Ukulele Workshop slated for Sunday, September 18

The Golden Prairie Arts Council will be offering a Ukulele Workshop on Sunday, September 18 from 1-4 p.m. on the main floor of the gallery building (old train station).

Kate Ferris will be the instructor and she will tailor the workshop to meet skills levels of those who sign up, including beginners.

Those interested will need to bring a ukulele. Gallery members will pay $55 and non members $60. Ten signups are required to run the workshop. Sign up will be through the Golden Prairie Arts Council. Watch their Facebook page or website for more details.

Wednesday, August 17

Lorna, Lana, Becky, Heather, Kim, Louise and Lynn were able to gather at the train station upstairs to play some tunes. 

These included: Bring me little Water Sylvie (we will try some harmony on this again next time), This Land is Your Land, Come On Up to the House by Tom Waits, You Don't Know Me, Cryin' Time, Silver Wings, Red Wing by The Steel Wheels (see video below), Love Potion #9, Walk Away by Tom Waits, Unclouded Day in G, Take One Last Look by Tom Waits (videos below), January Wedding (see video below) which Lorna will bring more copies of next time but is essentially A and D with the odd E7 thrown in, Something (we agreed to take a look at this on our own from the Vancouver Circle book), Wagon Wheel, Don't Be Cruel, and our secret set ending song.

You should be able to find most of these songs listed in the sidebar links or in the songbooks listed.

We will meet again next Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the top floor of the gallery.

Red Wing by The Steel Wheels

January Wedding by The Avett Brothers

Take One Last Look by Tom Waits (ukulele cover)

An earlier attempt with chords

Take One Last Look by Tom Waits original as played on David Letterman show

Wednesday, August 10

Lorna, Judy, Kim, Lynn, Lana and Heather met on the top floor of the old train station gallery.

Taking turns we chose the following songs to play: Cryin' Time, Bring Me Little Water Sylvie, Red Wing, Four Strong Winds, Passing through, Silver Wings, Lie Down Beside Me, Wildflowers, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Making Believe, Wagon Wheel, Walkin' After Midnight, Tonight You Belong to Me starting on G, Unclouded Day starting on G, Blame it On the Ukulele.

Lana will make copies of You Don't know Me for next time. Lynn will bring January Wedding next time. Heather will send Come On Up to the House.

The Kate Ferris Ukulele workshop has been scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 18 at the gallery tentatively from 10 until 3 with a break for lunch. You will be able to sign up through the Golden Prairie Arts Council if you are interested. The cost will be $55 and the session will likely only go ahead if 10 people sign up. Heather will see if any student members would like to attend. Kate will set up the session so it will be of value to both beginning and more advanced players which should help to convince more people to sign up.Students will get a reduced rate or be sponsored by the Golden Prairie Arts Council. The deadline to apply is Sept. 15. 

Kate Ferris is one of the organizers beyond the Ukulele Club of Winnipeg's activities and she teaches ukulele lessons on behalf of the Winnipeg Folk Festival throughout the year. She will also be leading the Mass Appeal Ukulele Concert set to be held at the Oodena Circle at the Forks on Thursday, Sept. 15. 

More details are here on the massappealwinnipeg.ca/ukuleles/ website.

On the site you will find the music that we will be playing. Please note that Blame it On the Ukulele and The Log Driver's Waltz I believe are in different keys than we play them but they are still easy to play.  Kate will lead a rehearsal between 6 and 7 p.m. before the public performance which is form 7:30 to 8 p.m.  All levels of players are encouraged to attend as the intent is to get as many players to the event as possible.

We will meet again next Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the top floor of the gallery.

Wednesday, August 3

Another Wednesday summer storm and a small group meant we met at Judy's place. Judy, Heather and Louise attended. 

We played by candle light (the cool kind with batteries that won't burn your house down) and camp lantern light for part of the evening using the lack of light to work on our memorization skills of Rain and Snow, Cryin' Time, Silver Wings, Wagon Wheel, and Wildflowers. We also tried You Don't Know Me and January Wedding which Louise has been practicing and House of Gold which Heather has been practicing.

When the lights came back on we played Unclouded Day (starting on G) which is the best key for Lynn to sing although not so great for the rest of us :) When Lynn is able to attend the rest of us can sing harmony or an octave higher and it all sounds nice together.

Here is a link to January Wedding. Please note that we played E7 in the version we played rather than E. Check under the side bar heading of Boyne River Ukulele Group song sheets for links to House of Gold and You Don't Know Me.

We will meet again next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, July 27

Louise, Lynn and later Kim attended.

Members worked on memorizing some of our regular pieces like Rain and Snow and played Unclouded Day and new song Lynn brought. 

We will meet again next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, July 20

Lorna graciously hosted. Although we played by the light of the window at times during a storm complete with wind, rain, thunder, lightning and falling trees, we were able to play for our regular time period. Lorna, Judy, Louise, Becky, Heather and Lynn were in attendance.

As the power faded in and out, we played Tonight You Belong to Me with Becky adding the nice G GSus4 picking part from the Mike Lynch version, Silver Wings, Crying Time, Redwing, Unclouded Day (deciding now at least when Lynn is singing to use the version that starts in G), Wagon Wheel, Rain and Snow, Stand By Me (we agreed to listen to and try to learn to play the original version that starts on C in the Vancouver book rather than the Cynthia Lin version), Wildflowers, Sentimental Journey, Tennessee Waltz, Wagon Wheel, Don't Be Cruel, Making Believe, Margo's Cargo, and our secret set ending song.

Check the practice videos page in response to Becky's question about how the group chooses strum patterns. 

Lorna and Heather reported that our playing with Lana as part of the garden tour at the Bergsma's yard was well received. We played a number of outdoor/garden themed songs including Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Wildflowers, Unclouded Day, Rain and Snow and April Showers. Other favourites were Silver Wings, Margo's Cargo, Making Believe, Don't Be Cruel and Wagon Wheel,

Louise told us about one of the workshops that was held at the Folk Festival where it was recommended that players try to memorize their music for performance. This is something we can try starting with some of the songs we are pretty familiar with. Perhaps Rain and Snow would be a good candidate? Feel free to suggest others. Update:  here are some great suggestions from Louise to start: Wagon Wheel, Crying time, Red Wing, (the secret song) and maybe Wildflowers. 

Lynn reported that we have a had a request to play at the Boyne Lodge. We agreed the songs we practiced should be good choices for a performance at the Lodge. Are there others we should try? 

We will next meet at the gallery on Wednesday July 27 at 7 p.m. 

Wednesday, July 13

Updated:

Sorry for missing some posts. We took a break the week of the Folk Festival.

Louise, Lorna, Lana, Judy, Heather and newcomer from Winkler, Becky, met upstairs at the art gallery on Wednesday, July 13. 

We played Unclouded Day (starting on C), Don't Be Cruel (slowly, based on a version in a movie Lynn saw), Tonight You Belong to Me (starting on G and incorporating a G, G, G, Gsus4, G, G x 2 riff), Rain and Snow, Silver Wings, Wildflowers, Wagon Wheel, the song from Juno, Crying Time, the new secret song and perhaps a few more.

We agreed to work on Tonight You Belong to Me for next time.  The version we played is based on the version in the Bytown Ukulele Group book (see sidebar) with the riff added that you can see in this version performed by ukulele entertainer Uncle Mike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GSqRIe-qc4

Lorna and Heather and for part of the time Lana will be playing during the Carman garden tour this Saturday. Email Heather for more information on the time and location if you would like to take part.

We will meet again next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.