Hi, wow its been great to be involved with the group and it is testimony to all of you that we are welcoming new people to the group on a regular basis. Thanks go to Geoff and Sheila and others who I know have been spreading word of the group. Ukulele players have quite a choice on the Wirral as to which group or groups they attend but I think it is good that we combine playing and learning and socialising as well as giving people the chance to get up and sing especially those who perhaps have held back. This is the strength of being a member of Heswall U3A. and the ukulele Group.
A bit of background for those new to the group We started in May and after a first month of finding or feet (thats shorthand for about 8 of us sticking with it) we have made great strides.
In order for us to hit the ground running and not have to start from scratch we have been using a website that I developed for a previous group. This is why the song list reflects that the previous group started three years ago with all of us who had never played before learning to play and sing songs that other ukulele groups play.
Our current song list serves us well for learning to play together and are timeless in that we enjoy playing them and audiences like to singalong to familiar songs. We need to get the balance right though by learning newer songs. This forces us to perhaps learn songs that are totally new to us and a little more stretching both to play and sing. Not all will be difficult to play though by any means, after all a lot of great songs are not complex. It is more about how the songs are structured as we play them. This is in line with the U3A ethos of learning and resultant socialising.
We have a number of new songs ready on our website and this will be something we will push ahead with and add to in the New Year (next few weeks we will be busy with Christmas songs!).
I am aiming to revamp our song list over the Christmas break with three lists, Older songs, Newer songs and Gig list (the gig list will reflect that we will play for different groups of people). I see these lists being dynamic and developing over time.
Inversions Cont'd (oh no!) Last week I introduced Inversions, hopefully you have had a go at trying one or two of them. Of course it is about building them into your playing and not just playing them in isolation. I will spend a few minutes on Inversions expanding on last week.
Mondays Gig we will run through the 3 songs for Monday. we can clarify who will lead the singing and will use the microphones. Of course we will all be singing though. we will have a full P A on stage. We can also ensure that those who prefer to play seated will be accommodated.
Song books I have been busy compiling song books (minus Chords) for some of the audience to use when we play gigs. We will encourage them to join in singing when we play. I will not have the full gig list songs by Monday but will definitely have the three songs we are doing included.
Christmas Songs Just a reminder, try to make sure you have either hard copies or access to the Christmas songs from our website. Please note one of the song titles, CHRISTMAS SONGS ASSORTED, contains a load of songs some we will try out. We will start work on Christmas songs next week.
Social No doubt Sheila and Dot will update us regarding our Christmas get together on the 29th November at the Fox and Hounds this Friday.
See you all Friday
Dave