Welcome to Ukulelear

Back in 2005 I brought a Roy Smeck ukulele to school. Kids were intrigued and wanted to try to play it themselves. The sound was pretty cool with just a few simple chords. Within a few weeks kids had bought their own Mahalo ukes and started to really enjoy playing.

Since that first ukulele group the Cal-Mum Uke club has had about forty students join-up every year. It has been a joy to teach in a school that is filled with the plinkety-plunk of the uke music.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Decemberists "January Hymn" Video

I had to go one step further and make the video of the Decemberists' song. This band has very vivid, poetic, and intellectual lyrics in their songs that take the listener on a journey. Whenever a song is copied by someone (me in this instance) it is almost always degraded from its original by any number of degrees. I know that I have, in no possible way added to the beauty of this song, but it is like reciting poetry - it begs to be done. And, so...

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Decemberists "January Hymn" Cover

 

It is still cold here. As I walked out of the school it was late and I captured the sunlight that was no longer offering any amount of warmth. The Decemberist capture the mood in this cover of their song January Hymn that I recorded on my Martin "0".

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Mr. Sandman

This is a beautifully made tutorial of the timeless classic "Mr. Sandman". After the kids go to bed I'm going to give it a try...