Tales of the Uke – Part 12

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The last chapter in my ukulele adventure was a drill in songwriting. Today, it’s an exercise in working up and down the fretboard. I can’t say I was excited when Trevor, my uke instructor, sent me a song Dean Martin made a hit in 1953. Composed by Harry Warren with lyrics by Jack Brooks, That’s Amore  became a signature song for Martin. I’ve always found it a bit kitschy — the type of tune the house accordion player in an Italian restaurant uses to serenade a couple. (Yep, this happened to me, on a first date no less. She was nice, but there was no amore there.) To his credit, Trevor made his own arrangement of the song, so it maintains the sweet sentiment without the cheese. Take a look at the lyrics and don’t grimace:

When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie, that’s amore
When the world seems to shine
Like you’ve had too much wine, that’s amore

Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling
Ting-a-ling-a-ling and you’ll sing, “Vita bella”
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay
Tippy-tippy-tay like a gay tarantella

When the stars make you drool
Just like pasta e fagioli, that’s amore
When you dance down the street
With a cloud at your feet, you’re in love

When you walk in a dream
But you know, you’re not dreaming signore
Scusami, but you see
Back in old Napoli, that’s amore

No organ grinder or accordion here. Just a gentle tenor ukulele:

I’m playing on my Kala low G but with new strings — Uke Logic super fluorocarbon strings designed by a luthier in Hawaii. That’s a fancy way of saying I’m using fishing line on my instrument. The strings are warm-sounding and so much easier on the fingers than the stock Aquila Super Nylgut. The Uke Logic strings are more expensive, but I’ve talked a little with the luthier, and he has been a lot of help in ways a major manufacturer couldn’t be when solving tonal problems. They have been worth the money for the service alone.

Next, I tackle my first classical piece on the ukulele!

Tales of the Uke – Part 11

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The last Tales of the Uke installment was in February. I’ve worked on a few songs since then that were more about gaining technical skills than learning and polishing to a performance level. The one exception was an Easter piece in April. Onward to something new!

At one point last year as part of my music education, Trevor had me work on a songwriting exercise. It was foreign territory but fun. I wrote the music notation on composition paper, starting with chords and building a simple (very simple!) melody from them. I kept my day job, but it was insightful to see and hear how songs are built. We talked about doing a video recording of ourselves performing the piece but got busy with other songs.

My lessons during the health crisis are done via video distance learning, which is a bit challenging. The lessons have not been in real time so feedback hasn’t been either, but Trevor suggested I try the songwriting exercise again. He set parameters and gave me a week to come up with something. The rules were as follows:

Section A – Should be on the melancholic side, so emphasize minor chords. This part should be strummed. Pick a strumming pattern.

Section B – Emphasize major chords, and use fingerpicking in this part.

Section A Prime – Repeat Section A, but make slight variations on a few chords.

Section B – Exact repeat of first Section B.

Section C – No guidelines. Whatever you want that fits.

Here is the world debut of the end result. I call the song, Pandemic.

It took a few days to get the verdict, but Trevor liked what I assembled and suggested doing this exercise on my own from time-to-time with different parameters. As I already mentioned it’s good to hear how song elements and structure go together. The ear training and learning of new chord progressions is invaluable.

Coming up next, a Dean Martin song from 1953.

Thoughts I’m Thinking

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A few random thoughts that are on my mind:

1. Every president faces a crisis while in office. It’s inevitable. What is unfortunate is that our current president is not remotely up to the task of dealing with our current crisis — the coronavirus pandemic. My concern was always that Donald Trump would make a harrowing foreign policy miscalculation with dire consequences. While his management of foreign affairs has been witless, it hasn’t gotten us killed. His handling of the COVID-19 outbreak is another matter entirely. Trump is just as advertised: an incompetent prevaricator who creates more problems every time he opens his mouth or launches Twitter. He owns this mess. Unequivocally. Now that he is being held accountable at his daily campaign rallies, which masquerade as press briefings, he is quick to lash out, pointing fingers at everyone but himself — the thin-skinned bully who won election in 2016. Countries get the leaders they deserve. Let’s hope we’re done with the self-flagellation and realize this November that we deserve better than the ignominious dumpster fire we’ve been subjected to the last four years; that goes for enablers in the Senate and House, too.

2. Why are Florida and Georgia so interested in becoming COVID-19 internet memes? Opening beaches, barber shops, nail salons, restaurants, gyms, and theaters within the next few days is asking for what will come. Serious question: When infection rates shoot up, will the governors have to reinstate shutdown orders, or does the rest of the country simply need to restrict travel to and from these states?

3. There has been quite a bit of ukulele playing at our house over the last month. I have a technique problem though. I bend the wrist on my fretting hand way too much. It makes my playing less fluid and creates pain from the tension. This is not good. My teacher started working with me to correct the problem, but it requires relearning what I’ve been doing wrong for two years. Muscle memory is great…but not in this case! Ugh.

4. I introduced our daughter to my old Nintendo Wii. Aria has found a ridiculous amount of joy from Excite Truck, which was a console launch title in 2006. Her laughter is infectious. I steer while she presses the accelerator and “helps” me with stunts. We’ve destroyed quite a few trees, totaled numerous vehicles, and flown through the air more than some planes. I guess this is a warm-up for driver education in 10 years.

5. I just celebrated my first birthday in quarantine by working from home, taking a lunchtime run in the sunshine, supplying tech support for Aria’s distance learning Chromebook, enjoying a homemade dinner of chicken cacciatore, partaking in a few truck races with Aria, and watching an episode of Bosch with Lisa. A memorable day for happy reasons. Those are needed during a health and economic crisis.