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Hi,
Here is my first update.
I hunted up a few traditional versions of Farewell to Music and entered the basic notes into my Notion iPad app and then transposed it to the key of F which I like the sound of for this.
Then I worked with my uke and the app to decide a basic tab that might work. Then, once I had something at least reasonably playable, I pencilled in the extra notes for the doublestops and chords on the printed score as I worked out what sounded good, adding the changes to Notion periodically and reprinting.
By that time it was clear that I’d over-stretched Notion — it began to put the doublestop and chord notes far from where I was trying to enter them. So I exported the score to musicXML and imported it into Musescore on my PC. I hadn’t used this program recently so I updated it first. The XML imported the treble clef and tab beautifully. It took a couple of evenings of fiddling but I figured out how to update both the tab and notes and even got the note stems to show in my tab.
Now, I’m working with the score I’ve printed out, learning to play the music and pencilling in changes as I go which I’ll add periodically into the Musescore program, reprint and continue.
I’m finding the piece works well on both high and low G as I’d hoped.
Linda
Happy New Year RC101!
Execution:I have never tried to compose a song for ukulele. This month I am going to try and compose an original finger-style arrangement. I am going to try to model my original melody around form (A B A) with the Major-minor parallel such as Lagrima.
Application:I am going to try and tap my creative side, and see what I can come up with. I would also like to chart the melody. I have some experience with the program finale, but never with ukulele so I am going to try that as well.
Evaluation: kept plugging away, charting ideas, and see how it comes together week to week.
I am excited to go for it, thanks for this challenge and opportunity!Happy New Year RC101 team and members.
Hello Andrew,
I’m not sure if I can put into words everything that is required.I would consider myself a beginner in your level 1 and am very interested in songs from the 20s to 60s of the last century which I would like to sing with friends.
„Last century“: Wow… that sounds very far back in time.After much deliberation, I have decided to take the course “Strumming Techniques – Beyond the Island Strum”.
I had started this course once before and never finished it.I’m going to work through the course completely and work on it every day (approx. 30 minutes) and try out the newly learnt techniques on simple songs/chords.
I would like to be finished about a week before the end of January.
The last few days I will then learn a song and incorporate my favourite techniques.My goal:
I would like to learn various techniques from the course, especially the Triple Strum, and use them in a song (Five Foot Two).
The version will not be the Five Foot Two from the course, but a version with simple chords (C, E7, A7, D7, G7 and F).I hope the description meets the requirements.
Have a great month,
RiciOkay, so this is the last update I will share until the end of the month, but I was pretty pleased with my progress so far, even though it isn’t perfect. 🙂
I think I have two main sort of “themes” or melodies for this original song. The first melody (that starts out the song) is only in minor and the second melody has a major and minor part, then it returns to the minor melody that began the song. The minor parts did stick with G minor, C minor, and D7 – The major is G major, C major, and D major. (Although, maybe there’s some overlap because some of the minor/major chords were the same when I added the melody? I will really try to tab this out as part of this challenge, in part to illustrate what I mean, lol.) It all is pretty simple, but I am relatively happy with what I managed to do within that “framework” and also within about a week. I somewhat merged the melodies together, though there still needs to be a lot of smoothing out in many places. There are a lot of pauses.
Also, I didn’t want to be on camera, which led to a tangent of me basically making a slideshow of my pictures that I’ve taken over the years (that I downloaded from Facebook cover photos, lol) to fill in the blank space — but it was useful because I want to create a similar video format for other projects, so it was good practice for that, trying to get the timing right with the musical changes, and I also tried to choose the pictures to suit the mood of the song kinda.
Anyway, there you have it! Thank you to Andrew for this challenge and for listening! 🙂 Again, I wouldn’t say it’s done, hopefully I can smooth some things out. 🙂
I tried to post my progress videos, but they are not showing up? The forum says they were posted successfully.
My practice so far:
I should explain I am using this challenge to experiment with a new practice format, short intervals (3 minutes right now) covering 4 to 5 different segments of music. I’m only posting “Summertime”, and “Purple Haze”. My goal with “Summertime” is to memorize the entire song, play and sing in time, “Purple Haze” I just want to play the intro smoothly (chords for Purple Haze are relatively easy, so if I get the intro down I should be able to play the whole song).
https://youtu.be/8K-Eon72hO8
https://youtu.be/jEOXdXdhF9c@jedart – Sorry about that! They got caught in the spam folder, which happens when 2 videos are embedded in the same post. Unfortunately, there’s not a way for me to relax that rule. But I approved the post and they are showing now 🙂
My Plan for improving for the January 2024 challenge
1) Execution – I will be working on Spanish Romance which I first tried to learn in the Love themed monthly challenge March of 2021. I always wanted to relearn that one and now is my chance! I find I am learning things a little faster than I did almost 3 years ago! I would hope so. I guess I am a budding intermediate. I plan on memorizing this song and applying Vibrato, Rubato and Dynamics that are taught for this song. I would really love to have this song in my “pocket” so to speak, one that I can perform for an open mic or for my family. I am NOT able to practice every day but I will do my best to set aside practice time as often as possible.
2) Application – I will first work on the “tricky bits” as Steven would say, such as the difficult chord transitions in the B section. I will work on memorizing by taking it 4 measures at a time and also get better at practicing with the Tab Viewer. When I have those bits in hand, I will work on the Dynamics, Vibrato and Rubato as appropriate in Spanish Romance.
3) Evaluation – I am just beginning to work on it but I watched my recording from March 2021 and it was terrible! I already can execute the A section better than in the past. Now to work on the “tricky bits”! I will post a few progress videos as I am able.
For the January challenge, I’m going to work on slurs (hammer-ons and pull-offs). My level is approaching intermediate.
Execution: By the end of the month I hope to play slurs in an accurate and musical way. I’ll use the metronome to assure that the slurs are sounding on the appropriate beat.
I’ll set aside 15 minutes each day to practice. I will follow lessons on RockClass101 by Andrew on slurs and the one by Matt (EP005).Application: I’ll apply what I learn to Andrew’s piece Fingerpicking Etude no. 25 (Morning Dew).
Evaluation: I’ll record myself during each practice session and evaluate my progress. I’ll also, make a note of weekly progress.
I look forward to follow everyone’s progress!
JaneHappy New Year to all!
Execution: so I’ve noticed that I’m starting get arthritis in my little finger on the left hand. Despite that I would like to work on improving it’s mobility and hand stretches. I’m about an intermediate player, I think?
Application: I’ve been trying to learn Jake Shimabukuro’s “While my guitar gently weeps” and there are many chords with hand stretches that are physically impossible for me to do on a tenor ukulele right now. But this monthly challenge will encourage me to finish learning the song.
Evaluation: I’ll post a video near the end of the month to show how far I get.Many thanks!
I am new here and pretty much a total novice. I’ve had a uke for years, but would poke around on YouTube a few weeks here and there, learn a few chords, get bored and give up. I joined RC101 last week and have already learned and improved a ton– more in understanding tab and musical notation than in my ability to actually play.
1) Execution – Generally speaking, I understand the tab and music, what I struggle with is my hands. finger picking excites and motivates me the most, so I’ll be working on Finger Picking Etude #3 in an effort to improve the speed with which I move from note to note and pick the proper string(s) at the proper time.
2) Application – I’ll practice and (hopefully) properly learn to play Finger Picking Etude #3 by practicing daily.
3) Evaluation – Record and share.
Had a copy of “Always With Me” printed onto 8×10 paper. Expensive & incorrectly placed but beats trying to read tabs on phone.
Have practiced until my fingers are killing me! I want so badly to learn this song & to participate in challenge.
Need to learn more effective ways of practicing.
I have been contemplating what to work on for this month’s challenge and time has been slipping by. I almost joined the claw hammer club as that looks like lots of fun and something I always wanted to do. I also thought to continue my efforts on Always With Me. Stephen’s arrangement is superior to any other, in my opinion, strings, piano, or otherwise. But I fear a month will not be enough time to reach any level of proficiency on it. So, I have decided to go with better proficiency of the tremolo technique. I didn’t have enough time to work on Misirlou a few months back, so have settled on that for this month.
1)Execution – I consider myself an advanced beginner in general. I would like to achieve a tolerable level of proficiency with the song by month’s end, and thereby also improving my overall tremolo ability as a result. I plan to practice the technique and song at least 30 minutes each day.
2)Application – Tremolo will be used in Misirlou.
3)Evaluation – I will be continually evaluating my progress with the month end goal in mind.
Thanks.@turkgoose
I have the same issue with my little finger. I bought some hand exercise tools from D’Addario a couple of months ago. One is a finger squeeze thing for grip strength (good for improving Barr chords), the other is little triangle fidget thing that is supposed to improve dexterity, and I’m happy to report it seems to actually work.
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