ukuleles.
 
I mention all this because it is of great importance that a banjo ukulele have a good tone. These instruments have a sound that can really carry so try and make it a nice sound if you can!
 
If anyone is interested in buying one of my own \'unique sounding\' banjo-ukuleles then please get in touch. Oh, and by the way, just to sweeten the deal I can also throw in a bridge over the Limpopo River!
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
October 6 2009
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Dear Raimund,


How punctual are you? Punctuality can mean different things to different people. This weeks newsletter explores the idea of being on time and what it means to your playing.You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 702 words

Estimated reading time: About 3 minutes

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UE #7 The Importance of Being on Time.

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More than one uptight, city dwelling ukulele player has been frustrated on their first visit to an island music jam. They get to the jam session right at the arranged time only to discover they are the only one there.

Everyone else saunters in over the next hour or so without apology. Some laugh at the punctuality of the visitor and tell her, \"You\'ll learn that we are all on island time here\".
 
Living on \'island time\' is the same as saying that it\'s better to be late than stressed. It\'s a wonderful way to live. Providing of course that everyone else is in mutual agreement that island time is what we are all setting our clocks by.
 
I have to confess however that my tendency is more towards the uptight punctuality of the city slicker but not because I grew up in a city.

It was at home in the Yorkshire village of Millhouse Green where I sat one wintry afternoon and watched the 1956 movie Around the World in 80 Dayswith my grandma. For the first time I learned that fanatical punctuality can be fun!
 
It\'s a long film and I remember very little about it except for the ending. This is when the obsessively punctual Phileas Fogg is back home in London sadly getting over the fact that he has lost his bet. After 81 days of travelling he has lost the wager that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. That is until his valet comes running in with a newspaper showing him the date and they realize that in crossing the international date line they are now a day early and still have a chance of winning the bet.
 
There ensues a hectic race across London where Phileas Fogg arrives elegantly in the appointed room just as the minute hand reaches the top of the hour. The icing on the cake for me was to watch the fellow who he had made the bet with. He sat in his leather armchair refusing to celebrate his victory until the last minute was passed. Saying something like; \'that Phileas Fogg is the most confoundedly punctual man I have ever met\'. And so it turned out.
 
As much as I try, and occasionally succeed, to live on island time I have to confess I still get a certain kick out of arriving to an appointment at exactly the scheduled time.
 
Now you are probably wondering what this has to do with playing the ukulele. Well I\'ll tell you. Live by island time if you wish and if you can. You will be less stressed and mostly happier if you can go according to your inner body clock rather than by the strict regime of the relentlessly predictable tick of the timepiece.
 
But...playing the ukulele is a different story. Your strums need to be on time. Right on time. Not early, not late. There are no excuses. If every strum is slightly ahead of schedule then you will find your playing getting faster throughout the piece. If you are sometimes early and sometimes late then your audience will begin to twitch and jerk as their foot tapping tries to keep in sync with your erratic time keeping. They don\'t like that.
 
You see it turns out that, unless we pay very close attention to it, our inner body clock can be pretty unreliable when it comes to keeping exact time. It is possible but it takes work.
 
The key, is to listen to yourself. Practice playing along with a metronome or a drum machine. You will find that as your mind wanders then so does your rhythm. You discover that you have to keep concentrating on the beat and constantly listening to and adjusting your strum. This is not easy, especially when we have other distractions such as lyrics to remember or an audience that is staring at us.
 
To sum up: Live your life on island time by all means but when you play your ukulele be as punctual as the obsessive Phileas Fogg. Strive to make every note, every strum, every beat arrive right on time. Neither early nor late but always right on the money!


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey Why not jam with me! My DVD: Ukulele Play Along is a great tool for learning to play on time. The chords are shown on the screen and you get to play right along with me. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

October Tour: I\'ll be in California (St. Helena\'s Wine Country Uke Fest & Santa Cruz), Oregon (Eugene Uke-toberfest) and Eastern Canada (Moncton and Nova Scotia\'s Ukulele Ceilidh).
Details at: Tour Dates

If you are on Facebook you can join the Ralph Shaw Fan Club

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.


To subscribe: just visit my Newsletter Signup page where you can also see the Archive of previous newsletters.

© Ralph Shaw 2009


 
 
 
You can Contact me by...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:bowlerhat@shaw.ca
phone: 604 689 2937 (Intl +1)
on the web: www.RalphShaw.ca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

kurt

Ich habe eben Übersetzungsdienst ausprobiert und mich eine halbe Stunde köstlich amüsiert !

Allerdings habe nicht alles verstanden. :(

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
October 20 2009
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Dear Raimund,


We all want to be able sing in tune without going flat or discordant. Today we look at what it means to sing on pitch and how we can prevent going out of tune. You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 814 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE #9 Sing On Pitch 1: - Why Bother?

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Those of us who have been in an audience while the singer on stage belts out a series of notes, all of them slightly flat, know the uncomfortable squirmy feeling that it gives us. Just to be clear, for those of you who aren\'t sure, \'uncomfortable\' and \'squirmy\' are probably not the feelings that the singer is hoping to arouse in us.
 
When you stand before an audience with a ukulele and begin to sing you do your utmost to make it a positive experience for all. Depending on the song the experience for the audience can include; Joyful abandon, peaceful nostalgia, heartbreaking sadness, sensuality, laughter and the list goes on.
 
A good song sung with care and commitment will carry the audience along. It\'s a form of story telling. And what can really mess it up are distractions. Distractions can include; a smoke alarm going off during the chorus, a dog suddenly biting someone in the front row or the president arriving unexpectedly to listen to you sing.
 
All these things we have no control over but we must do everything we can to not provide our own distractions.
 
Singing in tune is not really noticed. It is generally taken for granted that a singer will be in tune. Singing out of tune however is one of the biggest distractions of all.  Sing out of tune and most of your audience won\'t be aware of anything else you do. They\'ll be too busy squirming in their seats thinking thoughts like, \"This person sounds awful, why do they do it? Why am I listening to it?! Is that Mr Obama sitting in row 6?\"
 
Having established that singing out of tune is not good. What can we do about it? Here are some ideas:
 

Know your song. Be sure of the melody. If you\'re not certain of how much the notes go up and down in pitch then how can you go up and down by the correct amounts?


Sing with confidence. This sounds easy but only for a lucky few can confidence be turned on like a switch. Usually it builds as you become more certain of your own ability. Knowing that you know your material and can present it to a level that satisfies you will develop your confidence. Playing for others and discovering that you may actually have some talent will build confidence too.
 
Listen to yourself. There is a lot going on when you sing. You have your strumming to think about, you have words to remember and chords to get right. Your mind is constantly switching around attending to these matters. Don\'t assume that your voice can be let loose to do its own thing. Keep listening to it. One idea is to record yourself singing a song and then go back and listen to find the points where you go out of tune. Then you know to always switch on your listening ear at those points.


Always have enough vocal support. Usually when people sing out of tune they sing flat. This is because their vocal technique is not providing enough support and energy to lift the note up to the exact place where it should be. I think of my vocal sound as being like a stream of water coming from a hose. If the pressure to the hose gets turned down then the stream of water just drops off. So keep the pressure constant by having a well supported vocal mechanism.


Make sure you are in the right vocal range for your voice. Example: If you are a male with a deep voice and you are trying to sing higher than is comfortable for you this can cause errors in pitch. You\'ll have similar difficulty if you have a high voice and are trying to sing too low.
 
Singing well is not an easy skill. There are many factors to be developed. It\'s a skill that involves being in control and letting go at the same time. You won\'t always be in pitch but you can work at it so that the times you go out of tune will be both fewer and farther apart.

It really is worth it to work on this stuff. Most of us like the ukulele because it is portable but nothing is as easy to carry and as rich and sweet sounding as a beautiful voice.
 
Despite in my youth having been told otherwise, I have learned to love and appreciate my own voice. It is because of the vocal challenges that I have peronally overcome that I believe there are a great many singers out there who don\'t allow their potential to flower.
 
Next week we\'ll talk some more on this subject in a newsletter entitled either: \'How to Polish a  Tin Ear.\' Or: \'Where to Look When the President Sits in the Aisle Seat of Row
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
October 27 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,


Sometimes you\'ll hear singers talk about being \'pitch perfect\' or of having \'perfect pitch\'. Most ukulele players just want to sing in tune and todays newsletter suggests some ideas to help improve this important skill.You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 833 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE#10 Sing On Pitch 2: A Bucket to Carry Your Tune In

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So, what is perfect pitch?
One version says that a perfect pitch is when you throw the violin into the garbage dumpster and it hits the guitar!
 
Does that joke work? It was originally told to me as a ukulele being thrown and hitting a banjo. I never found it very funny so I\'m trying to improve it. OK never mind - On with the newsletter!!!
 
Let\'s sort out some terminology first. Perfect Pitch is the ability to recognize a musical note in the same way that most people can recognize colour. We are taught as children to know what the colour blue looks like. We are not born with this knowledge. It is said that if we were taught as children to recognize what a D note sounds like we\'d all be able to do that too. Unfortunately so few people can do this that most of us think of it as an almost mystical skill. Supposedly it can be learned. I haven\'t learned it yet but maybe one day...
 
This newsletter is not about perfect pitch. Rather it is about being able to sing as perfectly on pitch as possible.
 
Some people claim to be, \"tone deaf\" They say things like, \"I have a tin ear\" or \"I can\'t carry a tune in a bucket\". They claim that they don\'t know how to sing in tune. This is odd because they sure do talk in tune. They express themselves eloquently and in tonally rich voices!
 
Listen to speech. The spoken language is full of lowering and rising inflections. To make a story interesting it is vital that the tones of our speech go up and down by specific amounts. It is rare to hear a voice that just goes on and on in a flat monotone. Only rarely do we hear someone who speaks like that. People who do usually have to resort to becoming spouses or university lecturers (Ha Ha!).
 
Therefore I always tell these people: If you can talk without being in a flat monotone then you have within you the potential to sing. This is important. The earliest feedback that most of us receive about our singing comes from our families. As toddlers we get applause for any inane sound that comes out of our mouths but when we get older the reverse happens.
 
Somewhere in our childhood it only needs one person to tell us that we don\'t have what it takes as a singer to make us give up on the idea for years or sometimes forever. This is very sad. I remember when it happened to me. A boy on the school bus told me, \"You can try and sing Ralph but you\'ll never sound nice because you don\'t have a naturally good voice.\"
The last I heard he is writing for a major British newspaper and I hope that his editorials have improved since his school bus days.
 
I got back into singing again when I took up hiking on the moors near my home. My friends and I would trudge across the wind-blown peat bogs singing loudly any song that came into our heads. This was the beginning of freeing up my voice. After that came years of refinement.
 
There are many parts that make up a singing voice. It needs all these parts (diaphragm, throat, lips etc.) to all work together to make your sound as pleasing as it can be. By improving your vocal quality and support you\'ll find that your sense of pitch also improves.
 
Here are some ideas to help improve your singing:
 
Sing a lot. If you don\'t live near the Yorkshire moors then sing while cycling. It\'s a great way to sing outdoors and helps with fitness and breath control!
 
Take some voice lessons. Find a good teacher who can show you how to sing with support and accuracy.
 
Join a choir. This is a great way to receive inexpensive vocal practice and training.
Always keep an active listening ear while you sing with other people. Notice when you or someone else goes out of tune.
 
Test yourself. Every time you pick up your uke play a single note. Try and sing that note right back. Then try the same with a series of notes listening carefully to make sure that every interval between notes is just right. There is a tendency when going up the scale that your intervals will be too small and too large when going down the scale.
 
Practice singing a song all the way through without playing your ukulele. See if you can end in the same or close to the same key. This is a good way to test your sense of pitch but it also helps your self confidence. Why? Because you\'ll know that should you forget the chords to a song you can keep singing and come right back in once you remember the chords again!
 
You will get better at this trust me. You may not become a Luciano Pavarotti or a Willie Nelson but I believe you will become a better sounding you!


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to make your ukulele playing more exciting? The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will help you to play and perform better. The use of teaching DVDs is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and you can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

If you found value in this newsletter. Please forward it to your friends that may be interested (Just use the little blue \"forward email\" link near the end of this email).

October Tour: Details at: Tour Dates

If you are on Facebook you can join the Ralph Shaw Fan Club

Got ideas for future newsletters? Then let me know. I\'ll be more than happy to consider them.

Privacy Policy: I will never share information from my email contacts list with anyone, for any reason whatsoever.

To change your email address: Go to the \"update profile/email address\" link near the end of the page.

To unsubscribe: Go to the \"safe unsubscribe\" link near the end of the page.


To subscribe: just visit my Newsletter Signup page where you can also see the Archive of previous newsletters.

© Ralph Shaw 2009
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

Uketeufel

The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
November 3 2009
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Dear Raimund,


Home again.  Back from my October tour of California and Eastern Canada I remember the enjoyable and rewarding time I had. Yet when I think about the weeks before I set off on my travels there were times when I felt I would sooner remain here amongst the familiar and the comfortable. Here are some musings on the theme of taking a chance on life and coming home again.
You\'re receiving this newsletter because you subscribed. If you like it then please consider forwarding it to a friend. (to unsubscribe simply use the link at the bottom).

Word count this issue: 760 words

Estimated reading time: About 3 minutes

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UE#11 Home and Away

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Listening to an interview with author Salman Rushdie recently he spoke of how he believed there are 2 kinds of people. There are those who stay around the familiar comforts of home and then there are those who feel the need to travel and explore and immerse themselves in new experiences.
 
He was talking in the context of novel writing. In other words his characters would have to leave the comfort of home in order to go on an adventure. He is surely right. What a boring novel it would be if all the characters just sat at home eating nachos and watching youtube. What a short book Lord of The Rings would have been if Tolkien had allowed Bilbo and Frodo to just sit and blow smoke rings instead of ridding Middle Earth of Orcs, Gollum and other unpleasantries.
 
The metaphor of leaving the comforts of home behind in order to follow the path of adventure, with its inherent promise of reward and/or loss, can be used widely.
 
If you think about it a song can be like that. Somehow a tension is set up and a story is told. Finally the song comes to rest with a conclusion that is both musical and lyrical. As the last note is played we have the sense of having \"come home\". Back to base.
 
Listening to musicians jamming together over multiple verses of a tune you will often hear one member finally shout, \"Bring her home\" which is the signal for everyone to end the song the next time around.
 
The Rodgers And Hammerstein song Do-Re-Mi has us singing about a \'female deer\' then basking in a \'drop of golden sun\'. Then we discover that Fa is a \'long long way to run\' but ultimately no matter where we run or what we do we always have to come back home to Doh. (Homer Simpson once said the same thing - Ha ha).  
Most songs are like this. As audiences we would probably feel quite challenged if songs left us hanging... unsure as to whether they had actually ended or not.
 
The same metaphor can also apply to our lives. One day we are happily sitting at home strumming on a ukulele and the next we are breaking out into a cold sweat realizing that we have to perform in front of an audience. It seems crazy! We ask ourselves why do we do it? Why leave the peace of our home to take on the stress of playing in public? No-one is forcing us to put ourselves out like that.
 

Ooh now - that\'s interesting. Let\'s look at that phrase again. To \"put ourselves out\". Most of us have said it at one time or another. We put the cat out but it seems we can also put ourselves out too!

It\'s a dual personality idea. We push ourselves out of the door and into the cold and unknown, we lock the door behind ourselves and refuse to let ourselves back in until we\'ve done something of note.  

Anyone who has ever placed themselves outside of their own comfort zone will know exactly what I\'m talking about here. (and the rest are probably getting a little concerned about my mental health - don\'t worry I think I know where I\'m heading with this!)
 
Things to remember:
1)     Life is a journey and it is also shorter than you think. Often the most interesting and valuable experiences take place outside of your comfort zone. Go there whenever you feel able.
 
2)     When you play a song, make it come alive. Begin the narrative and live the telling of the tale. Express the words and the emotion of the music with every part of your being. When the song is over \"bring her home\" with a clear and defined ending (hey it also helps the audience know when to clap).
 
3)     Just because you don\'t know where you are going doesn\'t mean you can\'t set off. If you have the impulse to do something or go somewhere then seriously consider it. Otherwise you may have to live with yourself knowing that you didn\'t put yourself out when you had the chance. And that could make both of you unhappy!
 
Well, looking out of my window I see the men in white coats are coming up the garden path. So I\'ll just say toodle-oo while I step into my multi-coloured marshmallow spaceship and set a course for Planet Plink.
 
Until next time, wherever you may be and wherever you are going - Happy Travels!!!
Ich bin ein Prootcher!

http://www.prootchers.de
www.facebook.com/Prootchers

scrabble

Ohhh-neeeee!  :roll:
Bitte: Allerliebste Spottdrossel, übersetze mal! :|
Mein Schul-Englisch ist wirklich eingerostet...  :oops: :(  :(
...und Wagner-Opern auf englisch....
Hiiilfeee!