Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unk Dicko and the Minstrels...jamming, practising, rehearsing.

Here is a candid look at how Unk Dicko and the Garden Minstrels
prepare for performances we have been invited to and which we have
accepted.

For our public events, most of the songs are selected by me. I provide the
technical requirements for the songs, music and performance. However,
we all work as a team for the musical arrangements. With 2 guitars and 3
ukuleles plus the percussion section...it's a guaranteed blast!

This was like the gotong-royong days of old...very informal yet
much was achieved.

Receiving Malay lyrics input from our organiser friends.

Other minstrels provide percussion sounds to give it better tempo
and rhythm.

Steven and Chong on the right synchronising ukulele to guitar.

Unk Dicko ( lead ukulele), Steven Goh and Edmond Tan on Rhythm
guitars...working on our musical synchronisation and arrangements.

We had some ardent admirers when we rehearsed...here's one !
Double thumbs up, wow!

The Hari Raya celebrations of Kg Serangoon on Sunday 3 Oct 2010.
Unk Dicko and the Minstrels were invited to provide pre-Dinner entertainment
and to round up the night's function with a Performance/Singalong.

For this segment, the crowd was slowly arriving for registration with parents and
grandparents and their kids in tow. The Guest of Honour had not arrived yet.
So the Garden Minstrels provided the soothing sounds to keep one and all relaxed.
In many ways, this informal seranading was unique! We had a wide repertoire
of songs and as soon as I began playing the 'intro' to one, the others followed quite easily.

This is a truly enthusiastic bunch of new ukulele players/learners
who came to the Hwan Gardens public event at my invitation.
I wanted them to see for themselves a "live" performance involving
guitars and ukuleles...and provided them an opportunity to jam with
me after our gig. Sat, 18 September 2010...Hwan Gardens Park.
I had blogged about them in an earlier post. Check 'Minstrels at Hwan Gardens' in archives.
[ Photo source: Jennifer Yong ]

[ Photo source: Jennifer Yong ]
Unk Dicko showing some basic fingering techniques and strumming styles
to these young but eager learners.

It was 'J' who brought the group of family and friends
to meet up with me. She's a regular visitor of this Blog.
[ Photo source: Jennifer Yong ]

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