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I remember being so nervous when, a year ago, I posted this song, which was my first ever entry in these challenges. It didn’t take long for me to realize there was no need to feel shaky – everyone here is so supportive, and Andrew is always kind with his constructive comments. It’s great to see how people have improved their skills over the years (oh, Marianne, I swoon when listening to you!).
Thanks, Andrew, for another fun challenge – and fun to see some of the regulars in their early playing days!
I submitted my first entry exactly a year ago, Fingerpicking Etude No. 13, playing my first ukulele that I strung with low G. Since then I won a second uke (whose sound I prefer) that I’ve strung with low G – I had since changed my first one to high G. So even though the piece is written for high G, I’m going to play it on my low G and adapt it as necessary.
I want to play the piece more smoothly, concentrating on vibrato and legato, maybe trying a bit of rubato, and speed it up some.
Thanks @Andrew – I always appreciate your comments.
Well, piffle . . . when practising Blue Skies, I didn’t repeat Melody A, wanting to give both A and B parts equal time. Then almost at the end of recording the song, I remembered the repeat, but a client/patron of our little community library, where I was volunteering, came in, so I didn’t have time to try again. Oh well, two-thirds of a submission is better than none.
I wanted to use rubato and dynamics to add some feeling to this but didn’t want to go overboard, so I’m not hearing much actual feeling. Something to work on.
Please exclude my name from the draw this month.
@katazumiri – I love how you add extra layers to your pieces! Can definitely imagine watching a circus act with this in the background.
Congrats, @leb397! It was a lovely rendition, played well. I’m ready to submit a video of the same song – just have to have a few quiet minutes to do one.
So many great entries this month, as usual. I love hearing what everyone’s doing.
@The_Bumble_Bard: Are you still frozen in? We beat our record of being snowbound this year, going twelve days without being able to get down our driveway. Our area doesn’t get that many snowfalls a season, so it’s hopelessly ill-prepared to handle one when it happens. And our road is last on the priority grid, so by the time they get to us, the road is a solid sheet of ice (winding down a hill, with a lake at the bottom).@The_Bumble_Bard – Look at you, your first entry going playful with some extra fingerpicking! I’m waiting for the day when my arthritic fingers just move easily around the fretboard – I have no doubt the daily playing is keeping them flexible.
@deadbuggy – Your playing always seems so confident and effortless. May I ask how long you’ve been playing?@The_Bumble_Bard – Love how you’ve added your own touches with the tremolo and fingerpicking! It would be fun to see your first rendition way back when, three years ago – I imagine you’re feeling a lot more comfortable with your uke now. Which brings me to . . .
@emiliano – Wow! Thank you for talking about how you’ve progressed since you started with Rockclass. That makes me think there’s hope yet for my stumbling fingers!@marianne – You play that so elegantly, and you’ve made the notes ring. I’m working on this piece too – the feeling you put into it is an inspiration.
Congrats, @leihali and @abster! @abster, we’re all watching as you progress from amazing to superstar!
@stephencox – Of course [head-slap]! (referencing trying to improve vibrato by playing a song filled with dense chords). I’ve turned that around – now when warming up, I pick a random note and pick out the tune from there, which also helps me to become more familiar with the fretboard. Thanks for your constructive comments.@jbmills07 I’m sure I’m not the only one who shed tears with you as you played that heartfelt song for Regina. Thank you for opening up to this group – it can’t have been easy. You’re going through some profound feelings, and all you can do is feel them as deeply as you can, cry when you need to, and hold her hand to let her know you’re with her. Warm hugs.
So many great submissions this month, and all of them so different! @dianna mentioned everyone I wanted to comment on, so I won’t say it all over again, but I’m so impressed with the talent in this group and with everyone’s fearless sharing of where you are with the uke just now.
I wanted to work on vibrato this month, to the point where it happens naturally, and decided to play “the meatball song” from Lady and the Tramp: Bella Notte. So first I had to pick out the melody in a key that would allow me to hold a number of long notes, then I had to pick out the chords for the melody and get them down on paper so I could remember them. That took longer than I’d expected, and only then did I realize this song has different chords for each of its phrases, and the chords in the key I’d picked involve ridiculous chords and crazy chord changes. By that time it seemed too late to transpose everything to a different key – and who knew if different chord changes wouldn’t be just as difficult – so I plowed on through. Only at the end of this process did I listen to the song from the 1955 movie, and found that it was played (on an accordion) in the same key I had picked, at least for the first rendition.
So anyway, this is the best I can do for now. Thanks, Andrew, for an interesting challenge.
Thanks, Andrew, for this interesting challenge. I’ve been wanting to practise vibrato to the point where it becomes automatic when I’m playing, but so far, just getting my fingers on the right frets and strings at the right time has required all my focus. So this month I’m going to concentrate on vibrato. When I mentioned to my dearest that I needed a song with long, drawn-out notes, he said, “What about the song from Lady and the Tramp where they’re eating the meatballs?” Right away I knew what he meant – when I was ten or so, I got a piano book with songs from Disney movies, and I used to love playing and singing along to Bella Notte.
I’m not sure which key to play it in – I’m still noodling around with that, as I want to avoid too many open strings on the long notes.
Execution: I haven’t yet developed a vibrato technique, so I want to concentrate on using vibrato where the songs I’m playing seem to call for it. I would like vibrato to become an automatic response.
Application: Watch Andrew’s lesson on vibrato and use the exercises every day as part of my warm-up. Arrange a fairly simple version of Bella Notte so I can concentrate on using vibrato on the drawn-out notes, to add feeling to the melody.
Evaluation: Record myself at the end of each week, to see how I’m progressing; submit a final recording at the end of the month.
@leb397 – I hear you. The dark days of winter can be so hard to get through, and I so look forward to the days getting longer. Glad you found something to work on this month, and even a little bit each day will make you feel as if you’ve accomplished something. (I invested in a light visor this year, but haven’t had it long enough to see if it makes a difference. It’s not become a habit yet, so it would help if I could remember to use it every morning!)
Congrats, @jbmills07! I hope this brightens up the end of a rough year – we’ll look forward to hearing the beautiful melodies coming from your new uke. And Ziggy . . . bless his little . . . bless him!
@oetzpeng, your little furry pet is a good performer, too!
Thanks again to Andrew for doing everything you do, and Happy New Year everyone!