Wednesday, December 5, 2018

UPDATE: I sent out some ukulele links for Christmas carols and seasonal tunes via email. You can also find links here. See Lana's email for details on the December 12th strum.

- Heather

Barry, Linda, Verna, Thelma, Lynn, Lana, Marge, Louise and Lorna attended. Hope I didn't forget anyone

Songs: Early Morning Rain, If I Needed You, I'll See you in my Dreams, Cryin' Time, Song for a Winter's Night, You don't know me, Fannin Street, Silent night, Come on Ring Those Bells, Harvest Moon, Angeline the Baker, Rock and Roll Beat, This World is not My Home, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, Silver Wings, Working Man, Rox in the Box, Me and Bobby McGee, Moon River, Lie Down beside Me, Hey Good Looking' and We're Going to be Friends.

It was one of the best quality strums we have done.  We nailed some of those songs we struggle with and had a great time doing it.

- Lana

I'll be updating the blog with some posts about what we've been doing the last month or so for those of you following along from home or afar. 

- Heather

Sunday, December 3, 2018

It was an honour to perform at the Sonatrice Singers' Christmas Cheer Board concert on Sunday afternoon.

The concert featured performers aged from 11 to 100. A special treat was a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for 100 year old Carm Colvin who was there playing piano with the Scratching Fiddle Band. There were also performances from some students, a trio who sang, part of the band Group Therapy, the Active Living Centre Choir, the United Church Choir and, of course, the Sonatrice Singers themselves.

Our first tune was Ring Those Bells with Lana not only playing ukulele and singing but adding some jingling bells to accompany us.

For our second tune, which we kept sort of a surprise by not mentioning it on this blog or elsewhere, was, the Good Ole Hockey Game. Deanna, who was playing organ at the venue for a number of acts during the concert, channeled a hockey game organist and provided us with a  a fantastic intro - Da, da, da, da, da, da.... Da, da, da, da, da, da... Da, da, da, da, da, da,... 

Lynn and Barry provided a count down and then came in with, "Hello out there... we're on the air. It's hockey night tonight..."

Lynn, Barry and Tom, who accompanied us on bass ukulele, sang the verses while Barry called out the period "updates". We all joined in for the chorus parts and yelled out our cheers for the Beavers and "He shoots, he scores!" at the end. 

It was great fun to play and sing and enjoy the other performances. I recommend attending this annual concert to start the holiday season.


- Heather

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Photo courtesy of Philip Natividad instructor for a workshop some of our members signed up for on the Beatles strum. It sounds like it was a great workshop and I'm sorry I missed it. I was thinking of you while sipping hot chocolate and singing Christmas carols at the Christmas at the Museum event (sadly, no Beatles tunes). We are hoping to host another workshop this spring so watch this space for more details. 

- Heather

Wednesday. November 21, Wednesday. November 28

No one was keeping track of the songs specifically but while playing some of our usual favourites and some new trickier pieces we have been trying like, Dona Nobis Pacem, we also practiced two performance pieces for the Sontatrice Singers' Christmas Cheer Board Concert.

Wednesday November 14, 2018

Thelma, Linda, Lynn, Marge, Barry, Heather and Cathie traveled to Elm Creek to play at the MCC Annual Meeting. We enjoyed a delicious supper of roast pork, potatoes, vegetables, and chocolate cake. Since we were "the entertainment" we got to eat first and played our songs while the other guests were enjoying dessert.

Each member present briefly introduced themselves and explained how they came into playing ukulele. 

Our performance of: Uncloudy Day, Manitoba, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, I’ll Fly Away, 50 Miles of Elbow Room, I Can’t Even Walk, Amazing Grace, and our signature set-ending song was well received.

There were many kind comments from audience members and we seemed to have piqued their interest in the instrument we all love so well.

To top off an already great evening we arrived back at the gallery to find some of our other members waiting to play with us. It was nice to take a break from our practiced pieces and go around the table and play some more great tunes with them.

- Heather

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Thelma, Linda, Lynn, Marge, Barry, Heather and Cathie met at the gallery ahead of our regular meeting to practice for our performance at the MCC supper and annual meeting next Wednesday, November 14th at the Elm Creek Church. Next week members going to Elm Creek will meet at the gallery at 5:15 to carpool to Elm Creek. We will likely return back to Carman in enough time to participate in the regular strum at the gallery. Supper will be at 6 p.m. and we will play at 6:45.

Judy and Louise also joined us at the gallery for our regular strum. 

We played:  Song for a Winter's Night, Daydream Believer, You Don't Know Me, Working Man, If I needed You, Wildflowers, Leavin' on a Jet Plane, Flowers on the Wall, Both Sides Now, If You Could Read My Mind, Wood River, Snowbird, Angeline the Baker, Oh Susanna. I'll See You in My Dreams, Good Ol Hockey Game, Let Me Be There, Come On Ring Those Bells, Early Morning Rain (C may be easier to sing), Looking Out My Back Door, and our signature set-ending song.

We have been asked to play at the Sonatrice Singers Christmas Concert on December 2 at 2 p.m. We have chosen two songs to play.

- Heather

Wednesday, October 31

Sounds like some of you were able to escape the ghosts and goblins and meet at the gallery to strum. :)

Anyone performing in Elm Creek on Wednesday, November, 14th is asked to meet at 6:30 at the gallery this coming Wednesday, November 7th to go through our songs for the MCC event. 

Our proposed set list includes: Uncloudy Day, Leaning, I’ll Fly Away, 50 Miles of Elbow Room, I Can’t Even Walk and Amazing Grace.

Here are the event details: MCC Annual Meeting at the Elm Creek Church on November 14^th. Supper (provided) starts at 6:00 and we will play from 6:45 –7:00.

Please let me know if there is any other news you would like me to include on the blog from last week or the couple of weeks previous.

- Heather