Thursday, August 6, 2009

Strumming in Rhythm...Active Ageing Carnival 2009

About midway through our performance, I paused to ask the audience if they have any request to just tell us verbally. Usually, someone will write the song title or the name of a singer on a piece of paper and hand it over to us. But this time there was no interval or breaks. So to save time , I encouraged them to simply call out the song they requested for.



There were quite a number of requests we entertained. A gentle voice from a lady called for that ever popular John Denver song....
"Country Road".

Another one was the evergreen
Indonesian song " Bengawan Solo".
This is a song that goes very well with the Ukulele. You can play it in a number of different styles. I prefer the "keroncong" beat for this particular song.


It's often useful to switch to different rhythm and beat. From slow. to normal and then to faster beats and back to slow again.
This way the audience get to see and hear the full range of creative sounds that can be produced and appreciate how versatile the ukulele as a musical instrument can be.
As a matter of fact, after our gig ended... a senior lady approached me and inquired if she can learn to play the ukulele under my coaching. She gave me her contact details for future lessons.

How long does it take to be able to play, strum and sing?
The kids whom I have taught ukulele to can play at the end of the very 1st session...simple songs using 2 chords.
Understandably, the more coaching and practice time a learner has will see a significant improvement in results.





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