Grand Northern Ukulele Festival - GNUF 2017 - dates announced!

I love GNUF.

It's so jam - packed with all sorts of exciting things going on...

It's so varied...

There are so many lovely people there...

The music is wonderful, as is the atmosphere...

And there's going to be a Fifth one!

Can you figure out the dates?

You'll spot artists from past GNUFs sharing the date here! Just click the pic!



In case you can't read them on your phone... put this one in your diary... The fifth GNUF will begin on the fifth day of the fifth month of 2017!

In Huddersfield...

The organisers will be releasing the line-up later on... but a little bird told me that the wonderfully talented and versatile Andy Eastwood will among them! Fabulous...

The Wigan Boat Express - on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway?

Second day of the George Formby Society meeting in the North Yorkshire Moors, June 2016. First day enjoyed by all, ukulele and banjo-ukulele, Formby songs and non-Formby songs, friendship and music, smiles everywhere, birdsong and sheep just a step away outside Goathland Village Hall. Idyllic. The subject of my last post.

Second day - we met on the platform of Grosmont station, ready to catch a train just up the line to Goathland. A few songs on the platform, to the amusement of the other tourists, and at last the steam train came in. What wonderful beasts these old engines are, lovingly kept going by the devoted steam enthusiasts... when this one came in, it was promptly adorned with a new (temporary) headboard - name-plate - on the front of the engine.... WIGAN BOAT EXPRESS!

The Wigan Boat Express is one of George Formby's comic songs, dating to 1940. The running joke is that Wigan is a seaside town (it isn't) and that it has a pier - where, presumably one might board a ferry or even a ship - in fact, Wigan Pier is a wharf on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, redeveloped in the 1980's - but of his book, "The Road to Wigan Pier" George Orwell wrote "Well, I am afraid I must tell you that Wigan Pier doesn’t exist. I made a journey specially to see it in 1936, and I couldn’t find it. It did exist once, however, and to judge from the photographs it must have been about twenty feet long." A boat express was a train to take travelers to catch a ferry or a boat...

Well, we sang and played The Wigan Boat Express on the platform, alongside the newly-but- only-temporarily-named train... well, what a hoot! There followed a ride on the train - some of us just went to the next station, to Goathland, and from there we walked through the beautiful moorland countryside to a lovely old pub, the Birch Hall Inn, at Beck Hole. Good beer, good pies, wonderful sandwiches... and those of us who were still there well into the afternoon - we played.

Are we going to do it again next year? You bet we are....

Personal thanks here to Caroline Stewart, Chairman of the GFS, for organising every last detail....



Photos courtesy of Robert Rayner, Tony Jackson, Kate Howard, Caroline Stewart

A Ukafrolic in the North Yorkshire Moors with the George Formby Society!

It was the summer convention of the George Formby Society the other week. We never miss. Been going regularly for four years now, LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) and I. At first it was for the welcoming atmosphere and the music, but quickly we found that we also looked forward to meeting the new friends we'd made there. But this time we did have to miss it.... all packed up and ready to head north to Blackpool, we headed south instead, to be with our daughter, who had fallen awkwardly and broken her arm. The really important things do serve to divert the mind even from Ukafrolics! Glad to say, she's on the mend...

As luck would have it, an extra meeting had been arranged to take place a couple of weeks later in the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors... at Goathland, a village on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. All organised by GFS chairman, my very good friend Caroline Stewart. We rented a cottage for a couple of nights with friends and wow, what a weekend it was! It was all willing hands welcome, when we arrived to prepare the room at Goathland Village Hall... set up all the important things - microphones and sound system, chairs and tables for the audience, the bar, and the tea/coffee station. By the time we'd finished, folk had started to arrive with their instruments and friends and family. It was just grand, and the weather smiled on us too!

It seemed to me that everyone who had brought a uke or two got up on that stage and had a go... plenty of George Formby songs, but other great songs as well, and yes, I did get up there as well .... and to crown the day we had Gabriela La Foley and we had the GFS Musical Director, Matthew J Richards. First class entertainers, both! Everyone was wonderfully entertained from 2.00 in the afternoon til 10.00 at night, with a short break for pie and peas and the raffle. Kate had made some souvenir key rings specially for the event, and every one was sold ... all costs were covered by takings and the raffle, and there was even a surplus, which went straight to the charity for prostate cancer.

And as for the fun, that was just the Saturday! I'll tell you about the Sunday next time!

So here's a few pics...

Caroline Stewart, organiser and GFS Chairman, mans the sound system!

The LSH's.... Long-Suffering-but-very-supportive-Husbands... (mine, Caroline's and Kate's!) do a wonderful job of manning the bar!

Newly-weds Clarice and Mark Ramsden!

A George Formby Society meeting is never complete without a thrash!

Photo courtesy of Robert Rayner

Lovely pic of Pat and Trev singing the Marrow song! Oh, what a beauty!

Caroline Stewart and Peter Pollard

Clarice Ramsden
Photo courtesy of Robert Rayner

Gabriela da Foley
Photo courtesy of Robert Rayner

Kate Howard
Photo courtesy of Chris Richards

Geoff and Pat
Photo courtesy of Robert Rayner

Yours truly with my Gibson UB2
Photo courtesy of Chris Richards

Caroline Stewart with my DJ Morgan uke..
Photo courtesy of Chris Richards

John, Kate and Martin in the bar

Yours truly with one of Kate's lovely commemorative key rings!

Matt Richards leading a thrash playing his Ludwig banjo-uke


Of course there were more performers than I have pictured here - and I have tended to gather photos of my friends... more pics may well be added to this little collection in the next few weeks.

So this was the Saturday... but Sunday was a cart-load of fun, too! That'll be coming up - very soon. Regular readers will know that this is a very personal blog of a very personal ukulele journey, and I do hope you enjoy reading it. I try to document interesting points along the way, and share stuff I really like at the same time. As I said, very personal. So if you're reading this, thanks for dropping in and coming this far with me... right, back to practising Magic Ukulele Waltz!

Ben Rouse with Aldrine Guerrero and James Agg at UFGB

LSH is having the lads in tonight. This is becoming an annual tradition - himself and a few pals to chew the fat and make some noise away from the women. Last year he thought I'd be going out - I wasn't - so I shut myself away upstairs with my uke and amused herself quite satisfactorily, thank you, while gales of male laughter came up the stairs. Well, it would be no hardship to do it again tonight, but it turns out that the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are playing tonight in the next town. That'll do for me! I phoned a pal and we'll be there. The fellas can make as much noise as they like.

These days when I know the UOGB are going to be around, the first thing I think of is, "Will Ben be among them?" Ben Rouse. A really nice and highly talented young man I met for the first time at GNUF (Grand Northern Ukulele Festival) last year, although I had seen him perform before. Ben plays fantastic ukulele and I was pretty wowed at GNUF to see him doing a great job accompanying Mike Hind on double bass. So I was very pleased to see a few months ago that he now plays with the wonderful and very famous Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain!

I saw Ben most recently in Cheltenham at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain. One of the headline acts was Aldrine Guerrero - my, what a player! (see also... Ukulele Underground) To keep this brief, what a wonderful surprise - on the Sunday afternoon open mic stage, who should appear but Aldrine, flanked as always by Aaron Nakamura but also by Ben and James Agg! Myrna and I hadn't been able to get a seat in the pub beer garden, so we were sitting on our coats on the grass right in front of the stage... how lucky... I was able to get some good video. Here it is, for your delectation!



Well, wasn't that something special!

See it on Youtube here...

There will be more on Ben and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain before too long.

Meanwhile, thanks for dropping in! Busy busy, off I go again...

I'll Get By - with LSH beside me...

I'll Get By
by Fred E Ahlert and Roy Turk, 1928

Times are just a little gloomy right now. Little tremors in the ground beneath the feet. Could be a lot worse, could be rather better... counting the blessings... and I found myself singing this song to myself this morning. "I'll get by, as long as I have you...." thinking of dear LSH of course, Long-Suffering-Husband, always supportive, always positive, always my rock for more than 40 years... "I'll get by" as long as he's there. So anyway, I thought I'd test myself and try to work out the chords by ear. I do this occasionally; I've done it since childhood to amuse myself on piano and recorder, and it's a great thing to try to do it on ukulele - I don't do it enough really. But the fact that I've worked this out with some parts as chord melody with chords up the neck (including some 9ths) is credit to the musician who was my teacher last year, and to whom I'm returning for a few more lessons - Phil Doleman. Highly recommended!

I’ll Get By (my version - if you're not keen, try Doctor Uke...)

C I’ll get by as long as E7* I Dm7 have Dm you,

C#dim Though Dm there be Dm9* rain Dm7* and G7sus4 dark G7 ness too

G7sus4 I’ll G7 not G7sus2 complain, G7 I’ll C see it C#dim through G7

C Though you may be far E7* away, Dm7 it’s Dm true A7 Dm

C#dim Say F what care D9* I, D7* dear,

C* I’ll get A9* by A7 as Dm long as Dm7 I G7 have C you


(C#dim G7)


• I use the chord shapes below …

Dm9 5557
Dm7 5555
E7 4445
D9 5657
D7 5655
C 5433
A9 0102


G7sus4 0213
G7sus2 0210

The suspended chords are just based on the G7 – here moving with the melody.

After I'd done this, I searched on line and found a version on Doctor Uke's pages. It's also in C, and a little different. Song number 640. He also has it in the key of A, which I haven't actually looked at yet.

Actually the key of C is a little low for singing here - for a woman, anyway. If I were to use this to sing with the uke I would use a uke in D tuning, or Eb... ie ADF#B or Bb Eb G C

Perhaps I'll do a video. But not today.

I'm still gathering photos to report on various Ukafrolics - keep the faith, I'll be back soon! And thanks again for dropping in!

Andy Eastwood - consummate musician!

Here's another lovely quickie for you... Andy Eastwood - well-known as a highly skilled performer of George Formby songs, perhaps not quite so well-known as all-round musician and entertainer that he is. He has great stage presence and as you see from the above video clips, he plays wooden uke, violin and piano with consummate skill. The video says it all, doesn't it!

He's featured with a full-length article in the very classy publication "UKE Magazine (issue 6) (June 2016 here in the UK.

We're delighted to have seen Andy play live several times - UFGB (Ukulele Festival of Great Britain) in 2013, at the George Formby conventions in Blackpool, when he can get there; supporting comedian Ken Dodd and in the revue "We'll Meet Again". What an entertainer!

If you've never had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Andy live, I recommend you catch up with him in July...

Coming up in July...
3 Jul: Charing Cross Theatre, London
10 Jul: Grand Opera House, York
23-24 Jul: Isle of Wight Ukulele Festival, Newport
29-31 Jul: Czech Ukulele Festival, Prague

Thanks for dropping in - I'll be back soon with another post... more ukafrolics!

See the video on Youtube here

Streets of London - played by Ken Middleton

Lots of Ukafrolics to tell you about - which involves me sitting down and writing some.... so while I get myself organised for that, here's a lovely song from Ken Middleton, Ralph McTell's Streets of London, played by Ken on his Mike Pereira tenor at the Ukulele Festival of Scotland 2016, held in Dumfries back in May. It's rather gorgeous. He writes "I have tried to merge Streets of London with the chord sequence to Pachelbel's Canon...." Mmmmmm - lovely.....

Watch it on Youtube here....

As Time Goes By - Seasonistas separated by thousands of miles WILL get together to duet!

Myrna Ukelele and I are keen adherents of the Ukulele Underground, which is based in Hawaii but has members all over the world. It has a branch called the Ukulele Underground Forum, which has in its turn spawned a sub-section of light-hearted weekly contests called Seasons of the Ukulele. If you enter, you are a "Seasonista"!

Myrna was there at Season number One, which to my reckoning was in 2011... and she seldom misses a Season. As you see from the title of the video below, last week was Season number 226, and although she had only just landed (literally, she flew in....) to stay with us and to travel to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire for a uke festival, we just had to get our heads together to see what we could produce as an entry for the week's Season, themed "It's About Time".

As an example of Seasonistas singing and playing together, it felt pretty special, as Myrna's home in Alaska is no less than 4,400 miles away from mine in the middle of England!



As Time Goes By

Oh my goodness, we did enjoy doing that; we have been watching each others' entries in the Seasons for four years, and it's amazing how often we've picked the same song to sing - similar musical tastes in many ways! So choosing this song to sing and play together was really quite easy.

It was written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931, and featured in the iconic film "Casablanca", (1942)

As I write, Myrna is a mile high on her way back home to Alaska, but we had the most wonderful time together at the weekend at the UFGB in Cheltenham, the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain... we sang, we played, we both took part in the Open Mic on Sunday, and we watched the most fantastic concert of varied ukulele music on Saturday. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it, I promise!

And I won't forget to tell you about GNUF either - Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, which we both attended just a few weeks before, and I have not had time to report on! Yes I know what you're thinking, Myrna flew in for Cheltenham... yes, It's complicated! Myrna is a great traveller, and really does get around!

Trust me, just watch this space! And thanks for dropping in!

Life and Ukulele - the whirl goes on....

As I write, I have paused for a minute or two mid-mop, vac and dusting... preparing to welcome into our home a new ukulele friend from thousands of miles away, Myrna Ukelele. We live in the English midlands, she lives in Alaska. How does this come about? The first link is the Ukulele Underground, and specifically the branch of UUers who take part in the weekly fun contest, Seasons of the Ukulele. Myrna has been in there from week 1, myself from week 29. It's now week..... not sure. Been too busy to take part. OK so it's Season 226 now. So you make friends, watching each other's youtube videos. Then suddenly, someone makes it across the sea to a uke festival. Seasonistas can meet up for real. Isn't that wonderful? Myrna and I met up a few weeks ago at GNUF, the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, held in Huddersfield in the north of England - since then she has been in France and in a couple of hours time she lands at my local airport, where LSH and I will be meeting her. A home-cooked meal later on, even a strum and a song or two ..... then tomorrow off we go to Cheltenham to the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain.

I must stop there... busy busy...

Watch this space!

Have I lost interest in the ukulele?

If you are one of the lovely people who follows my blog - and if you do you must be lovely! - you must be thinking that I have indeed lost interest. I haven't posted on here for more than two months, and this is unheard of! But no, let me assure you, my interest is as alive as ever, it's just that I have been awfully busy with other stuff. You know, life. And I don't find it easy to concentrate too hard on all sorts of things at once. The blog went right on the back-burner. Sorry about that. So this post is just to check in, and say yes, I'm still here, still playing, nothing has changed, and right now I'm looking forward to going to Huddersfield in a couple of days to go to the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival!

It's going to be great, it always is.

But now I'm off again... still busy... I'll try to get back to you pretty soon to tell you about all the wonderful ukey things I have been up to since I last posted. I promise....!

Michelle Nicole Rivera, Sunday Morning and Happy Birthday to this blog.....

I suddenly realised this morning that it's now four years since I started this blog. Four years.... so where am I now, uke-wise? As enthusiastic as ever, for a start. I own a lot more ukuleles, and there's still one that I lust after - a Beltona resonator. And I wouldn't say no to a Wendell Hall banjo-uke...

I do play a little better than I did four years ago... but then, I should, shouldn't I, if I practice - which I do. During the last twelve months I've enjoyed taking lessons from the festival favourite Phil Doleman - I've stopped now for a while - he's taught me so much that I need to work on it all before I try to absorb any more... but I'll be back in a few months. As for uke festivals and the like, I love them, and never miss the George Formby Conventions in Blackpool either, as I belong to that rather rare breed, a "foot-in-each-camp" uker. That is, wooden uke and the banjo-uke, especially played Formby-style.

Today, I'm on the last day of taking a turn at hosting the Ukulele Underground's Seasons of the Ukulele... we're on Season 212, and as I'm host, I get to choose the theme - the Season started on Mothering Sunday in the UK, so I chose "Play this one for your Mum"... and all week I've been busy keeping up with the entries, watching the videos and commenting on them. This is one of the entries, by a newcomer to the Seasons, and we all hope she'll be back to do more... Michelle Nicole Rivera. She blew everyone away with this cover of Sunday Morning... please enjoy! And Happy Birthday to Life's a Ukafrolic.... it still is, truly.. it still is!

A pink ukulele? You can't be serious! (1)

I'm currently the owner of a pink ukulele. It and I happened to be in the same place - it, unwanted and unloved, hanging on the wall in the reclamation depot attached to our local refuse tip, and I, on the way to the tip, (been watching "Hoarders"... nothing like it for making you want to de-clutter...) was there just for a browse. How could I possibly turn my back on it, an orphan uke - it hadn't even been taken to a charity shop... the price? Just a few pounds. I looked it over, tuned it by ear and had a strum. Nothing wrong with it, the tuners held and you could see it had not really been played - no finger marks on the fretboard at all, though the frets had the first signs of rust. Of course I didn't need it... in a shop, I would not have given it a second look, but it was an unloved orphan and I simply had to adopt it.

So the Little Pink Uke came home with me. I snipped the cheapo strings off, gave the frets a quick rub up (they shine nicely now) and restrung it with a spare set of Aquilas. And then the newly-loved little uke just had to have a name... Annie! Little Orphan Annie! No, I agree, not very original... but then, she won't mind and she won't come when I call her either!

How long she'll stay, I don't know... perhaps she'll become the summerhouse uke, ready to lend out to interested folk... but one thing I didn't really expect - this baby, this little pink Mahalo has perfect intonation - yes, you read that right, perfect intonation - every fret, all the way up the fretboard! No, you don't expect that with a Mahalo, or any cheap ukulele. It just goes to show - what people will throw away.

Round about the same time, I had cause to give some serious thought to the subject of little coloured ukes, and pink ones in particular.

Curious? I hope so! More of that next time. I do like my blog posts bite-sized - easier to write, quicker to read! I suspect that you do, too! Thanks for dropping in!

John Bianchi original, "Going Back To My Dreams"

It's so long since John Bianchi posted a uke video that I really was afraid that perhaps he wasn't playing any more - too busy blowing his trumpet with a band! Well, clarinet and saxophone, actually! Multi-talented! So to see this video of John singing one of his original songs with his vintage Martin was a lovely and very welcome surprise. And it's a corker of a song! I enjoyed it so much, I watched it twice over right away.



Watch it here on Youtube....

John excels at the songs of the 20's, 30's and 40's, he plays these songs so well and his voice is perfectly suited - I've been posting his videos on here for as long as I've been writing this blog - very nearly four years! His playing, on banjo-uke as well as wooden uke, has been an inspiration to me from the word "go".

Now of course - this is an original song which takes its style from and pays great tribute to those old songs from way-back-when.... and you know what? I think it's every bit as good. It deserves to be played all over the place! I do believe he has a few more like this in the pipe-line - and I can't wait to hear them!

That band.... The Buck And A Quarter Quartet.... next time you're in New York!

("Genre: Traditional jazz and classic pop from the teens, 20s and 30s...and a few vintage-themed originals..")

Meet my new baby - D J Morgan mini-pineapple uke - "Morganino"! in maple....

A new baby always brings joy, admiring smiles, cries of "How cute!" and "Oh what a pretty little thing!" and new ukulele babies are exactly the same... none more so than a pretty sopranino. So meet my new Pineapple baby - Polly!

I knew Dave Morgan (D J Morgan Ukuleles) was building some... and I am over the moon to be the proud owner of number MP12 001 - the prototype!

The scale length is exactly 295mm, and the total length is 450mm... a typical Martin-style 12 frets to the body soprano has a scale length of 350mm, total length 515mm.

Here she is next to her big sister Sprucey Lucy - (14 frets to the body, not 12.)

Visually I like a lot of things - Dave (Morgan) has the artist's eye for balance and style... the overall look is perfectly balanced; the pineapple shape is a pleasing one and it's echoed in the shape of the sound hole. The solid maple fretboard looks just right. It's interesting that maple turns to a rich honey colour over time, and this uke will do that.

This little uke is built of solid maple with a poplar neck and finished with a matte cellulose lacquer. She's not only really pretty, with the maple grain and the signature Morgan stripes on the headstock (green veneer, suggestive of pineapple leaves) but she sounds amazing!


In spite of the short scale length, she sounds just great in C tuning, but I've tuned her up to D tuning and she really sings! Listen for yourself.... I haven't tried tuning her up further to Eb yet, but I will...

This is what she sounds like in D!


The build quality is impeccable... and Dave makes everything himself except for the frets and the tuners. Simply - can't fault 'em....

So.... this is a prototype but Dave is going to be building more... he tells me he's aiming to use sustainable woods for this line of ukes and also to keep the price very affordable. So watch out... the Morganinos are on their way!

Thanks for dropping in, I really appreciate it... do come back now!

World Ukulele Day? What is this?

Some things make me realise what an awkward cuss I can be.... for example... World Ukulele Day....? What is this? Why? I just don't get it. What is the point, can someone tell me please?

For more than four years, every day has been Ukulele Day for me... and it just so happens that yesterday, on World Ukulele Day... (says who?) I simply did NOT play a ukulele.

At all.

So there.

Thanks for dropping in, even if it was only to hear me having a grump. Stay and have a read of some back posts, you're very welcome!

Krabbers Talks About Songwriting!

Mike Krabbers is a ukulele player who is deservedly highly acclaimed as a songwriter. If you've never heard his songs, listen to this one, and then you'll know why.


Mike, you’ve written a lot of really good songs… did you write songs before you played ukulele?

"Yes I did, I have been making up songs and poems for as long as I can remember.
My dad used to play a ukulele when I was very young and I used to muck about with that, I also had a Bontempi Reed organ which I used to play a lot."

When did you write your first song?

"I can't remember, thinking back I did make up a song whilst jamming with some friends in my dads garage called “White Mouse” but don't ask how it went!" I did write a few songs in the eighties for my various musical ventures, but then got into writing poems, some of which have become ukulele songs."

About how many songs have you written, would you say?

"Not sure, but I have started putting them on the Onsong app on my ipad and I have just over a hundred so far."

I described how I write a song - what is your usual creative process, if you have such a thing as a “usual” one? Do you start with finding a chord sequence? Your chord progressions are very interesting….
"It changes all the time, It could be a sound or a rhythm, it could be an accidental strum which sounds good, it's hard to say, most of my songs start as poems, then I muck around with chords after."

Do your words and melody come together, or does one of those come first then you find the other to fit?

"Phrases come first, then the rhyme, then a four line poem normally, or I get a good phrase and repeat it a lot, it saves on ink!"

Do you ever get song ideas in the middle of the night? If so, what do you do?

"No I don't, but I do have a dream book where I write down stuff that happens to me, I have very weird dreams!"

Has playing ukulele been an important factor in your songwriting? If so, how has it helped?

"Yes, due to it always being there, it's easy to have with you, to pick up and play."

How do you preserve your songs?

"I record them, write them down."

At what point do you decide that a song is finished? I find that once I have my lyrics, melody and chords and can play it in a way that “will suffice, the best I can currently do with it” then I’m done. But often I think I should probably craft the thing further in various ways.

I never know when a song is finished, they change a lot. One of my first MySpace songs in the days before YouTube was “I got u 2 thank” a happy country style song in C, which I used to play live in my band Six Miles Away, is now a better song in Em and spelt properly, so they change all the time.
I guess you could think them finished once you have uploaded them or pressed a CD, but for me they can keep changing. “Preowned” for instance on my CD “Secondhand Backpack” was still just an idea when we recorded it in the studio, the version on the CD was the first time I had played it, it changed almost immediately after. “Best Friend At My Side” has never changed, neither has “Leave A Light On For Me” but they are story songs, so that's probably why."

Is there one song that you think is possibly your best and favourite among the songs you’ve written?

"At the moment I think my best song so far is “Peace of Rock” but favourites are When You Come to Say Goodbye and “Candles”

One thing I would say is write or record every idea as they disappear very quickly if left hanging."

Mike, thanks so much for that!

Mike has performed at uke festivals GNUF and GSUF and will be performing, leading massed jams and hosting open mics at the Ukulele Festival of Scotland in early May... visit www.ukulelefestivalofscotland.co.uk to book your tickets! At GNUF in Huddersfield later in May he will be performing in the duo "The Hedge Inspectors" with his wife Caroline.

If you can't get to a uke festival in the UK, you can catch Mike and Caroline in their podcast, unplugthewood

He can also be found on itunes!

Thanks for dropping in! I really mean that... come back soon!

Patsy Monteleone sings Hush a Bye

Hush A Bye, also known as "All The Pretty Little Horses"

As soon as I began to watch this video by Patsy Monteleone I knew I had to drop everything and blog it immediately. He sings this old lullaby with such sensitivity, and his finger-picking on the banjo-uke just blows me away on this! So beautifully done! And the banjo-uke as instrument of choice is simply inspired! It all falls "just right" on the ears...

The origin of this song is not fully known. Read all about here on Wikipedia.

Watch it here on Youtube

Just a quickie, see! Sometimes I just have to drop everything and do it, a very quick blog post to share something I think is stupendous! Thank you Patsy, for this!

As for me, I know I really want to study that finger-picking pattern!

Thanks for joining me on here for this! Coming up... it's Krabbers!

Songwriting - to me it's like trying to catch a fairy...

Catching a fairy - I nearly caught one yesterday but I let it go - I woke up at about 5.00 am, and there was a flash of a fairy's wing, a short musical phrase formed in my head... I clung to it, words came to it... the "fairy" was becoming tangible...I allowed myself to wake up a little and developed the song - I know I had it about a third written, being happy that it was original, it was "my" song... and remember thinking "I need to capture this on paper before I go back to sleep..." but I failed to do that. Next thing I knew, it was 7.30, I had slept again and the song had gone forever. I could not remember the tiniest bit. The fairy had flown. Folk who have flashes of nocturnal inspiration will be quite familiar with this scenario - the inspiration that dissolves with sleep.

The number of songs that I have finished writing and committed to video has risen from "a few" to "several" now... and they have all come the same way, not necessarily having their birth in the middle of the night or early in the morning... though actually, that does apply to most. So I thought I would share my own creative process.

I have often seen the advice to would-be songwriters, "play around with a chord sequence until you like it, experiment with a melodic line over it, then add lyrics"... and I know that many people use this method with success. As yet, that doesn't seem to suit me. I can only speak of my personal experience... when I have tried this, I haven't enjoyed it and it seems alien to me. Also, I find it difficult to begin to add words to a melody that's already formed. During the waking day, If I want to write a song, I do need to be in the mood, need to have that "magic cloak" on me... actually this comes to me most easily when I'm feeling very thoughtful and contemplative, generally. Living in my head. It may be a few words that someone said, a phrase that makes me think... and that sets me off. If I see a flash of that fairy wing I need to capture it right away... sometimes I grab my mobile(cell) phone and sing it into the "record" facility for later; if I can grab the minutes to develop it right away it's the notebook and pencil approach - but that bit of melody line must be preserved somehow... I might scribble out a quick five lines of stave and write it down, or write the pitch as tonic sol-fah - (d r m f s l t d) (doh ray me fah soh lah te doh)... and the rhythm in shorthand. I know I'm lucky to be able to do this - learned it years ago. The fact is, it has to be recorded somehow or it's forgotten. I have kept the song notebook and pencil by my bed for months now... and have been known to put the bedside light on at 5.30 am and start to scribble! The songs that have worked the best have been the ones where I know what I want to say in the lyrics... the most personal ones. If I've nothing to say, I have no real urge to write a song. I think that's why the "chord sequence" first has not worked worked for me yet. It's always the first words of the lyrics along with the first notes of the song that come first - and I build the song from there. When I've got enough of it down on paper to be a verse or chorus, I might sit down with the uke and start to put the chords in. I know how I want it to sound and I fiddle about with chords til I find the ones I want. This is where the ukulele scores for me - although I've played piano by ear to a small degree since I was in my teens, I could not have done this in my "before the ukulele" days. My keyboard skills and knowledge of chords structures simply didn't stretch that far. The uke is a godsend to songwriters!

What made me decide to start writing songs? Two things...

One, I decided a couple of years ago that I ought to be able to do it, therefore I should try... as a child of ten and eleven my favourite occupation was writing poems. I filled notebooks with them. Playing with rhyme is fully established in my brain from childhood. As for writing melody, it was an essential component of what used to be GCE "O" level Music back in the 1960's... which I did - always been a music lover. In fact in those days, for this exam at 16, we were taught to harmonise, on paper, a short melody for a choir to sing in 4 part harmony, SATB, (soprano, alto tenor and bass)... the syllabus for that exam is the basis of my musical knowledge. Similarly, we would be be given a few bars of the bass line, and have to write a melody over it. I don't know at which point in musical education this is learned in Britain these days. I wasn't that good at those things, it wasn't easy... but it was musical knowledge and experience, and priceless in its way. I did pass the exam though! At teacher training college I chose music as my main subject and again, there was some composition to do. No songwriting, however! But I love music, love language, enjoy being creative with both - and decided that I should at least TRY to put the two together and write some songs. I've left it late in life... but it's at this time in my life that having the time to do this presents itself. And time won't wait...

Oh yes the other thing? Briefly, seeing that other players on the Ukulele Underground Forum habitually write songs. I thought, "yes, perhaps I can do this, too..."

There is personal satisfaction to be had in completing a song, uke chords added... how much satisfaction depends entirely on my own perception of its quality... I don't like to feel that a line is clumsy, and I don't like the feeling that I've written a line of melody that in fact might be from a melody I've heard somewhere before. This is the aspect of songwriting that causes me some angst... but there you go, you can only do your best. I think my greatest thrill is in writing just one line of lyric that I'm particularly pleased with - a "golden line"... if I can write a couple of golden lines in a song, then I feel as if I've caught a particularly pretty fairy... perhaps even a green one - but that's another story!

There's a page with links to my songs.

Thanks for dropping in, thanks for reading! Perhaps you write songs, too - how do you go about it? Message me!

New Uke Day for Caroline Stewart! And we got to do a duet..

Regular readers will know what a fan I am of DJ Morgan Ukuleles. What's more, I take them places, people see them, play them, recognise them for the fine instruments that they are and very soon, they have one, too - or even two, too! So yesterday, my pal Caroline made the trip down to the Midlands from her home in North Yorkshire to pick up her own beautiful new DJ Morgan soprano.

Here it is...

Made of solid American Walnut, it sings like - it sings like every Morgan uke sings. Beautiful tone, and it's loud. The headstock features Dave's new signature design of three sets of twin thin lines, set art deco style... they look wonderful. And on this uke he has crafted a wooden rosette.

Here it is next next to my DJ Morgan soprano, my Sprucey Lucy! They make a fine pair!

Caroline stayed over with us and it was great to have an evening to play ukes, sing together and natter - so we did this video and posted it on the Ukulele Underground Seasons of the Ukulele...

That was such fun - and a rare treat to do, as we don't live near to each other at all. The video is very raw - recorded simply in front of my PC with the webcam, it's not edited in any way and I think the two ukes overpowered the microphone somewhat. But we had such fun doing it! I hope it's not too long til the next time! I'll see Caroline again at the next George Formby Convention, in Blackpool at the end of February... she'll be performing, as will a lot more highly talented players, especially of George Formby songs! Why not come along? Now, there's something to look forward to at the end of winter!

Thanks for dropping in! I'll be back soon, don't go too far away now!

My New Year Song for 2016 - It's 10.00 am At Hill And Midnight In Hawaii

On the 1st of January last year I posted a new year song I had written for my husband. Well, this time of year seems to be the time that I find it easiest to write - and yesterday I wrote a new year song for the friends who made us so welcome in Hawaii back in May.
So this is for Greg Wilson, and his good friend, my good friend, who would rather remain incognito! Here it is.... My goodness, I do wish I could sing it rather better. However, it came from the heart. I hope you like it.


(Played on my DJ Morgan spruce and maple soprano. When Barry Maz of Gotaukulele blog last mentioned one of these, he called it "sublime".)

There you go. As always, I feel and fear that the melody has come from somewhere else. If you know where, please do tell!

Thanks for dropping in... I'm enjoying writing my songs and I have one or two more to share with you. I've also got used to the way of working on them that seems to work for me - and I'll be telling you about that shortly, too. Thanks for your interest - I really do appreciate your company on here!