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A great start to the year!

January 7, 2016 /

Next circle: Tuesday, February 2
7 p.m.
Sawchyn Guitars, 2132 Dewdney Avenue

Thank you, everyone, for coming out on Tuesday. It was great to see so many new faces. We packed the store with 41 people!

A huge thank you to Nathan for playing Cat Stevens’ Moon Shadow. I’ll add the music to the site soon.

Speaking of solos, for our second anniversary this April, we’ll open the floor to anyone who wants to share something they’ve been working on. You’ve got three months to practise!

Need a few lessons before you’re ready to stand in front of the group? Want to take it up to the next level? Don Cowie is leading a series of five ukulele lessons for adults.

  • Dates: Wednesdays from February 10 through March 9
  • Time: 7:30–9 p.m.
  • Price: $50 for all five classes
  • Registration: Sign up at Sawchyn Guitars  or phone 306-522-6348

Music for the next circle will be posted soon. See you in a month!

Want to be on the radio?

December 5, 2015 /

CBC Saskatchewan has asked us to help out with their Comfort and Joy campaign!

Friday, December 11
8–8:30 AM
CBC Galleria (2440 Broad Street)

On Friday, December 11, the Morning Edition will be broadcast from the CBC Galleria and will be open to the public. The show traditionally ends with the crew singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, but this year they are inviting ukulele players to help them out.

If you’re interested, be there by 8 AM. We’ll perform at 8:25. The version of the song they are using is the same as ours.

Money raised during the campaign goes to Saskatchewan food banks, so those participating may want to bring a few dollars to drop in the basket. Donors will be entered into a draw for a prize package.

The musical guest is Eli Barsi and she will be leading the sing-along. The show starts at 6am, so you are welcome to arrive early and watch the radio magic!

If you can’t make it, be sure to listen in on 540 AM or 102.5 FM.

See you at the next circle on January 5 or at Margaret and Don’s Ukulele Sing-along on December 15.

“Road Trips” art opening, May 1

April 29, 2015 /

As I mentioned previously, we’ve been asked to play at the opening of David Thauberger’s Road Trips & Other Diversions at the MacKenzie Art Gallery from 7:15 to 7:45 pm this Friday.

Those who can make it are asked to meet in the lobby at 6:45 pm. Please bring a music stand if you have one. Our “uniform” will be black with leis (leis to be provided).

Thanks to everyone who was able to come out for the yesterday’s meeting. We decided on the following songs:

  • Cupid
  • I Walk the Line
  • Jambalaya
  • Jolene
  • King of the Road
  • Octopus’s Garden
  • On the Road Again
  • Pearly Shells
  • Ring of Fire
  • These Boots Are Made for Walking
  • Under the Boardwalk
  • Wagon Wheel

If you can make it on Friday but weren’t able to join us yesterday, please send me a quick note so we’ll know how many chairs to put out.

For everyone else, see you next Tuesday!

Lots of news: An art opening, a street art performance and our anniversary circle!

April 23, 2015 /

Hi, all! There are lots of updates today.

Art opening, May 1

The MacKenzie Art Gallery has asked us to play at the opening reception for David Thauberger’s new exhibit, Road Trips and Other Diversions.

Depending on the weather, we’ll either set up outside or in the lobby. Please bring all your music and a stand. We’ll probably be standing.

To give me an idea of how many to expect, please let me know by email or on Facebook if you can make it.

Road Trips and Other Diversions

  • Friday, May 1
  • Meet at 6:45 pm
  • Play from 7:10 to 7:40 pm
  • Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, 3475 Albert St.

Those who can make it are asked to join us for a short meeting at the store on Tuesday, April 28, where we will discuss which songs we want to play from our binder. If you can’t make it, you are still welcome to join us at the opening.

Pre-event meeting

  • Tuesday, April 28
  • 7 pm
  • Sawchyn Guitars, 2132 Dewdney Ave.

Anniversary circle! May 5

When I first asked Kendra and Peter about putting together a ukulele circle, I didn’t know if we’d make it to a second month, let alone a whole year. Thank you to everybody who has come out, whether you were there from the beginning or joined us in April.

  • Tuesday, May 5
  • 7–9 pm
  • Sawchyn Guitars, 2132 Dewdney Ave.

I’m not bringing any new music, but we may play through some of our favourites. If you want to play something in front of the group, I’ll have a sign up sheet on the counter. A few of you have already signed up! If you want to lead the group in a new song, please bring some music to share or send it to me and I’ll post it here.

After the solos are done, we’ll take a break from playing and enjoy each other’s company over food and drink. Please feel free to bring a dessert or fruit or punch or whatever you’d like to share. Don’t worry if you can’t bring anything, I’m sure there will be plenty to go around.

The Moveable Feast, May 23

This performance art piece is going to be part of the Cathedral Arts Festival. It will also be a tribute to Michele Sereda, one of the original organizers. It’s a joint collaboration with the De Propere Fanfare, Curtain Razors, Common Weal Community Arts, the Dunlop Art Gallery and the Cathedral Arts Festival.

Here’s an example of what they do.

Participation is entirely voluntary. There are a number of rehearsals before the performance, so you may want to check your schedules before you commit.

Schedule of events

The Launch

Musicians meet and greet with the Belgians

  • Saturday, May 9
  • 7–9 pm
  • Location TBA

Week 1 rehearsals

  • May 11–15
  • 12–3 pm or 6–9 pm
  • Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre, 2900 13th Avenue

CVAF Opening Picnic Concert Dress Rehearsals

  • Saturday, May 16
  • 6–9 pm
  • Sunday, May 17
  • 11 am – 2 pm

CVAF Opening Picnic Performance

  • Monday, May 18
  •  12:30 am
  • Les Sherman Park

Week 2 rehearsals: Creating the parade

  • May 18–22
  • Times TBA
  • Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre and the German Club

Parade dress rehearsal

  • Friday, May 22
  • 6–10 pm

Moveable Feast Parade

  • Saturday, May 23
  • 10:30 am call time
  • 11 am parade
  • 13th Avenue

Music

There are four pieces to perform. They weren’t written specifically for ukulele so one of the members of De Propere Fanfare is putting something together. I’ve included the PDFs and sound files here:

If you would like to take part, please let me know by May 1.

Workshop with James Hill

February 6, 2015 /

This is very last minute, but we’ve been given the opportunity to have a workshop this coming Monday (yes, in less than three days!) with ukulele extraordinaire, James Hill.

You may have seen his website, The Ukulele Way (theukuleleway.com). His technique adds melody on top of the rhythm and chords that we’re used to. Melody is one of my weakest areas, so having someone like James available to teach us is a gift.

The price is tentatively set at $30 and the start time will be around 7 pm. The workshop will be held at a private residence in Regina.

Space will be limited to around 20 participants so please, let me know as soon as possible if this interests you! Send me an email and I will reply back with all the details once they are confirmed.

February’s ukulele circle, Feb. 3

January 27, 2015 /

Old valentine card with a little boy with a ukuleleTuesday, February 3
7 PM
Sawchyn Guitars, 2132 Dewdney Avenue

We’re going to continue the introduction to strumming patterns.

All the music in one file: (GCEA) (DGBE)

Songs include:

That’s a lot, so if we don’t get through them all, we’ll finish them off in March. Joel also taught some finger-picking techniques. We’ll look at those in March, too.

New interactive songbook

January 27, 2015 /

I’m still working out some kinks and cleaning up the music, but the interactive music library is now live on the website.

The editor allows you to switch tuning from soprano to baritone and also switch keys. That’s helpful in case you find a song that was written for guitar.

A huge thanks to Buz over at Uke Geeks for creating this awesome tool! It’s certainly beyond anything I could ever do.

My boundless gratitude, also, to Joel Jacques and the Bytown Ukulele Group (BUG) for providing me with all their music to get this library off the ground!

I still need to move all our existing music into the library so the main music page will still be around for a little while. The new version will eventually replace that one.

I would like to alter the software so it doesn’t ignore the blank lines lines between verses. If you pick any song at random, all the verses will likely run into each other. I’ve added spaces to the songs we’re playing at the next circle, but want this to be automatic.

I also want to turn on uploads so people can submit their own music to the group.

Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions. If you find any chords with funny numbering, let me know that, too. I’ve already fixed the broken A Major chord that we found at the last circle – you no longer have to cross your fingers to make the numbers match.

Oh, one last thing. Some songs are listed twice. That’s because BUG has a “slow jam” version that may be a bit simpler to play or include extra comments or tips. Part of my clean up is to make it more obvious which version is which.

Happy strumming!

Workshop wrap up

November 17, 2014 /

Thank you, Joel! Thank you Sawchyn Guitars! Thank you participants!

I had a great time, and I hope you did, too. To all the new players, all of you are welcome to join us at our monthly ukulele circle. We meet at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. The next circle is December 2.

I’m going to add all the music we played to our music page. In the mean time, you can find all of it on the Bytown Ukulele Group’s site.

Links

Joel mentioned a few websites during both sessions:

 

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