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Heyho Rockclass,
it’s been a while, i had to take a break.
Here is my take of “Winter Glass”. A lovely tune, thx Matt. The challenge for me was to play it in normal tempo, i always rushed through it first.
@marianne & @abster: You both did a great Job on the tune …. so much feel! 😊
@misterbones: i’m deeply impressed of your whole arrangement. So smooth and jazzy, just fell in Love with it easily … 🥰
I’ve got the book from James Hill also but so far i just played “Freight Train” and “Georgia on my Mind”.And finally @the_bumble_bard: your piano playing was wonderful and the chords and vocals of course where jazzy .. 🤗 .. love it!
You hear my new uke, my new little japanese friend – we both have to grow together – No price entry for me pls.
@The_bumble_bard, @misterbones I don’t know much about jazz. And the way Chet Baker sings (softly, quietly, serenely) reminds me more of Bossa Nova than jazz.
But I don’t know much about Bossa Nova either. I went to Wikipedia. And it says that Bossa Nova originated from the fusion of samba (or the slower Samba Canção) and “cool jazz.” Okay, I thought, what is “cool jazz”? It turns out it’s a genre of jazz where: “vibrato-free, often muted to breathy tone intonation”.So who do you think is a typical representative of “cool jazz”? It’s Chet-Baker.
Now I understand where I got the Bossa Nova association. 😂@katazumiri: Makes complete sense, Chet Baker is very much cool jazz, and cool jazz is one of the main building blocks of Bossa Nova, so that association is valid. In my understanding Bossa and Jazz are not two different genres, but I see Bossa as one specific style of Jazz. Although Bossa Nova is often also associated with a certain rhythm or beat, and at least Chet’s version of I fall in love too easily is not set to a Bossa beat (although it might be worth a try). But a great example that comes to mind of a song with a very similar vibe that actually is set to a Bossa beat, by a Jazz composer who is not typically associated with Bossa Nova, is The Shadow of Your Smile by Johnny Mandel, another one of my all time favorites. There’s a great ukulele arrangement of that song by Kiyoshi Kobayashi in his Ukulele Bossa Nova book, if you’re lucky enough to secure a copy (unfortunately only available in Japan or via Ebay for outrageous shipping fees).
I’m so blown away by the submissions this month…..and we are only half way thru! @marianne , I don’t know how you were able to memorize and perform so beautifully in just a couple of days…as always your performance is top notch. @Abster you make it look easy! The flow and clarity was gorgeous…well-done! @otzepeng great playing….you accomplished your goal playing steady without speeding up…..that is not easy!….I’m one of the worst culprits of not maintaining a steady tempo…..very difficult….so kudos to you! @The_Bumble_Bard beautiful piano playing…..loved your whispery-singing rendition…..as @Misterbones said it seemed closer to the Chet Barker version….just very cool and inspiring…….and finally @Misterbones…..just Wow! That was just amazing…..probably one of your best submissions I’ve seen. Also, thank-you for all your tips on recording and music. I immediately went out and bought the James Hill ‘Duets for One’ book that you recommended.
This month, I bought a condenser mic which I believe will help with sound quality. Looking forward to playing with it…..I have been working on both pieces…..and I think I am ready to post Winter Glass…..If I Feel confident with Fall In Love too Easily, I might post later….but I’m finding the singing and the solo very challenging….I do already have the chords memorized though….
Please exclude me from the draw this month…..thanks as always to the gang at RockClass101.com for all your hard work!
Hello friends !!! This is my first update on winter glass for this months challenge … will try my best to complete this song this month….started practising late recovering from illness…..I love participating in these challenges ❤️ ♥️ 😄
All you early posters are so inspiring! @marianne, @otzepeng, and @abster (good to see you back!) did so beautifully on the piece my fingers are still struggling with; @misterbones – OMG! I could listen to that all day! @The_
bumble_Bard: I hope your neighbour appreciates your talent, and I also hope you’ve made it through the storm okay.I’m with @nat_uke now: time to get serious!
Hello uke friends!! I just want to say thank you all so much for your kind words about my pseudo-entry with the piano! Your encouragement means so much to me and really honestly moves me. I have so many thoughts, but I’ll finally be able to reply more this weekend, especially about the “cool jazz” tangent 😂 but also all the new entries I’ve missed! So many hearts to this talented, thoughtful, and kind community of RC101! 🥰
Also, is it just me, or did the appearance of the forum change? I don’t know if @Andrew is around as much, but hopefully this isn’t another glitch. 😂
@The_Bumble_Bard – Sorry about that! I’ve been working on re-designing a lot of the website this week. We’ve got a fancy new homepage and menu now 🙂
If the forum looked weird for a minute, it might have been due to a mistake I made when applying styling updates earlier today. Everything should be back to normal now.
@Andrew, thank you so much! That definitely explains it! The new look is nice!! I am the glitch police, but this one was a false alarm. 😅🥺
Edit: Just saw the home page, that looks quite snazzy!! Also two cameos from RC101 friends! 😅😊
Hi everyone!
In March, I was working on “I Fall in Love Too Easily.” What can I say? It was quite tricky. I lack both concentration and patience for the ukulele solo… I’m currently at 70%.
And another option. My computer helped me with the ukulele solo and added the missing 30%.
Have a nice day! 🌸🐦🌸
@The_Bumble_Bard – I just let Justin know! Gonna let Marianne know too 🙂
@Andrew, very presh! They are two of our heroes here for sure!! 🥰
Okay, here is my one longer reply, then I’ll come back with some shorter replies to everyone else: 😂
@misterbones, I find it so interesting how different people play by ear and approach things like that – thank you for sharing! Playing by ear is one of my strengths, along with remembering melodies. I’ll go back and realize I wasn’t 100% accurate, but you still get the idea, lol – it usually still sounds like the song. Theory, though, is my biggest weakness. I have trouble comprehending chord names and technically describing what’s happening, even though I can hear it and visualize the shapes on piano and uke. That’s really cool that you did it that way and it worked so well – it came together beautifully. I also didn’t realize that’s what “cantabile” means, even though there’s a classical song I love with that word. Maybe that’s why I love I Fall In Love Too Easily – I’m drawn to songs that flow gently and beautifully like that.That’s really cool about the James Hill course! I can see how that knowledge would be so helpful! I somewhat knew about moving chord shapes and transposing from lessons with Matt Dahlberg, but some shapes are physically harder for me, like the… zigzag chords. 3434, diminished chords – those ones. 😂 With piano, it’s easier because I know the notes and many scales (I love playing them), which is how I can make up runs and play more freely. I’ve also been playing since I was 8, so there’s that. There are definitely patterns, but the “shapes” aren’t as consistent as on uke.
Thank you so much about my entry, that really means a lot! I still feel nervous and unsure with singing, but when I break through and can feel more confident, it makes a huge difference. I practice almost every day in the car now, and it’s great for physical and mental health, which is a bonus. It’s also something I’ve always wanted to do, so now as a middle-aged lady I’m putting in the effort. 😂 My sister and I have car singalongs too, so I have to practice for that, obviously!
I actually took Ashley’s version chord-for-chord, put it into ChatGPT to figure out the notes, then memorized them on piano. The 7 chords follow a pretty consistent pattern, which helped. I shared that take because the spontaneous run I made up turned out really well (they don’t always), even though there were better vocal takes, LOL. Since I can’t really sing like Ashley, I did listen to the Chet Baker version multiple times and leaned toward that style. I also listened even more to this version by Allison Young:
…because it feels closer to how I can sing – looser, for lack of a better word. Listening again, I think my singing mimicked hers more than I realized, though I was going for a moodier, sadder feel – that’s just how I interpret songs like this. If I can connect to the feeling of a song, it helps tremendously of course.
Thank you again, though, for your kind words and all your thoughts! 😊
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