Performance at The Esplanade - 14 Nov 2011

 http://www.esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/nostalgic_moods/index.jsp

The Performing Stage at the Concourse

 How time flies again !  It was only last year in late August that I decided on something I had never seriously done before...forming a musical group mainly of seniors and retirees for musical singalongs and get togethers. To be sure of continuity and to attract more and new faces the happening must be regular, must provide a platform for others to come together to simply enjoy crooning together, play a musical instrument, share and learn. The main thing is that everyone must have FUN and enjoy what they are there for.

Audience area - front of Stage

That was how it began. Once a week on a Wednesday, we'll meet at the Serangoon North Community Club soundproofed music room for our regular gig. Unk Dicko had to do practically everything from planning the sessions, sourcing the song lyrics and musical tabs, chords and notes. Getting them printed out so that files of songs are made...with the help of cc staff etc. Lots of stuff needed to be done.
It took a lot of my time and effort. But it was always a labour of love to me especially when I see how happy and passionate some who first came turned out to be.



Concourse Performing Stage at Esplanade

Within a month or so, I had been approached to get my "group" to entertain and perform at a number of public functions and events.

Most of the regular members had never performed on stage before a live audience. So it was a challenge for me to prepare them for this next hurdle in their changing life.

Since then, my Minstrels have performed big time as you can read in my earlier blogposts.

Unk Dicko and Esplanade Programmes Officer Desmond C

 On Monday 14 November 2011, my performing group known as " Dick Yip &The Minstrels " have been specially invited to perform at the opening of " A Date with Friends" which is a music festival under the Esplanade auspices.
We will be the first to kick off the series with " Nostalgic Moods "- entertaining at the Concourse.
Time 7.15pm and 8.15 pm .
 Free for all public.


The Beautiful River scene by the Esplanade


The grounds beside the Esplanade is so scenic and relaxing. It's a good setting to enjoy an early dinner with many restaurants and cafes there and simply stroll into the Concourse for relaxing music!

If you do that on Monday 14 Nov, come and say hello to me and my Minstrels. I'll be most happy if you do that!

Dick Yip & The Minstrels




The Esplanade - picture source official website of the Esplanade





Unk Dicko entertained at a huge event at Zoo.

5,000 people celebrate Grandparents Day at Singapore Zoo

By Tan Qiuyi

Posted: 28 November 2010 1946 hrs

Channel News Asia online news

[Photo: CNA online news - Unk Dicko & The Minstrels ]

SINGAPORE :

Some 5,000 people celebrated Grandparents Day at the Singapore Zoo on Sunday. Part of a slew of active-ageing activities organised by the Council for Third Age (C3A) this month, the event had participants aged between 4-months and those in their 70s.

A scavenger hunt, games and live music provided ample opportunity for multi-generational fun at the event. Grandparents Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of November every year.

-CNA /ls.

Unk Dicko was invited by the Council of Third Age to perform and entertain at the main stage of this big event. The special invitation was made more than a month ago.

So yesterday morning , me and my 'Minstrels' made our way to the Singapore Zoo where the Grandparents Day celebrations were held. Fortunately, I had asked members of my group to be there by 9.15 am. We were slated to perform at 10.15 am at the main stage of the Event venue.

By the time I got there, only 3 empty parking lots were left.

The many vehicles that came later had to park along the 1.5 km approach road to the zoo, all the way to the main junction of Mandai Road!

It was that crowded.

Young parents and families of all races turned up in force to support and honour their own grandparents. It was good to see that many people doing this. Quite a number even had elderly grandparents in wheelchairs coming for this event.

My minstrels and I walked to the Performing area amidst a sea of excited kids and other visitors, enjoying the sights, sounds and especially the unmistakable scent of animal droppings that was ever present in the morning air.

Soon as we neared the stage, Felicia..one of the event co-ordinators excitedly asked me if we were all ready to start. I looked at my watch which showed 10.am. Obviously the earlier item must have ended earlier than expected and they could not just keep the crowd waiting for the next 15 minutes with nothing to hold their attention.

Being always ready and well-prepared has its advantage as in such situations...I meant our group.

Immediately, I gathered our minstrels and strode on stage. Checked the mics and music stand.

The emcee had made an introduction of myself to the crowd.

I tuned and played some warming up notes on my Ukulele as I engaged the crowd. Nice and really pleasant audience seated on white chairs.

It is always very useful and important to engage the audience a little before a performance in "live' entertainment like ours. Such rapport guarantees there will be some enthusiastic response from those watching you.

How to do so effectively is not a secret, more a natural tendency and knack.

We were slated for a 15 minute slot in our 1st segment. Turned out it was over 25 minutes.

That means being ready to entertain with more song requests.

What was our 1st segment like?

Details in part 2....lots of pics.

Active Ageing Carnival 2009..unk Dicko & friends entertain again

The ACTIVE AGEING CARNIVAL for this year was officailly launched on Saturday 20 June 2009 at Suntec City. It was a 2 day affair that drew huge crowds to that place.
I was invited by the organisers ...the Council of Third Age (C3A) to add buzz to the atmosphere with another public Ukulele Performance.
Despite my heavy responsibilities at the Asian Youth Games Village going on at that same time, this was something unk Dicko had to do.
As I had done previously, I invited my close friend Richard Chee to join me for this event.
In January this year at the Big Expo, also at Suntec City, we had wowed the large crowd over 2 days with solid ukulele music and old time favourites.
You can check out lots of posts and 2 videos in my January 2009 archives.
Photo:
Getting ready by testing our ukuleles on the sound system.
We were to perform at the open air Tropics Atrium on a stage with a raised platform.

The entire hall was packed with a lot of people, mostly seniors and many with kids around. The noise level was deafening mostly coming from the general PA system and many of the booths.

As Richard and I got ready for our gig, I was more than a little apprehensive about the sheer loudness of all the combined noises.

So I approached some support staff to tweak the noise level down a little and to control the PA system better or otherwise no one will be able to hear the sweet sounds of our ukuleles.

We had our own portable amplifier set with us and wired to our ukuleles. When all was ready, I introduced ourselves and Richard to the audience. For this performance, I had prepared a good selection of songs from local favourites, to traditional, Hawaiian, popular evergreens and some "funny" songs for the kids. There will be time for requests by the audience too. What songs did they request for? In my next post I will cover this.

Performing in public is not new to us and we were very comfortable being ourselves as we began to entertain the crowd before us.

We started out with some local favourites that always got them going...Di Tanjong Katong, Dayung Sampan, Chan Mali Chan....etc.

Even as I was performing and entertaining the crowd, I was always observing their faces and body language to gauge their reaction not only to the songs but to the way that we were playing them..

The feedback I received from some of those present were most encouraging. They had thoroughly enjoyed the songs and music and wished there were more. We performed for about 45 minutes.

Singing with combined gusto and a certain " naturalness" got the crowd into an appreciative mood very quickly.

While we entertained, my wife D2 was shooting with the camcorder for the very first time. She is not only new to filming but also new to the working of that camera.

So, I have no real idea how it would be...until I can check it out.

Ps: More posts and interesting things to come still.

Unk Dicko Public Ukulele Performance at Suntec today

ACTIVE AGEING CARNIVAL 2009
Suntec City

The carnival for this year starts today ! A number of of last years' 7 Active Ageing Award Winners will be involved in the Launch off...including unk Dicko who has been invited
to do a Ukulele Performance at the Tropics Atrium, Level 1 Suntec City.
Performance time has been changed to
2.15 - 2.45 pm. ( Half an hour ).

What will I be performing?
Some traditional Hawaiian songs.
Some local songs.
Some old forgotten campfire songs.
And favourites to please the crowd.

So do get down there if you can.
And if you love Ukulele ....don't miss it.
The last time I performed there was in January this year.
The crowd response was fantastic!

Stage Programme at Tropics Atrium (Day 1)
Date: 20 June 2009, Saturday
Time: 11.30am – 8.00pm

Suntec City (Tropics Atrium)
11.30am
Fabulous Workout by Health Promotion Board
11.40am
Emcee Opening speech
11.45am
Demonstration of Hunyuan Taijiquan by Xin Ying Wu Shu
12.00pm
Active Lifestyle as Self-Care by Mr. Jeremy Koh
12.30pm
Common Eye Problems in the Elderly by The Eye and Aesthetic Clinic
1.00pm
Hydroponics Gardening by Hydroponics & Plant Care
1.30pm
Golden Age: What is the special care needed to keep teeth and gums healthy after fifty-five by Dr. Yasmin Akrum
2.00pm

Showcase of Selected AA Glamour Search Participants
2.05pm

Active Agers Fashion Show by Mrs Singapore
2.15pm

Ukulele Performance by Mr. Dick Yip and Friends
2.35pm

Image Consultancy for Seniors by Ms. Shelley Siu
3.05pm

Active Agers Glamour Search Competition and Prize Giving
3.15pm

Shark Fin / Animal Protection Issues by ACRES
3.30pm

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the Management of Diabetes and its Complications by Tsao Foundation
4.30pm

English and Chinese Oldies Sing-Along by Caregiver and Friends
5.15pm

Guitar and Choir Performance by Mr Chua and Friends
5.35pm

Protection and Retirement Planning for Great Health and Wealth by Centre for Seniors
6.00pm

Ukulele Performance by Centre for Seniors
6.35pm

Fit-Band Demonstration by Vitage Fitness
6.50pm

Hair Show by Professional Hair Studio
7.15pm

Public Libraries: Your Partner in Learning by Public Libraries Singapore
7.45pm

Chair Workout by NTUC Club
8.00pm

Carnival Close

The Ukulele Performance at the EXPO.

This was the Performing Pavillion at the "Living" section. Gurmit was very sporting indeed. When I asked him to join us in the introductory medley of songs, he said.. " Sure...why not? " .
As I had mentioned in my earlier post, I had planned on performing as a duo as I had invited a friend Richard C ,to join me.

Then when we were there, Richard Lim from the Scout Hq requested to join us. He was slated to be on his own initially.

I have never met him before, so wasn't quite sure if he knew the songs I had in mind or how to play them well on the Ukulele or even how to "manage" a crowd before us.
So, with no such pre-information..I gently told him to follow my lead and tips..as we started to entertain.
He was generally an affable chap.
Gurmit was really terrific! But stage presence and performing in public is nothing to him. He was so relaxed. I suppose if something disastrous happens while playing, he could always turn it into a comical act!

The Ukulele performance
I turned around and double checked that both Richard L and Richard C...their Ukuleles are synchronised to both of mine. It was fortunate I did that as R C had tuned his differently from ours. He was thinking if he played on say the Key of G, then I could play something else and still be in tune!

Without sufficient experience, knowledge and greater understanding of chords and tablature, anyone can fall into such a potential disaster...esp when performing in public.

So, RC had to retune his uke to standard tuning as ours.

Then, I would say the key we would play in and after that we started out with local, familiar songs which is always a good thing as the crowd can join in either singing or clapping.

It is also a good thing to play a continuous medley of songs with about similar beat and rhythm and tempo...to avoid breaking up into staccato parts.

I could see the crowd really warming up. Soon, dancers from the Line Dance area adjacent to us, were drawn to the sweet sounds coming from us. They came as small groups and joined by many others...the crowd swelled. Gurmit was not putting on an act. He was really enjoying singing and playing along with us to entertain the crowd. There was a moment when he thought he had to go as he was down to perform elsewhere. But his agent signalled back that he still had some time..and he was so happy that he could continue.

When finally he had to go, I went to the Mic and asked the crowd to give him a " Big Hand". He even had time to have snapshots with some of us at his suggestion.

We continued with our songs and ukulele doing a couple of oldies, evergreens and a few more country numbers. There were requests which were made verbally by bold people as well as shy persons. We accomodated those that fit in with the atmosphere.