Tag Archives: ukulele

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.

Eastertide 2020…With Something Extra

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From the Gospel of Luke:

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking spices that they had prepared.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

That first Easter came at a frightening time for the people involved. We are in the middle of another unnerving period today with the coronavirus pandemic. Church buildings are closed this Easter Sunday, and while technology allows all to attend services virtually, there won’t be pipe organs and choirs this year. I’ll miss hearing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, one of my favorite hymns; however, since this is a season of adapting and doing things differently, I humbly present the hymn on ukulele:

Wishing you a joyous Easter during a disquieting time.