Newsletter von Ralph Shaw

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
March 02 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,


The Winter Olympic games has created a warm unity between all Canadians that I have never seen in 21 years of living in this country. Now that\'s all over; We can go back to Canada\'s #1 pastime - Making fun of Toronto! Today I\'ll be doing that as well as talking about the technique of playing Tremolo.

If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend! btw. If your friends are in Toronto please send them my condolences...

Word count this issue: 832 words

Estimated reading time: just over 3 minutes
 

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UE#27  Get to Toronto

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

It was 1998 and my 1st CD: King of The Ukulele had just been released. A guy named Colin phoned me to introduce himself. It seemed we had a mutual interest in ukuleles. Colin told me,
          \"I have your CD. My brother picked it up at a garage sale.\" Surprised I replied,

          \"But its only been out for 2 weeks!\"

 

Colin still loves to bring up that little story. I later discovered that his brother happened to work at one of the radio stations that I sent promo copies of the CD to. Somewhere along the way he must have mixed my CD up with some garage sale items. (That\'s the story I prefer).

 

Colin happens to be a collector of resophonic instruments. You know those loud and shiny metal guitars?  I always imagine they\'d be handy in a bar-fight. He has documented his remarkable collection on his notecannons website.


 

It was through Colin that I briefly met the famous Bob Brozman; a guitarist and ethnomusicologist who is also a collector of resophonic instruments. We had gone to watch him play a concert with Okinawan musician Takashi Hirayasu.

 

After the concert Colin introduced me to Bob saying,

\"This is Ralph Shaw. He\'s a local performer known as the King of the Ukulele.\"

 

The environment was very noisy; so when Bob said,

         


          \"Get to Toronto\" I had to ask him to say it again. He said it again,

         


          \"Get to Toronto\"

         


          \"Really?\" I asked, puzzled.




He enthusiastically continued to talk. I listened hard but could only pick out occasional words. I tried with all my might to figure out the gist of his narrative but found it impossible to tell what it was about ukuleles in Toronto that was such a big deal.

 

For those not geographically inclined - Toronto is a city in eastern Canada. (Torontonians will say they are in \'central\' Canada but that\'s ridiculous. If they are in central Canada then so is Calgary which is about the same distance from the west coast as Toronto is from the east coast).

 

Unable to understand what Bob Brozman was saying I nodded my head and watched the shapes that his bearded mouth made. I laughed when he laughed and said, \" Ha Ha. Yes!\" whenever I thought it appropriate to do so. Mercifully the conversation was soon over.

 

We were halfway home in Colin\'s car when, in a flash of illumination, I understood what Mr Brozman had been telling me.





In the middle of the show he had played a song on a small Latin-American instrument made from an armadillo shell. Its called a Charango.


Of course!


He\'d been saying,

\"Get a charango\"!

 

          \"Phew\" I thought to myself. \"For a moment there I thought I was going to have to go to Toronto. That was a close one!!!\"

 

          The charango has 10 strings set up in double rows. It is not unlike the ukulele. The strings are tuned GCEAE. This is similar to the ukulele but with an additional doubled E string.

 

I had met a charango once before.

 

It was around 1993. I had become fairly proficient at playing the ukulele but was on a quest to discover the technique behind the thrilling strumming style of George Formby. No-one seemed to play ukulele in those days so I was learning from every other string playing musician I could find.

 

One of them was charango player Rene Hugo Sanchez. Unable to show me what I wanted to learn he instead instructed me in the tremolo technique. Tremolo is the fast vibrating sound that you hear when strumming very quickly up/down on one or more strings.

 

He showed me how to do a fast tremolo: On your strumming hand have the fingers wide and extend them in line with your hand and arm. Now bend the middle knuckle of your index finger so that the end of this digit points towards your strings.

 

The fast up/down action should be done as economically as possible. The arm is kept still. The only part that moves is the forearm. The forearm rotates at the elbow causing the thumb and pinky to move toward and away from you while the centre of the hand remains quite stationary. The effect of this is to cause the index finger to move quickly up and down over the strings.

 

But you\'ll need to do this in time. Start slow, 1-2-3-4 and then double it to do 8 beats in the same amount of time. Then double it again. 16 beats. Double it again? Rene could do that. 32 beats. For that one I think it helps if you were born in the Andes.

 

The triplet tremolo is a teeny tad trickier. It goes down-up-down, up-down-up. Its like a very fast waltz strum. Try it slowly at first and then build the tempo.

 

The good news is: Tremolo is a perfect technique for ukulele, eliminating any need for you to purchase a charango.

 

But the best news of all is that you never have to go to Toronto!*

 

*Toronto is probably a very lovely city and all the jibes and insults it receives are most likely completely uncalled for. However should anyone feel offended by today\'s newsletter please send your letters of complaint (postage free) to:

Stephen Harper

Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, K1A 0A2

Canada




A Dobro \'Cyclops\' Resophonic Ukulele:

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
March 09 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,



Music has rules. It is governed by a theoretical system that tells us which sounds are allowed and which ones aren\'t. Have you ever wondered why it should be this way?



If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 898 words

Estimated reading time: About 3½ minutes

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UE#28  Why Music Is the Way It Is

 
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Its like this. Many hundreds of years ago a musician, we\'ll call him Johann Amadeus McCartney, is lucky enough to be hired by The King to make music. He\'s a talented fellow but he knows full well that there are hundreds of equally, if not more, talented composer/musicians to take his place.

 

Understandably he wants to hold on to his job.

 

He notices that The King is pleased when he hears certain chord progressions and particular melodies. Kingy also tends to frown on hearing other combinations of chords and notes. Johann McCartney notices this and keeps careful jottings in his scroll. He continues to compose original pieces but they are all written with the biased intent of pleasing His Highness and keeping the royal sovereigns flowing into his own purse.

 

Over time, and many composers later, these jottings become formalized into what is now musical theory. All of it based on earning cash by pleasing a few individuals.

 

It is interesting how different Asian music is to Western music. In fact the only common feature that all musical systems contain is the octave. The octave is the repeating of the same note when you go up or down in pitch. The number of notes within the octave range varies depending on which culture you happen to be in.

 

The invention of popular music or \'pop\' came about when men & women who weren\'t kings could now pay for music themselves. This was done in the form of sheet music, and later, records. It then became important for songs to have mass appeal.

 

In 1912 with the song Alexander\'s Ragtime Band; Irving Berlin discovered the trick of dividing a song into 4 sections. The 1st, 2nd and 4th  of these had exactly the same tune but the 3rd section broke up the pattern by being distinctly different. Moving along into Rock & Roll this method of repetitively quoting the same musical phrase over and over with a short break or bridge was the major structure for songwriters.  

 

By the 1950s and 60s Elvis, and later, The Beatles, worked for a new king. Who was the mysterious benefactor who supported them and filled their bank accounts with cash?

 

It was teenage girls. The Beatles triumphantly used the time tested techniques of tin-pan-alley and early rock music to appeal to this market. They had looks, charm and musical ability.

 

They were careful to write songs in the 1st person so that every 14 year old girl thought the song was just for her: Please please Me Like I please You,  I want to hold Your hand,  Love love Me do - You know I love You,  8 Days a week I lo-o-o-o-o-ove You and so on. With songs of love they emptied the wallets of young women everywhere.

 

Their music grew slightly more experimental as their drug-taking increased and their need to please the audience decreased. But by then the fab four could do no wrong.  They had already obla-daa\'d their way to musical indelibility.




Thanks to the massive success of pop music the huge majority of listeners have been trained to believe that; good music equals songs. Furthermore they must be delivered in recognizable 3 minute bursts, have a steady beat, familiar chords and unchallenging melodies.


 

There is nothing wrong with that. It just doesn\'t have to be that way.




2 weeks ago I performed and taught at the Gorge Ukulele Festival in Hood River, Oregon. I was outside the home of Will Richards. He was lamenting the fact that although he plays ukulele every single day he finds the idea of playing songs completely boring.

 

Will has been a professional and successful potter since the early 1970s. We stood talking in front of one of his works; a 4 foot ceramic plate which hung on the wall. It was decorated with red and green glazes and incorporated several \'found\' objects. These were bits and pieces that he had picked up, kept and added to his art.

 

We spoke of music but I was focused on his visual art and then I had something of an epiphany.

 

I realized that here was an artist who had never made 2 identical pieces of work in his life. Now that he is turning his interest towards music it seems everyone is pushing him to play songs. Songs that, by definition, are played the same way over and over again.

 

I thought to myself why should he? He could use his uke skills differently. The snippets of music that he plays can be likened to the found objects that adhere to his pottery.

 

After thinking on this I eventually suggested that he consider making music of his own creation. Every time he plays he could create a piece of no fixed length or meter, with no particular rhyme or rhythm and which contains his favourite found musical objects.

 

Why not? Will Richards, unlike Johann Amadeus McCartney, has the supreme advantage that he is not doing this for cash. He needs to please no-one but himself. If he ends up playing his music in public and the public happen to like it then hooray.

 

There\'s a pretty good chance the public won\'t like it because they are too conditioned to listening to music created for kings and teenage girls. But, for those who still know how to listen, there is a rich and beautiful world of music out there waiting to be discovered.










Above: Plates created by Will Richards






© Ralph Shaw 2010


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You\'ll discover a host of musical \'found objects\' in my ukulele teaching dvds. They\'ll provide you with ideas and choices to enhance your music.

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 can pause and rewind as often as you wish.



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:


May 8:   Kootenay Kids Fest, 25th anniversary. Cranbrook BC Canada





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows

 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11& 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
March 16 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,




The technique of not playing is not used nearly enough. Today I describe how to do it - or not do it...




If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 713 words

Estimated reading time: Less than 3 minutes

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UE#29  Silence Is Music

 
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Night-time in a cottage on the Gulf Islands can be very hushed.


Lying in bed at night I marvelled at the beautiful and eerie quiet of the night. There was literally no sound.

 

As I lay there listening I became aware of a machine in the distance. It bothered me that somewhere out there was a man-made source of booming, echoing noise that could be heard by so many people around. Without it, whatever that sound was, I felt that the silence would be absolute.

 

The sound wasn\'t loud but it was regular and continuous and was starting to annoy me. I put earplugs in my ears. The pounding sound continued.

 

I gradually realized that the pounding was in time with my own heartbeat. I had been listening to the blood coursing through my own head.

 

The quote: \"Music is the silence between the notes\" is one of those sayings that doesn\'t seem to mean much at all. Yet, at the same time, if you choose to ponder it longer, you can find an infinity of meaning in those 7 short words.

 

Its actually quite rare to have silence in any piece of music. There is almost always something going on.

 

Even a solo instrument playing alone has an overhang of sustained sound even when there is nothing being strummed, struck, pressed or plucked.

 

The above quote is by Claude Debussy. Since there is really no such thing as silence (not inside my head at least) one has to wonder what exactly he was getting at.

 

I\'m thinking that when he said \'silence\' he was actually talking about a pause of activity. A piano-note is struck but before playing the next note there is a moment of nothingness. Musician and listener hang together in the same space before the next note comes along to guide their thoughts and feelings.

 

You don\'t hear much silence when a typical ukulele player is happily plonking his or her way through a song.

 

There is great joy to be had in that regular beat. The thrilling strum strum strum that provides the background sound of a well known ditty. The on-going never-ending rhythm that goes on and on and on all the way to the end of the song. A rhythm as relentless and unceasing as my heart; beating as it does to keep the life-giving blood flowing through my head.

 

I\'ve heard it said that musical rhythm at a basic level imitates the beating of the heart. Perhaps this is why so many ukulele players feel as if they will actually keel over and die if they stop playing in the middle of a song.

 

I suggest to you that not playing your ukulele is a valuable and much underused playing technique. In my earlier article: Make Your Ukulele into a Piano-Forte I talked about how changing the volume of your playing was probably the simplest technique of all.





To not play at all has to be simpler still.

 

Try it.

 

Pick a song you know well and start strumming and singing. At some point keep singing but stop strumming for a little while. Then, start strumming again. Repeat. What do you notice?

 

Maybe you noticed that you lost the beat. That\'s a simple fix. Keep the beat going with another part of your body (tap your foot, wiggle your shoulders, jiggle your butt etc).

 

Maybe you started to sing out of tune. Having the instrument playing along can be a great help for keeping the voice in pitch. If you found that your singing was sounding a bit \'off\' then you probably need to work on that. I used to sing in a choir that was all voices no instruments. I trained myself to stay pretty well in tune even without instrumental backing. Its not that hard to do but it might require a bit of self or professional training.

 

One other thing you may notice is that the sound of the strumming ukulele is so much more welcome after it has been allowed to pause. If you stop playing for a few seconds then the return of the ukulele rhythm can be like the return of a dear friend.

 

I\'m no Claude Debussy but here\'s my quote:

 

 \"Make your ukulele playing sound better - Stop strumming!\"








© Ralph Shaw 2010


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fortunately my dvds will teach you so much more than merely suggesting that you not play. Here\'s some info about them:  

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 can pause and rewind as often as you wish.



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:


May 8:   Kootenay Kids Fest, 25th anniversary. Cranbrook BC Canada





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows

 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11& 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
March 23 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dear Raimund,




Today I discuss the musical usefulness of breaking routine once in a while.



If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 620 words

Estimated reading time: Less than 2½ minutes

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UE#30  Taking a Break  

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When I was a student I had a friend who was a brilliant up and coming clarinet player. Many of us know the feeling of what a chore it can be to have to do regular music practice. This friend of mine had no such problem. She practiced for 2 hours every single day. She loved it all. Scales, jazz, Bartok - you name it, if she was playing her clarinet she was as happy as a toddler in mud.


I was therefore as surprised as she was one day when she told me that her teacher had told her to not practice. Have you honestly ever heard of that? It\'s something I\'ve never heard of before or since. Furthermore her music teacher told her to not play for 21 days. He said she should take 3 weeks off from playing the clarinet.

 

That was many years ago and I have long since lost touch with my friend. It is with regret that I must report that I have no idea why this music teacher prescribed such an unusual instruction.

 

I remember that she greatly admired and revered her teacher and I wish I could have met him. I think he was a wise teacher of the old school who was sensitive enough to know just what was best for his student.

 

I play my ukulele nearly every day and I perform several times a week on average. Its good to keep the musical mind and muscles working. \"Use it or lose it\" is a saying to which there is a lot of truth. I have also noticed however that having a break can inspire profound change.

 

Don\'t ask me to tell you exactly what that change is and please don\'t quiz me on how and why it comes about. I don\'t know. But there is a tangible newness that taking time off can inspire.

 

I think that part of it is down to forgetfulness. A 3 week break is enough time for our muscle memory to forget some of its ingrained little habits. Motor skills that our mind-body system has begun to take for granted are transformed and transmuted. Suddenly we find ourselves approaching familiar things in new and original ways.  We discover that a piece of music can be given nuances or changed completely.

 

Maybe on your return to work or school after a holiday you might have discovered an effect similar to the one I am describing.

 

My reason for writing this right now is that after having managed 30 weekly newsletters without a break  (nearly 7 months) I feel it is time to take a short respite.

 

3 weeks sounds like a good period of time to take off so that is what I\'ll do. My dad also happened to mention that it might be a good idea. So I am finally going to show some maturity by actually doing something he suggested. It took a few years but I got there in the end. Cheers Dad!


 

I shall return to these newsletters on April 12th.

 

For those of you who only recently signed up and who would like to have more to read right now; all my previous newsletters may be found on my blog-page: http://theukuleleentertainer.blogspot.com/

 

I look forward to writing to you again once my nodes and synapses have been reconfigured and revitalized through rest, relaxation and rehabilitation when they\'ll once more be ready for redeployment in the real and rewarding pursuit of reaching out to reeducate, resuscitate, revive and revolutionize the dreams of reams of readers through the remarkable powers of music.




I hope that sounds reasonable.

 

Regards until later,

 

Ralph Shaw




 

Question:  How do you grow a successful garden?






Answer: Weed \'em and reap!








© Ralph Shaw 2010


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just because I\'m having time off doesn\'t mean you can! \"The Complete Ukulele Course\" DVDs will help with your musical creation while I\'m busy with my re-creation. Here\'s some info about them:  

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 can pause and rewind as often as you wish.



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:


May 8:   Kootenay Kids Fest, 25th anniversary. Cranbrook BC Canada





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows

 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11& 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
April 13 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,





I\'ve discovered what is wrong with the world. It turns out that May Singhi Breen (one of the world\'s most influential ukulele players) does not have an entry in Wikipedia but Rose Marion Tyler does.




If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 783 words

Estimated reading time: slightly over 3 minutes

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UE#31  Wiki Wacky Who?

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


May Singhi Breen & Rose Marion Tyler: Which of these amazing women do you think is more worthy of an entry in the online encyclopedia: Wikipedia?


 

Let\'s compare them.

 

May Singhi Breen: Born: New York, 1895. In 1923 she was given a ukulele as a Christmas gift. The department store wouldn\'t allow her to return it so she taught herself to play and discovered she had a remarkable affinity for the instrument. Her musical group \"The Syncopaters\" performed on radio and there she met composer Peter de Rose (he wrote: On a Little Street in Singapore, Deep Purple, A Marshmallow World and Louis Prima\'s famous hit Buona Sera). They married and together they started a radio show called \"Sweethearts of the Air\". Peter played piano while she played ukulele. The show ran for 16 years.

 

Rose Marion Tyler: A working class shop assistant from London who only exists in fiction. She was the assistant to British TV\'s sci-fi character Doctor Who who saved her from an Auton invasion of earth. She went on to assist him in defeating the Nestene Consciousness.  

 

May Singhi Breen: Became known as \"The Ukulele Lady\". Her enthusiasm for the instrument led her to teach both children and adults. She published books on how play melody as well as strumming chords. She came out with the first recorded ukulele lesson. This was a 78rpm Victor record that gave a 6 minute ukulele tutorial. She was also a pioneer of using bad ukulele puns. Her slogan was, \"Uke Can Play the Melody!\"

 

Rose Marion Tyler: Doctor Who gave Rose a \"superphone\" so she could stay in touch with her mother, Jackie, and her boyfriend, Mickey, as she traveled through time and space.

 

May Singhi Breen: Convinced music publishers to add ukulele chord symbols and ukulele arrangements to sheet music. This is a remarkable achievement when you think that the number of songs of the 1920s to 50s era that bear her arrangements are believed to total in the 1000s (I heard over 10,000 but I can\'t verify it) this supposedly makes her the world\'s most published arranger. Nowadays guitar tablature is what you\'ll mostly see on sheet music. But it mightn\'t be there at all were it not for the vision of May Singhi Breen.

 

Rose Marion Tyler: On her travels through time and space Rose learns the importance of not tampering with history when she attempts to save the life of her deceased father, Pete Tyler, who died when she was a baby. (btw. the characters of Pete Tyler, Jackie and boyfriend Mickey all have Wikipedia entries)




May Singhi Breen: On discovering that the ukulele did not come under the definition of \"musical instrument\" according to the American Federation of Musicians she campaigned to have the ukulele recognized. This was a major battle. At the hearing they wouldn\'t even listen to her play. The AFM representative told her that the ukulele was a \"fun toy which isn\'t allowed in orchestras, and anyone can make a noise on it in a matter of days...it was simply a novelty contraption...\" Herald Journal of 3 January 1932

 

Eventually Breen succeeded in having her 4-stringed friend classed as a musical instrument. Though evidently she was not immediately successful. Some vocal groups used ukulele in recordings during the AFM strike in the early 40s when musicians were banned from playing on recording sessions. btw. During the time the musician\'s union did not recognize the ukulele it did recognize the harmonica, snare drum and triangle.

 

Rose Marion Tyler: On their journeys Tyler and The Doctor were haunted by the words \"Bad Wolf\" written everywhere they went. This turns out to be a clue to an enormous Dalek invasion that threatens the entire universe. At one point Tyler forces her way into the TARDIS console and after staring into its heart becomes suffused with the power of The Time Vortex (yes there\'s a Wikipedia entry for that as well). She uses her power over time and space to spread the words \"Bad Wolf\" over its entirety to lead herself to this moment when she can save the earth from the Dalek invasion. Which she does. The doctor then saves her life by kissing her to drain away the harmful energy. Nice work if you can get it.






Number of words in their Wikipedia entries:




Rose Marion Tyler= 2,218

 

May Singhi Breen = 0

 




I\'ll admit that Rose Marion Tyler\'s credentials are not shabby. She has performed numerous acts of courage in defending the universe from various alien species.

But and however, May Singhi Breen does have the singular and, I believe, important advantage of at least having been a real person who actually existed. And I think that should count for something.

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
April 20 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,






Today I have 5 things that a modern day polar explorer can teach us about success with our musical ambitions.






If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 923 words

Estimated reading time: just over 3½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 


UE#32  Performance Tips From an Extremist

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


Last week I went to a slide show at my daughter\'s school. I\'ll be honest. I didn\'t want to go. Some people may relish the idea of sitting in a school auditorium for 2 hours but I don\'t. I grumbled as I bought the tickets.

 

As you may have guessed... I loved it! Kevin Vallely talked about his life as one of the world\'s top explorers. I don\'t expect you\'ve heard of him but he happens, along with Richard Weber & Ray Zahab, to hold the record for the fastest time to the South Pole. 1130 km in 33 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes. They achieved this on foot and without outside support. They pulled their own sleds while carefully navigating crevasses, snow drifts and blizzards.

 

All well and good. But what does jogging across Antarctica pulling a 110 pound sled have to do with the ukulele? Not a lot, but, I was drawn to his 5 ingredients for a successful expedition.

 

I found myself hanging on his every word. All of us set off on journeys in our personal and professional lives but how well do we plan? How much thought do we put into every decision along the way? Most of us trundle along in an ad-hoc fashion dealing with what comes up and hoping for success. Fortunately, for the majority of us, our decisions tend not to be of the life and death variety.

 

Many polar explorations have led to the demise of those involved because of poor preparation. Vallely however likes to quote Roald Amundsen (the 1st person to reach the South Pole) who said \"Adventure is just bad planning\".

 

I came away from the talk realizing that many of us would probably plan things better if our lives actually depended on the decisions that we make. His 5 ingredients for a successful expedition can be adapted for whatever goal you have in mind.

 

Maybe your goal is just to get started on the ukulele. Perhaps you have a loftier vision where you see yourself performing for an audience of 1000s. Wherever you want to take your uke you may well benefit from Kevin\'s 5 tips for success.

 

You will need:

 

1)    Desire

This seems a no brainer but it is important to check in with yourself to see that your desire is true. Once on the path of playing music it can be very easy to let ego or fears take us in directions that we never intended to go. Other people may belittle or exaggerate our ability. Life\'s decisions are easier to make if you are clear about your desire.

 

2)   Preparation

A lot of preparation can be spending time thinking! I\'ve seen many people make expensive and time consuming mistakes because they just didn\'t put enough thought into what they were doing. I should rephrase that last sentence: I have seen ME make expensive and time consuming mistakes etc... Do you spend 15 minutes a day thinking about the creation of your dream or vision? 15 minutes a day is not a lot but so many \'intelligent\' people just don\'t do it.

 


3)    Teamwork

Whether you think you are or not you\'re always part of a team. Even as a solo performer you make temporary partnerships with say, the client who books you to perform, the designer of your website or your ukulele teacher. It is in everybody\'s interest to have a successful outcome. Working with other people is a process involving communication and trust. It also helps to have a sense of humour so you can all enjoy the mutual journey.

 

4)    Expect the Unexpected

      Things always come up. Sometimes you can have contingency plans ready but often we have to deal with whatever comes when it comes. Sometimes I get the comment that my shows seem off-the-cuff and unrehearsed yet there is a distinct connectivity to my presentation.

People ask me whether I use a set list of pre-planned songs, jokes and anecdotes. I tell them yes I do but I don\'t stick to it. I have learned that rigidly sticking to the format of a performance can work against me. When something comes up in a show, be it a song request, a heckler, an idea or unusual circumstance I gain connectivity to the audience by dealing with it then and there instead of staying with the plan.

 

5)    Seeing It Through

       If you give up before you see your dream or desire unfold then how will you know what you can achieve? I keep thinking about Kevin Vallely waking up in Antarctica in his tent at 30º or 40º below and realizing that he has yet another excruciating day of difficult physical and mental endurance ahead of him.

I dare say all of us have woken up with that feeling (sometimes even in our own homes) but we\'re still here and still going. The times when I\'ve seriously considered giving up on my dreams are usually after a performance that didn\'t go so well. \"It was the worst show ever!\" I cry. But just like the darkest part of the night is just before dawn I find myself performing in wonderful circumstances and having the \"best show ever!\" soon after I was ready to quit.

 

In show business it is often assumed that those who succeed do so because of their particular constellation of good fortune. I found it particularly noteworthy that in his presentation Mr. Vallely never talked about having to rely on blind luck.

Perhaps show business and snow business are not so different after all.




© Ralph Shaw 2010


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Explore new ways to play ukulele.

The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will help you to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish. (btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:


May 8:   Kootenay Kids Fest, 25th anniversary. Cranbrook BC Canada





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows

 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11& 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
April 27 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,







This week I received an email from Tom who writes,


\"...I\'m nursing a sore left thumb joint from too much pressing against the back of the uke neck with the thumb, I thought maybe you have some ideas about how to prevent that and other injuries... \"







If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 671 words

Estimated reading time: just over 2½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 


UE#33  When Music Hurts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 
Tom goes on to say,

 

     \"My therapist recommends alternating warm and cold water soaks,  1-3 min each to get the blood circulating, or hot or cold packs, vibration, careful stretches after heat is applied, and actually built a small brace to keep my thumb from being forced too far back.\"

 

Tom also says,

 

\"I wish I\'d taken it more seriously when it just started to ache - too easy to ignore pain when you\'re having fun.\"  

 

Will you look at that. He just answered his own question!

 

Why do humans persevere with pain? I don\'t believe that evolution has provided us with a sense of pain just so we can ignore it. If that were true it would strike me as being a very unusual character building mechanism.

 

Sure, there are times when we have no choice but to temporarily ignore our hurts in order to get a job done. After all the show must go on. But the general rule of thumb, and its a very sore thumb in Tom\'s case, is: If it hurts - Stop Doing It.

 

Even animals know this. But somehow human beings believe that if they keep pushing onwards, the pain will just go away. No it won\'t. Don\'t be silly.

 

I admit it\'s a little tricky for beginner players to avoid pain. At that tender stage almost everything you do seems to inflict one kind of punishment or another. The strumming finger can hurt, so can the arm and always there are sore finger-ends caused from fretting the strings. But if you think your fingers hurt now, try playing the abrasive low strings of a guitar for a while and see how that feels! Therefore initially, as your hands get used to the new tasks it has to perform there is bound to be some soreness. However, if you notice that pain is not going away or is getting worse then you may have a problem developing.

 

Here are 4 suggestions:

 

1)    Keeping part of your body in a tense state doesn\'t help. Your best music is played if your body is as relaxed as can be. Read more on this topic in an earlier article: Just Relax.





2)    If something you are doing is giving you pain, find a different way to achieve the same sound. This could be as simple as changing the angle of your hand slightly, use a different finger to strum with, cradle the neck of the uke between your thumb and finger instead of pressing with your thumb. The point is to find whatever way you can to give the hurting part a rest. Wherever you are pressing or gripping your ukulele use only the pressure needed. Don\'t press harder than that.

 

3)    Practice more often but for shorter periods. Doing this will ensure that your aching digits get the rest they need.

 

4)    Practice in your mind. Give yourself a break from playing. Lie down and close your eyes. Imagine that you are playing a song. Visualize your hands on the strings and practice like that. I once heard of an imprisoned man who learned to play the piano on just the scratched drawing of a piano keyboard. Take note: If Nelson Mandela had used his prison-time more wisely he could be a very competent tuba player by now.


Proof of this effect was an experiment using 2 basketball teams where one team practiced for real and the other lay on mats in a gym and practiced through visualization. After 1 month they had improved by the same amount. It\'s a powerful technique which shouldn\'t be underrated.

 

 

There have been moments, after obsessively working on a new strum, that I found myself starting to hurt. This has happened in my fingers, my hands, my wrists and my shoulders. The early twinge of pain is a red flag. Your body is letting you know that it is not happy and it wants you to do something about it.


In other words: Ow is the symptom of our discontent.

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
May 04 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,







What does it mean to be a \'good\' player. Every musician has certain standards they expect of themselves. But how do you get to be \'good\'?







If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 776 words

Estimated reading time: about 3 minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 


UE#34  Getting Good

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


I\'ll admit right now that I\'m not about to provide an instant and magical technique to dramatically improve your playing. If there were such a technique, then everyone would be syncopating the minuetto allegretto on their ukuleles just as easily as walking (btw. don\'t be baffled by jargon; \"walking\" is just an old English verb. Most now use the word \"driving\" instead).

 

I am in the middle of teaching a 3 week Beginners Ukulele class. The class is taught one evening a week in the back room of a coffee house here in Vancouver. The room generally has several students busily staring into laptops and working on their studies; and we usually have to move one or two of them to make room for myself and the 11 ukulele beginners; most of whom have never played a musical instrument in their lives.

 

It surprises me that many of the laptop gazers actually choose to stick around. My assumption would be that they come to  the coffee house to work quietly and not be distracted by a load of wannabe musicians and their tryintabe teacher. Yet they continue studying while my intrepid group goes about the serious business of learning G7.

 

I enjoy teaching beginners but I also find it a challenge. When I started out (circa 1990) I didn\'t have a ukulele teacher of my own. There were no other ukulele players around for me to emulate. Nobody to show me what to do; I had to figure it out for myself.

 

For the first couple of years of playing uke I stuck to songs with simple chord changes. This gave me lots of practice in holding a steady rhythm and keeping everything in time. Eventually, after upgrading to a better instrument I was then ready for trickier chords and faster changes. In other words I learned to play at my own speed and didn\'t compare myself to anybody else.

 

How different things are now. Just typing the word \"ukulele\" into Youtube reveals 1000s of ukulele performances. Such variety too! You can watch incredible players. Some make music on their ukes that you\'d swear was physically impossible. You will also view players who apparently have no sense of how awfully inept they truly are. And, most annoyingly of all, there is an amazing 3 year old kid who sings and strums in his home. He seems to have been born with the ability to play ukulele like a fiend. Although, with such a premature burgeoning of talent he will likely be a washed up old has-been by the time he\'s 6. We can only hope.

 

Frankly I am very glad that Youtube didn\'t exist when I was learning. Even now I tend to avoid it unless I want to hear a specific song that I\'m working on. Don\'t get me wrong. Youtube is a useful tool and how are we to learn if not from observing others? It\'s the comparing of ourselves to others that is destructive.

 

I can think of 3 live musicians that I heard as a young child: Mrs Eleanor played piano for the songs we sang at school assembly; my dad, a teacher, played a repertoire of mostly folk songs on his guitar, and then there was my grandad who just liked to sing. Btw. If you want to hear a wonderful home recording of my grandad and his pal Albert singing My Blue Heaven then get hold of my CD: Table for Two. He\'s on near the end. It\'s totally classic.

 

When I was old enough to attend professional concerts it didn\'t make Mrs Eleanor seem any less \'good\' to me. She was always a perfect singalong pianist. My dad was an ideal performer for his school classroom where his rendition of The Little Fly was second to none. My grandad, you\'ll agree when you hear the recording, was a living-room crooner par excellence.

 

If a player only knows a handful of simple 3 chord songs they can still be \'good\'. It all depends on context.

 

In the beginner class one of my students commented that she wasn\'t going to be playing ukulele in front of other people until she was \'good\'. Here\'s what happened:

 

I taught the students their very first song. It had 2 chords and we played it all the way through. At the end, to everyone\'s surprise, there was the sound of clapping. Looking around the room we saw the smiling and impressed faces of the laptop people. They were applauding the very first song of a group of beginning musicians who could already do something, that they, with their fancy laptops, could not. I think that\'s alright. In fact; I\'d go so far as to say they were actually quite \'good\'!






© Ralph Shaw 2010


 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now you can get good too! Here\'s how:

The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will help you to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish. (btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:




May 8:   Kootenay Kids Fest, 25th anniversary. Cranbrook BC Canada





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows

 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11& 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
May 11 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,




Ask a ukulele player when they last changed their strings. Usually it\'s so long ago they can\'t remember. Those nylon strings can go on and on. Well I have a way to make them last even longer!

If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 758 words

Estimated reading time: about 3 minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#35 Make Your Ukulele Strings Last Forever (and why you shouldn\'t)

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


Back in the days when I was a childrens entertainer I bought myself a microphone stand. The bass player in the band took one look at it and said, \"I got one of those things and it fell apart within a year.\" That was 20 years ago. My mic stand still works fine.

 

I have an amazing ability to make my possessions last way longer than they should.

 

I don\'t think its because I\'m particularly cheap; it\'s more of a habit really. You see my parents were of the European World War 2 generation. They lived through the scarcities of food and other commodities that characterized life in Europe during that time. They knew how to do a lot with very little and any possessions that might come their way were treated with intentional care.

 

If it is possible to inherit such a habit; then I have. Valued items that I care for include expensive stuff like my bicycle and instruments but also include cheaper things like CDs, shaving razors and of course, ukulele strings.

 

My reluctance to change strings is not so much the cost as it is to do with the time and trouble of actually changing them. Even when strings have been changed one also has to wait for them to stretch to their final, stable tension. It can take a day or more before they are no longer going flat in the middle of a song.

 

If you play a lot you\'ll eventually find that a string will break. In the case of baritone strings the wire winding around the low strings doesn\'t take long to break and unravel.

 

Want to make your ukulele strings last way longer than they should? Here is how to do it:

 

First, take a string and attach it to the bridge. Usually the string goes through a hole in the bridge. Then loop the string back around itself and wind the string around itself 3 or 4 times. This makes a slip knot in a similar way to a lasso (for all you cowboys who are reading this). Pull the string tight and then wind the other end around the tuning peg. Make sure it goes around the peg at least 5 or 6 turns.  

 

After a couple of months or so of playing, run your fingernail under a string. You\'ll notice indentations under the string above where it makes contact with the frets. When this happens the common wisdom is that now is the time to change your strings. And I suggest you do.

 

But; if ya wanna keep those strings trucking on, do this: Loosen a tuner by a few turns and pull the string down through the bridge by about half an inch (or 1 cm). When you retighten the string you\'ll find that the indentation is no longer above the fret. It is now way less likely to break. This is a special reprieve for baritone strings which seem to start fraying almost as soon as you put them on. Its good for other strings too and if you repeat this every few months you\'ll find you can make your strings last forever (nearly).

 

Here is why you shouldn\'t do it:

 

Over time, doing the above will make your ukulele sound badder and badder (note: I am using the word \'bad\' in its old-fashioned usage of actually meaning \'bad\', as in \'not good\').

 

Your strings will loose their elasticity. They won\'t feel as good to play and you\'ll notice that they hurt your fingers a little more than before. They\'ll sound & feel less bouncy and more dead.  

 

More importantly and perhaps surprisingly, is that old strings actually lose their intonation. I discovered this the hard way when I suspected that my previously excellent Kamaka ukulele had become warped or damaged. Chords no longer sounded right. Strings were out of tune with each other. My lovely instrument was sounding like one of those coconut ukuleles that one finds in Hawaiian novelty boutiques. When a guitarist friend suggested I change my strings I thought this was a folly; but it worked. It totally solved my intonation problems and had the ukulele sounding as sweet as it ever did.

 

Nylon ukulele strings can seem to last a long long time but you won\'t be doing yourself any favours by using them to the very end of their life. Think about changing them more often than you do and learn to notice when that time has come.

 

Just because you can make your strings last forever doesn\'t mean that you should.





© Ralph Shaw 2010



 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will help you to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish. (btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows




June 25, 26, 27 Dusty Strings Ukulele Festival


 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11 & 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
May 18 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,





It is somewhat ironic to be performing for people whose memories have all but disappeared. They haven\'t heard a particular song in ¾ of a lifetime yet they are the ones reminding me of exactly how a song goes. Thanks for the Erm, oh... damn, wotzit called again?



If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 801 words

Estimated reading time: just a tad over 3 minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#36  Thanks for the Melodies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 
I have entertained in Seniors Facilities for almost as long as I\'ve been playing ukulele. My repertoire of songs from the 1920s to 1940s has been perfect for those people who actually lived and loved throughout those years.

 

As a child we referred to them as \"Old Folks\". I still prefer that term to the newer and somehow vaguely condescending; \"Seniors\". Whatever you call them I am now 17 years closer to being one than I was when I started entertaining them.

 


Why don\'t I do so many of the Seniors gigs anymore? One reason is I\'m less available these days; and they pay next to nothing; but mainly, as I get slowly older there is the nagging thought that one day I\'ll be leaving a facility when a nice young nurse will grasp me firmly by the elbow and lead me back inside with the kind words, \"Not that way Mr Shaw, you live here now, remember?\"



\"But I was just doing a gig with my ukulele.\"


\"Yes that\'s right Mr Shaw, now let go of that frying pan and I\'ll put it back where it belongs.\"

 

\"When do I get paid?\"

 

\"Don\'t worry about that Mr Shaw, we\'ll sort that out later.\"

 

\"I\'ve heard that one before.\"

 

It is always an education to meet audience members, no matter what their age. But I am especially fond of hearing the memories that are stirred up from those citizens whose nostalgia synapses have been reawakened by a song they haven\'t heard in over 60 years. I\'ve been told family stories, tales of the war years and, my favorite; reminiscences of meetings with famous performers. The ones who originally sang the songs now in my repertoire.





Those are the lucid people.

 

It can be equally enlightening to meet those whose memories fall far short of what they once were. The Alzheimer\'s patients. \'Alzheimers\' is another term that troubles me. It is a very real disease of the brain but I have also known of more than one person whose memory magically returned when they were taken off the cocktail of pharmaceuticals they had been prescribed.

 

One time I was introducing the Formby song; When I\'m Cleaning Windows when an old fellow got up to leave. The entertainment supervisor said, \"Where are you going Mr Clegg?\"

He replied, \"I don\'t need my windows cleaning\"

 

The most remarkable thing to witness, and I\'ve seen it several times, is when people, whose severe memory loss has robbed them of the ability to speak, are suddenly able to sing. Sometimes they know the words, sometimes just the tune. But sing they do. Not only that, they do it remarkably accurately.

 

When elders start to raise their voices in song my ears prick up and take notice. The reason? Its my chance to relearn the tune.

You\'d think that having performed these songs thousands of times I would know them extremely well. Not so. What happens over time is that bit by bit, note by note, a word here and a word there the song starts to change.

 


When I sing songs over and over there is a tendency to want to do something a bit different. Maybe I improvised a bit of melody one time and liked it enough that it stuck. Slowly it came to take the place of the original melody.

 

Its a shame when this happens. The tin-pan-alley songwriters really knew what they were doing. Their songs are known as standards. The crafting of melody, lyrics and chord structure that made those ditties so emotionally appealing is why they are still memorable now.






It is important to stay with the true melody and lyrics. There was such care taken in the writing of those songs that almost anything you or I could do to change them will be for the worse.





Irving Berlin (the guy who wrote: White Christmas, Puttin\' on the Ritz and God Bless America) was very protective of his songs. He liked them to be performed the way they were written. His favorite singer was Fred Astaire who he felt expressed the songs exactly the way they were intended. On the other hand he despised the way Jazz musicians, for all their incredible skill, would mess around with his precious melodies. After hearing Benny Goodman play a scintillating improvised rendition of his 1927 song Blue Skies, Irving approached him and said,

\"That was incredible.\" Then added, \"Never do it again.\"

 

If you perform a lot then I suggest that you go to the source of your songs from time to time to remind yourself of the true lyrics and melody. If you\'re not so lucky as me, and don\'t have friends with Alzheimer\'s to remind you of where you are going wrong, then get out the old records and take a listen.

 

 I have a Story to Tell about this Picture. Remind Me to Tell You Some Time!  





© Ralph Shaw 2010



 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series will be a constant reminder of how to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish. (btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows




June 25, 26, 27 Dusty Strings Ukulele Festival


 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11 & 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
May 25 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,




I want to say how touched I am and thank all of you who have emailed me to say nice things about my newsletter and the help you have received. Some of you have even indicated that you would like to support the newsletter financially. Well now you can! I have added a link in the EXTRA! EXTRA! section where you can safely contribute using Paypal or credit card. btw. I had not planned on making this addition and I consider it a great compliment that some of you have asked for it. Thanks again.






Most people who play ukulele, also sing. Today I give you 5 pointers to help make sure your lyrics are clearly understood.





If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 886 words

Estimated reading time: about 3½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#37  Classified Information

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

During the Winter Olympics the people of Vancouver were treated to musical showcases from all over the world. One such event featured performers from Eastern Canada.

 

Included in the showcases were friends of mine: Chuck and Albert, a wonderful fiddle playing, clog dancing comedy duo from Prince Edward Island. At the venue I was very surprised to see a long line-up consisting solely of teens in the 15 to 19 year age range. My wife and I had VIP tickets and were allowed into the pre-show lounge for refreshments.

 

The mystery that had started in my mind was suddenly solved when it was explained that, amongst the traditional east coast acts there would also be a Rapper from Nova Scotia; a famous Canadian Rap artist called Classified no less. Apparently famous, I hadn\'t heard of him.

 

The organizers, thinking they would treat us to a variety of East Coast entertainment, had not reckoned with the line-up-endurance power of teens. The show was free and no advance tickets were available. Many had been waiting for 6 hours to see their hero for a ½ hour performance.

 

When the front doors opened; all the VIPs, my wife and I included, were seated together in the back 8 rows as the slack-jawed, baseball cap wearing throng flooded into the room. There was a slight air of tension in the room but the excellent emcee put everyone at ease and asked the horde of young Rap fans to have respect for the other entertainers. Which they pretty much did. They sat patiently looking at their phones and smoking joints while a young female fiddler from New Brunswick played her tunes.

 

By this time I was eager to hear what Classified would present. I admire Rap as a sincere and energized form of performance poetry. However, I was disappointed.

 

The singular identifying feature of Rap is the words. When Classified rapped I could not understand what he was saying. I tried. I tried very hard but I couldn\'t do it. Call me an obsolete old fuddy duddy but if you listen to Rap and can\'t hear the words... honestly what is the point?

 

By now we all had to stand up to see. Around me other \"VIPs\" were moving and shaking their thang. Everyone looked to be pretending to have a really good time.    

 

I decided I knew where I could definitely have a better time. The bar. My partner and I headed there with our VIP free drink tickets clutched in my hand.

 

The police, fearful of a drunken teen mob, had closed the bar. I protested,

\"But I only want a glass of Chardonnay for my wife.\"

 

I gave them my word of honour that I would take full responsibility for any disorderly consequences.

 

The police woman said,

\"I\'m sorry sir the bar is closed.\"

 

\"What, even for Chardonnay?\" I whimpered, \"Surely they should be allowed to sell Chardonnay.\"

 

I\'d never heard of a Chardonnay-fueled mob causing violence and property damage, but I guess the cops know more about these things. However, I was delighted to discover that it pays to whine for wine! The policewoman looked around and then said,

\"Come with me.\"

 

The bartender informed the constable that it was beyond his power to reopen a bar, even for Chardonnay, once given the order to close. Oh dear. It seems even the police have limits on their power. How very annoying.

 

And how annoying it is to not be able to hear lyrics. Whether your lyrics are original or written by someone else I would assume that they are worth hearing; or why sing them?

 

Many singers are so familiar with their songs; they hear the lyrics nice and clearly inside their own head. But it doesn\'t follow that the information is getting across to the listeners. Here are some tips to make sure your lyrics get heard:

 

1)    Over enunciate. When forming words move your mouth more than you would during everyday speech. If you sing in a group, each singer should over-enunciate to, what will feel, an unnatural extent. The audience will hear a much more natural sound than you\'ll think you are making.

2)    Open your mouth wider than you normally do. Take a tip from the teens! Let your jaw be relaxed and hanging open.

3)    Using a microphone? Then stay close to it. Turning your head away will make words inaudible.

4)    Sing to the person farthest from you. That way you can be sure everyone closer than them will hear you.

5)    Communicate the meaning of the words. Give more expression to the important words in a line of song. Eg. Don\'t give equal emphasis to the word \"it\" as you do to the word \"love\".

 

Minutes after Classified ended his non-understandable examination of urban teen-hood we returned to the now ½-empty theater to see the rest of the show.

 

I felt sorry for those kids who had come and gone. They had lined up for hours and were now missing the opportunity to experience some fine and verbally coherent entertainment. A woman near me grumbled,

\"They think its Macdonalds. They just take what they want and leave.\"

 

True, or maybe they just don\'t understand our generation and its music. What a bunch of young fuddy duddy\'s.




Heartwarming Entertainers: Chuck and Albert  




© Ralph Shaw 2010



 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make a financial contribution to support the work of creating this newsletter: Make a Donation using Paypal or Credit Card

Want to make your playing more coherent?
The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series shows how to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

(btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


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 Events:





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows




June 25, 26, 27 Dusty Strings Ukulele Festival


 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11 & 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
June 01 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,




Going electric can be a mixed blessing, just ask Bob Dylan. Today we look at the pros and cons of playing an instrument with volume control.




If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 859 words

Estimated reading time: less than 3½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#38  Four Reasons to go Electric

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

A couple of years ago I got a phone call telling me that Hawaiian ukulele artist Jake Shimabukuro would be performing that same evening in a local furniture store, for free. Not a hoax, it turned out to be quite true. A sponsorship deal he had with a Hawaiian home furnishings chain meant that his west coast tour included a free furniture store show here in Vancouver.

 

It wasn\'t exactly widely advertised and those present sat comfortably on sofas and easy chairs with price tags hanging from them. It was the first time I had ever seen Jake play and as I sank sleepily into my $899 cushioned recliner I was struck by his obvious virtuosity. The other thing that struck me was, as I inevitably relaxed and closed my eyes to listen, there was no way I could know that he was playing a ukulele.  

 

Most of his songs were played through electronic effects. I think anyone walking into the room would have assumed he was playing an electric guitar.

 

The intimacy of the venue would have lent itself very well to a purely acoustic performance on a non-electrified instrument.

 

So why do we have electric ukuleles; what is the point?

 

Non-musicians are often, and understandably, mystified about what an electric instrument is. When they see someone pull out a little wooden ukulele it can be surprising to watch a ¼\" cable being plugged into the end of the instrument.

 

What this means is that the acoustic ukulele has had a \"pickup\" built into it. The pickup \"picks-up\" the vibrations of the ukulele and converts them to an electrical signal.

 

Many players play their whole lives on ukuleles that are 100% acoustic; the way ukuleles were meant to sound. The modern term for this is \"Unplugged\".





If you don\'t have a pickup in your uke and can see no reason to change, then don\'t. An electrified ukulele can have benefits but it will also become a gateway into a world of technological complications that you may be well content to live without.

 

There have been electric guitars since the early 1930s and I\'m certain someone was tinkering with an electric uke soon after. Indeed I have been told that May Singhi Breen, who I wrote about several weeks ago, performed her 16 minute Rhapsody for Ukulele with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra around that time.

 

Here are 4 benefits to playing an electric ukulele:

 

1)    It makes it louder. An obvious but important point. If Ms Breen had played an unamplified uke with the entire Whiteman Orchestra it may have been a real challenge to hear her.





2)    It allows for amplification and movement. The disadvantage of playing in front of a microphone is that as soon as your ukulele moves towards or away from the microphone then the loudness level coming out of the speakers is going to change. With an electric ukulele the musician is free to move around at will. Without electric instruments we couldn\'t hear Hendrix play behind his head and we could never have had Chuck Berry\'s \"Duck Walk\". Imagine the loss to humanity.




3)    Electrification prevents feedback. If you\'ve heard of feedback but don\'t know what it is: Imagine you are playing a ukulele at a microphone. The strings vibrate and the mic picks up the sound which goes to an amplifier and then out through the loudspeakers. When the speakers vibrate, this air vibration returns to the ukulele where it vibrates the strings. The mic hears the extra string vibration which is then amplified and goes to the speakers and so on. This \"feedback loop\" can happen many times in a second and results in that high pitched electronic scream that sends sound-guys lunging for the volume dial. Electric pickups tend to be far less prone to feedback.




4)    You can use all kinds of cool effects. Once an electric signal is coming along that wire out of your ukulele your sound can be manipulated in an infinite number of ways. There are effects available that provide your sound with: Echo, Reverberation, Distortion, Vibrato, Tremolo, Chorus, Phaseshift, Fuzz, Flange, Squidge, Plopp, Bungy-Flatulence and more (only the last 3 are made up by me). These sounds can be combined in any number of ways. My experience is, that most of this kind of manipulation loses the essence of the ukulele sound. But, if you want your uke to sound like an electric guitar then they are great.

 

Larry Adler, the famous harmonica virtuoso, was still performing well into the 1990s. He\'d reminisce how, in the 1920s, he would regularly play harmonica in front of a full orchestra without any amplification.

 

How was this possible?

 

First of all the orchestra musicians were sensitive enough to play at volumes that allowed the small solo instrument to be heard. Secondly the audiences knew how to be quiet and listen to natural sound.

 

Technology offers us much, but is it always necessary?

 

Next time: I\'ll talk about the different kinds of electric pickups that are available, should your interests lean towards becoming \"Plugged\".




Larry Adler in Action  



 

© Ralph Shaw 2010

 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Improve Your Ukulele Playing:
The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series shows how to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

(btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


Make a financial contribution to support this newsletter:
Make a Donation using Paypal or Credit Card

Upcoming Events:

Ralph Shaw on the Silver Screen!!!  (maybe) \"The A Team\" Movie will be released in June. I was filmed singing a Led Zeppelin song with my banjo-uke in a scene involving Bradley Cooper. If I\'m in the movie at all it\'ll be very brief but I just wanted to give you a heads up!





June 3&4 Surrey Kids Fest - Stage + Roving performances. BC Canada





June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows




June 25, 26, 27 Dusty Strings Ukulele Festival


 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11 & 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival + tour of the USA midwest.



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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).

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

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

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
June 08 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,





Today I offer some information to help you understand the mysterious world of electronic pickups.




If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 895 words

Estimated reading time: just over 3½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#39  Picky About Pickups

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

You\'ve decided you want to play electric ukulele. Now what?

 

One option is to buy a ready made electric uke. Fully electric models have almost no acoustic sound. They can only be heard through headphones or amplifier with speaker. Or you could get an acoustic instrument with an electric pickup already built into it.

 

If you want to convert your existing ukulele into one that can be played through a stack of Marshall Amps, at your next stadium gig, you\'ll need to install a pickup.





First, here are some things you need to know:

 

1)    Its rare for a pickup to put out a sound that is exactly like your instrument. The sound you hear from the speaker may sound generically like a ukulele but it will usually be different from the acoustic sound you normally hear.





2)    Pickups come in a wide range of prices. The price does not always reflect the quality of the sound. Meeting musician John Rutherford at a folk festival he told me how he had explored many pickups for his banjo-uke. He got the best sound from a $5 computer-microphone.




3)    Pickups are great, when they work. However they can be a real pain when they suddenly don\'t. Sooner or later everything breaks down and pickups fail for many reasons. They come unstuck, batteries die, wires fray and break.




4)    Because many pickups are attached to the vibrating surface of the instrument they supposedly can affect the acoustic sound. However if they do change the \"unplugged\" sound it is to such a small degree that I\'ve never been able to hear it.  





5)    You\'ll need gear. Your electrified uke will only serve you if you have the gear to bring the sound out into the acoustic world. Soon you\'ll be looking into getting cables, amps, preamps, effects pedals and all that other stuff.

 

 

Here are the main types of pickup and their advantages.

 

A)    Magnetic pickups These are rare for use with ukuleles because they only work with metal strings.




B)    Internal Microphone Strictly speaking not a pickup but it is, as the name suggests, a tiny microphone placed within the body of the instrument. This gives an accurate sound of what you\'d hear if you were inside a ukulele.




C)    Contact Pickups Are often made of piezoelectric material which converts physical vibration to electrical signal. Contact pickups attach to the vibrating surface of the uke. (In case you don\'t know where that is - its the front). They can be temporarily stuck with putty to the outside (great for occasional use).

Contact pickups can be permanently installed on the inside. A hole is usually drilled in the end of the instrument to install the jack for plugging in. To get the best sound it is important to find the ideal placement for the pickup aka. the \"sweet spot\". Contact pickups are usually circular. They vary in size from about a dime to a quarter. For Brits that\'s a 5p piece to a 10p coin. About 10 Euro cents to 2 Euros. They can also come as a flexible strip 1 or 2 inches long.





D)   Under the saddle pickups The saddle is the strip of wood (or bone or plastic) that sits on the bridge holding up your strings. An under-saddle pickup is a very thin, often piezoelectric, strip sandwiched between the bridge and the saddle. It picks up vibration and sends the signal through a thin wire into the ukulele coming out again through the \"plugging-in\" hole in the end.  





E)    Combination or Blender Systems The above types by themselves, are not always completely satisfactory for the playing professional. Therefore it is possible to get systems that incorporate more than one pickup. The sound is then \"blended\" to produce the desired tone. An example might include using a piezoelectric pickup in conjunction with an internal microphone.

 

As if that weren\'t enough, you\'ll also need to think about a preamp. A preamp is basically a box containing a battery and electronics. It affects the volume and tone of the sound before sending it to the amplifier. Preamps often give you control of EQ (sound frequencies) and volume. Therefore if your pickup is giving you a high, thin sound your preamp may be able to boost the mid or bass frequencies to give you the tone you want.

 

The preamp can be an external unit or it can be built into the instrument itself. Internal preamps are usually installed at manufacture otherwise it entails cutting a sizeable hole into the side of your ukulele. Most people don\'t like to do that.

 

The good news is, once you have your pickup + preamp configured to give you a pleasing quality, you\'ll have a consistent tone that you can plug into any sound system. This can be preferable to relying on the varied and often dubious quality of other people\'s microphones.

 

Now you have some basic information, you can set out on the road to Ukulele Rock and Roll glory. The work of researching the many available pickups begins. Its not easy. Everyone seems to have different ideas about what constitutes \"good sound\".

 

Indeed, some musicians are more concerned about getting the right pickup than they are about the instrumental itself. It\'s a crazy world. Are you sure you wouldn\'t just be happier twanging some elastics wrapped around an old shoebox?!




© Ralph Shaw 2010
 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ralph Shaw on the Silver Screen!!!  (maybe) \"The A Team\" Movie will be released in June. I was filmed singing a Led Zeppelin song, with my banjo-uke, in a scene involving Bradley Cooper. If I\'m in the movie at all it\'ll be very brief so keep your eyes peeled!

Improve Your Ukulele Playing:
The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series shows how to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

(btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.


DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca


Make a financial contribution to support this newsletter:
Make a Donation using Paypal or Credit Card

Upcoming Events:




June 10 to June 13  Winnipeg International Childrens Festival - 5 Shows




June 25, 26, 27 Dusty Strings Ukulele Festival


 

Aug 1 to 7th Augusta Swing Camp West Virginia USA
Ukulele and Performance classes




Sept 11 & 12 Wine Country Ukulele Festival, St Helena California





Sept 24th Milwaukee Ukulele Festival



Ralph Shaw CDs? Buy them here!

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).

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.

[Uketeufel]

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

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
June 15 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Raimund,






On the release of my new Children\'s CD: \"Birds of a Feather - Unplucked\" I want to talk about making music for children and their families.






If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 920 words

Estimated reading time: just over 3½ minutes

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 

UE#40  Birds of a Feather - UnPlucked!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 
When my daughter was young I read a book about raising children. One of the chapters was titled: Children\'s Music - Why?
 

I love that sentiment. Children are just like anyone else. They recognize just 2 kinds of music; good music and bad music. Furthermore they often have a highly developed sense of criticism.

 

Most adults, finding themselves in an auditorium watching a poorly executed and boring performance, tend to sit and quietly bear it. Children don\'t. They become restless. They shout and they cry. In fact they\'ll do almost anything to get out of the same room as Michael Bublé (oh Michael, don\'t pout I\'m just kidding).

 

In 1989 I joined up with Fred Faulkes and Trish Miller, a couple of musically talented childrens librarians. We formed a band known as The Crows which we soon changed to Birds of a Feather. It seemed less menacing.

 

We had enough success to consider going professional. But in the end we broke up when Fred and Trish decided that they enjoyed having reliable incomes. I was gung-ho to continue the band since I\'d never had a reliable income and didn\'t know what I would be missing. Still don\'t. But a band of one isn\'t really a band. That\'s when I became \"The King of the Ukulele\". Well, someone had to.

 

The legacy of our time together is recorded on, what I think, is a stunningly good children\'s album: Birds of a Feather - UnPlucked!

 







I hadn\'t heard the album in about 15 years when, 2 months ago, I made the decision to re-release it on CD. Listening to the remastered work I was blown away by the artistry involved throughout the recording.

 

Sometimes a project comes together where everything works. I am proud to have been a part of it. The experience I have gained since those days helps me to recognize how the combined efforts of studio musicians, engineer, producer and band have created something unique and finely crafted. A whole that is greater than the individual parts.

 

Our goal was always to create entertainment for the whole family. I still believe that to be a worthy ideal. I love looking out at an audience and seeing young and much older family members enjoying music together.

 

We can ask ourselves the question: What makes good family entertainment?

 

Some of the main ingredients that you\'ll find are:

 

Use good material. For ukulele players this means get yourself really fine songs that have memorable melodies, lasting lyrics and cool chord changes.

 

A great song will have different levels of meaning for different people. A perfect example of this is the George Formby favourite: My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock. As a child I was highly entertained by Formby\'s song about the hard, pink confection known as Blackpool Rock.  Little did I know that the song had an entirely different connotation for adult listeners. Not that Birds of a Feather sang songs like that!

Sometimes the difference in meaning can be more subtle. A seemingly happy song for a child may be a bit of a tear-jerker for the parent because it also expresses lost youth and times gone forever. Terry Jacks wrote: \"We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun\". As a kid I could not understand why my mum got a bit misty eyed when this came on. Now I do.

 

Participation songs are a great idea. Get the audience involved. This can be in the form of physical actions or singalong choruses. Kids love to be occupied and, truth be told, many adults like to join in too. In the 1920s, as young adults, my grandparents would hold hilarious parties full of participatory games. People knew how to have a good time and I believe that spirit still holds true.

 

Put some variety in your show. Mr Dressup was a staple for 25 years on childrens TV here in Canada. Mr Dressup was always engaging. He used all his skills to entertain his audience of 3 to 6 year olds and their parents. He\'d sing a song and then talk to his puppets. After that he\'d draw a picture of a mystery object and then make a whale out of a milk carton before acting in a short play with his puppet friends. It was riveting stuff! The point is that he didn\'t just rely on one skill set.

 

Take stock of your own skills and see how they might lend themselves to entertaining your audiences. Are you good at telling stories, jokes? Is physicality more your thing? Perhaps dance, other movement or funny facial expressions. If you have some mask-making, costume or acting ability your musical performance could incorporate other characters.

 

Are you good at building imaginative props that could enhance your show? To see how this idea can be taken to the extreme check out the great Al Simmons. I recently performed with him at the Winnipeg International Childrens Festival and his inventiveness in the creation and use of props is nothing short of sublime.




Al Simmons in one of his Many Amazing Hats  



I guess I\'m a Vaudevillian at heart. The old Vaudeville variety shows were a powerful form of entertainment that also happened to be family friendly. Think about how comforted a child must feel when she looks around and sees parents, brothers and sisters smiling and relaxed.

 

And if you want to relax and smile while listening to an exquisitely produced album, not just for kids; I urge you to check out this latest release on CD: Birds of a Feather - UnPlucked!

[Uketeufel]

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The Ukulele Entertainer

Powerful Pointers to Perk up your Playing
June 22 2010
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Dear Raimund,







Perhaps you\'ve looked at someone playing a small part on TV and thought, \'That looks easy, I wonder how I could get a job like that?\'

I did get a small part recently, playing ukulele in the new movie: The A-Team released last week in North America. Here\'s what happened.







If you find value in this newsletter then please consider forwarding it to a friend!

Word count this issue: 1078 words

Estimated reading time: nearly 4 minutes

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UE #41  I Touched Liam Neeson\'s Wig

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A Tuesday morning last October. I\'m in my pajamas. Home from an event in New Brunswick I am looking forward to 2 days of packing before leaving for festivals in California, Oregon and Nova Scotia. The phone rings.

 

1) When Opportunity Comes - Say Yes

\"Are you the ukulele player Ralph Shaw?\"




\"Yes.\"




\"I\'m calling from the set of The A-Team. They want you in the movie. Can you come to the set right now?\"




\"Er, sure, I think so. My wife has the car but as soon as she\'s done I\'ll drive over.\"




\"Bring all the equipment you need to perform and get here asap.\"




There followed 20 minutes of me grabbing my gear and hopping from one foot to the other while I waited for the car. It was a 1 hour drive and when I arrived I saw a perfect Baghdad desert military base complete with sand, palm trees, tents, armoured vehicles, helicopters and lots of dust.

 

They quickly put me in a uniform. Wardrobe had a hard time deciding on insignia because although I\'d be playing a low rank I look too old to be a private or corporal. Thanks ladies. They made me a staff sergeant. I even had a cloth name badge that said Shaw. This detail was important because my suitcase drum, which has my real name on it, might get seen. Product placement!

 

Hair and make-up was next. While there I saw the actor who plays BA (Mr T in old TV show) having his mohawk glued on. Yep its not real, sorry.

Wigs belonging to Liam Neeson\'s character, Hannibal, were on 3 styrofoam mannequin heads by my chair. I stroked one of them with the back of my hand. A sort of brush with fame.

 

On my face they applied make-up to give me a tanned look, and baby oil to make me look sweaty. Then I had lunch and waited 2 hours with over 200 camouflaged, gun-carrying extras all looking unnervingly warrior-like.

 

Soon I was given my own small dressing room in a trailer. I sat and reflected on how I came to be there.

 

2) Get Noticed.

Getting in movies usually involves taking acting classes and finding an agent to send you for auditions. But I got this part through doing street performance. I regularly do street shows in our local tourist haven known as Granville Island. A few weeks previously a couple of guys had approached me saying they liked my stuff and were in town filming The A-Team. Maybe they could use me.

Not taking them seriously I joked around with them and then forgot all about it.  

 

3) Show Them Your Best Stuff  

A knock on my trailer door.

\"You\'re needed on Set right away.\"

 

I grabbed my banjo-uke and we hustled across the sand. I was told to wait in front of a tent. About 15 people came out of the tent including Director, Assistant Director, Cameraman, Sound-guy and the 2 guys who had seen me on the street. They stood before me in a semi-circle and someone said, \"Sing us a song\".

I ummed and ahhed for a moment pretending to think about it but I already knew I was going to sing an original song of mine: Movie Stars, High Rollers and Big Shakers. If they decided to use it in the film it could mean royalties!

 

I sang and played. All around I could see movie folk stopping to listen. I expanded the net of my performance to include them too. I finished and was loudly applauded by the host of US and Arab military personnel. As I stood there smiling in my fatigues I thought, \'How odd\'.

 

Someone said, \"Nice job. Be here tomorrow, early\"

 

4) When you have the Chance to Speak Up - Do So

Next day, 7am. Into makeup & uniform and straight to set. They were preparing for a major scene that would involve all 200 extras plus vehicles, helicopters and Bradley Cooper (who I didn\'t know of at the time). I was brought to the director who said,

\"Hey, do you know the Led Zeppelin song, Kashmir?\"

 

\"You want me to play Kashmir on a Banjo-ukulele?\"

 

\"Don\'t worry we\'ll find it for you\"

 

I had read somewhere that Led Zeppelin rarely allow their music to be used in movies or TV. However I was sufficiently awestruck by the situation to not mention it to the director. In retrospect I should have.

 

5) Use Your Experience and Fake the Rest

A couple of assistants were sent scrambling to download the song. While the complex 8 minute scene was being rehearsed I listened to the song over and over. I felt close to falling apart. Not only could I not figure out the chords but the timing was weird. The guitar played in 3/4 time and the drums in 4/4. Within minutes I needed to figure this out, learn it and play a one-man-band version with cameras rolling. Great.

 

Someone got a print-out of the chord changes. The first chord was a D5. D5?!! Never heard of it. Apparently \'5\' chords are known as power chords and often used in Rock music. Ignoring the fact that I didn\'t know what \'5\' chords were I worked quickly to figure out a version of the song that was easy to play and sounded kind of recognizable. The director looked over at me, smiled and nodded,

\"Yeah, you got it.\"

 

6) Enjoy The Moment

The rest of the day entailed filming the same long scene over and over again. My reworked Kashmir, adapted for one-man-band and ukulele was fairly easy to play. I had fun entertaining the troops gathered around me as they reclined with their snacks, magazines and sudokus.

 

The scene felt strangely reminiscent of the photos you see of George Formby entertaining soldiers in the second world war.

 

It was one of the most surreal episodes of my career. Suddenly it was over. 8:30 pm and dark. Everyone left. The lights were turned off and I was left standing cold and alone on a Baghdad military base with more gear than I could carry by myself. I thought, \'I\'m going on tour tomorrow morning and I still need to pack\'.

 

The Details...


 

What You See: Ralph, his red ukulele case and a view of the suitcase with his name clearly readable on the front.

 

Screen Time: 3 seconds

 

Can You Hear Him: Hardly, if at all.

 

Number of Andy Warhol fame-minutes remaining: 14 mins 57 secs




© Ralph Shaw 2010

 
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!
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DVDs, CDs and Flea ukuleles available from: www.RalphShaw.ca

Birds of a Feather - UnPlucked! CD of Music for Children
\"..one of the best albums of family music ever made.\" CD = $14.95

By George!Collection of Ralph Shaw singing his favourite George Formby numbers. CD = $14.95

Table for Two 1930s and 40s hits plus some wonderful originals. CD = $14.95

King of the Ukulele Ralph Sings his favourite songs of the Tin-Pan-Alley era.
CD =$14.95

Improve Your Ukulele Playing:
The Complete Ukulele Course DVD series shows how to play and perform better. The DVD system is the best way to learn by yourself. You get to see and hear everything you need to know and can pause and rewind as often as you wish.

(btw. for those of you in far-away places eg. Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia I have very reasonable shipping rates just use the Paypal \'Add to Cart\' button on my website to buy your dvds).



1 The Complete Ukulele Course shows you how to get started with tuning and strumming. It then teaches you a variety of techniques to make your playing more and more interesting!


2 Essential Strums for the Ukulele will give you specific strums and a song to go with each one. These include: samba, blues, frailing, bossa nova, bo diddley, reggae and much more. Essential!!


3 Ukulele Play Along has the chord changes up on the screen and you get to strum and sing along. Great fun and excellent practice at a great price!


4 The Complete Ukulele Course for Kids - Get this dvd and a ukulele for the child in your life and it could change their life. Music is a wonderful way to learn and have fun at the same time. The ukulele is a non-threatening and joyful introduction to music education.



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