Ukulele instructor extraordinaire Jim D’Ville is touring through Northern California in June and has put little old Butte County on his schedule for a pair of info-packed workshops—and, if you’re willing, you might even be part of his newest instructional DVD. “Play Ukulele by Ear” will be at 11 am on Saturday, June 12. “Chord […]
Archives: Performers
Tahoe Area Uke Fest; March 19-20, 2010
[Note: I wrote this the Monday after returning from the Tahoe Area Ukulele Fest, but it’s taken me until now to get the photos sorted and this posted.
The past few days drained my sleep budget, but I’m not lamenting my recent loss of shut-eye at all.
That’s because I’ve had a good reason for not putting in more pillow time: I’ve been at the Second Annual Tahoe Area Ukulele Festival. For a confirmed uke fest-aholic like me, a festival means squeezing in as much ukulele talk, playing, learning and listening as possible—and this festival experience was no different!
While I only spent one night at the hotel (ninth floor, East Tower—overlooking I-80. Note to self: request the other side of the building next year), I think I was only in the room for 10 minutes to drop off my bag on Friday afternoon, and then hit the pillows from 2:15 to 8:45 am in the wee hours of Saturday. Golly, I snagged a great room rate, but on a per-minute-spent basis, I’ve certainly had better deals.
Ukulele Songbook MP3s are available in Files section
Back in 2003, the good folks at Ukulele Hall of Fame decided to create the Fleabag Music songbook, described as “Songs for Uke Gatherings.” It was a labor of love, featuring 10 classic tunes often played on an ukulele—ranging from Hawaiian to Tin Pan Alley and folk.
The idea was to have one simple book (with standard music notation as well as chord charts) so ukulele strummers could be “on the same page” in playing some well-known (and all public domain) tunes.
While most of us know many of the songs, there are some of these old tunes that, ahem, some of us (did you see me raising my hand?) may have heard of but don’t really “know.” That’s where Bruce Evans and his wife, Karol, come in to the picture. The two of them paired up for some delightful strumming and singing to create a collection of MP3s of the 10 songs. That way, those of us who don’t know the songs well don’t have to fudge the melody anymore—we have something to listen to that will set us straight!