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Does anyone have their own song book of songs that you have learned and are “keepers”? I have a three ring binder that I put them in but it’s a mess. Any suggestions on what you do to organize one?
One of my holiday time off projects is to get my stacks of printed music into a binder, so I have been pondering this very question. I’m leaning toward having 4 sections, organized to support practice time (though likely not as easy access as alphabetical…). The sections would be:
Polished – for the (few) pieces I play fluidly and enjoy relaxing with
In Work – for pieces that I can barely play and are coming along, but need more practice to fix hesitations and improve musicality
New – the 1 or 2 “active learning” pieces (likely to include current monthly challenge piece and prior month’s depending on degree of additional work still needed)
Other – these may be seasonal, or songs too far beyond my skills for now, or the few songs that are not of a style I want to spend time on, etc.
The idea would be split my practice time playing through a couple polished pieces for fun and to keep them polished, then work on taking an in work piece a little further with the goal of graduating it up to polished, and then to spend the rest of the time on the challenge piece. I do also enjoy playing from Daniel Ward’s Arpeggio Meditations book, so that is another resource at practice time.
So that’s the notebook approach I plan to try, rickeymike. If the hunt for a particular song becomes frustrating, I can always go back to my A, B, Cs. But I think this apptroch will motivate me to keep moving more pieces into the Polished section, and at some point I’ll be cool like Lisa and have a performance playlist – if only for a small concert for my husband and dogs. 🙂Great idea guys. I’m all organized on my tablet for RC101 songs, but I have some messy sheets and scribbles around that I should clean up.
Ukukelly, thanks for thinking I’m cool,but most of my “set list” is still technical in work, with bits to clean up. 2019 goal, to have a more polished performance for next year’s holiday party!
I’m tempted by that arppegios book but I keep accumulating books and only playing RC101…
It’s a good idea – maybe I’ll also create sub-folders for my electronic files. I practice from paper, though, so I can lay out the whole song with no scrolling or clicking required.
You can try out Daniel Ward’s book with an article built on the first song in the book from ukulelemag.com. Here is the link:
Ukulele Lesson: Unlock Big Changes in Your Playing with Daniel Ward’s Meditative Arpeggio
Because the picking pattern is repetitive and the chord changes are easy, the song is simple to learn. My first feeling of being actually musical came on this piece. Easy to make it expressive with dynamics or speed changes. I play it almost every time I pick up a uke and it’s a good warm up. And if I’ve had a rough day, I really make it wail!And I still think you’re cool for your live public performance courage! 🙂
rickeymike — funny you should mention this. coffeemug and I (friends from waaaaayyy back) have spent much time texting and video sharing about this very issue 🙂
I have abandoned one container for three separate folders. I don’t care for three ring binders because I like to spread out the pages in front of me.
Folder 1: Songs I’m working on, one-page tunes I like and serve as good practice pieces, and songs that I play with other folks. This folder is intentionally kept thin. The bigger it gets, the messier it looks and the potential for a sense of ‘failure’ creeps in!
Folder 2: RC101 songs. I can’t believe how many of these I’ve printed off and worked on since I joined in August.
Folder 3: Archives of other song sheets.
The system has worked great for me. I do revisit the RC101 and Archive folder to pull out songs that aren’t in the ‘active’ file. But above all, I keep Folder 1 neat and tidy — it helps me keep focused.
And ukukelly1 — again, interesting you mention a performance playlist. coffeemug and I and another pal have been talking about having at least 3 songs at the ready for those moments when someone turns to you and says ‘PLAY SOMETHING!’ That happened to me the other day and I tried to play a kind of difficult song I’m working on and it sounded like crap 🙂 So far, we’ve come up with the idea that at least one song should be a ‘typical’ uke sounding song ala Ain’t She Sweet. Then maybe a light classical finger style song like LaGitanita and then at least one other. It’s a fun exercise to go through!
Actually, my e folder organization has become a mess since Andrew added favorites I realize. It’s so easy to reproduce the organization on the site, I just log in and download again, and everything I do is on here. I need to do something about that…
My folders both in favorites and on my tablet are Set List, Learning, and Wish List.
I’ve always kept something play ready since I first started because I like to stop in to music stores and try out their ukes. That’s another good reason to have a few ready. Even if you’re not buying, it’s loads of fun to go into a store and try them out and turn a few heads. My local store guy knows me now and congress over to chat.
I also do it because we work so hard on these songs… I don’t wanna lose them. Some I lose but I keep practicing my favorites to keep them alive.
@rickeymike I have a ring-binder folder divided into:
schedule (practice)
uke chords (chord charts)
exercises (barre chords, hammer ons / pull offs, strumming patterns, slide licks etc.)
etudes (for warm up exercises)
beginner level songs
level 1 songs (a few sheets ready to go, but still a long way off)
level 2 songs (empty – but there to give hope)With the folder ordered like this, I can just work through my practice schedule really easily as I usually just follow the section order.
Any old stuff that I can do easily, I just skip past the page. But it is still there if I need to go back to it.Ukukelly, I’ve seen that and been tempted but do they get more interesting? I find that one a little bland. I practice Andrew’s Etude 1 that way for warm up or just mindless zoning out on the uke and it’s so pretty.
Miztaken, you sound much more systematic than I am. You will go far!
Anne, isn’t taimaine amazing? I discovered her I this site. Oh to be that good at anything. We’ll get there, *cough*
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