January 8th meeting location has changed

Here is a "head's up" about our meeting location for Jan 8. We will be meeting at the Southminster Presbyterian Church off 35th Place and Peoria (Brookside area) at the usual time, 6:30 to 8:30. Thanks to Hahn for setting this up. More information to follow.

End of December 2014:

The Spotlight Theater show was a success.

Next official meeting will be 8th of January. We don't know if it will be Open Mic or Jam as of yet.

Practice our Fun Songs from the Yellow Book over the break. I'm hoping we get some performances lined up in 2015.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

18th of December performance flyer.

I hope everyone can be a part of our variety performance. We will do group songs and solo songs and duet song and what ever else we desire for about two hours. We will mostly use the River City Ukes 2015 Christmas songbook. Other songs are welcome, like our old standards. Practice up and come to the our meetings and we'll practice together.

NYC PIzza

Anyone notice that our location, the NYC Pizza shop, was selected by the editors of the Tulsa World newspaper as one of the top ten pizza spots in the greater Tulsa area.  That is probably why we like the pizza, and in my case, the loaded veggie pizza.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day

We will be taking a break from our normal Thursday meetings on these holidays.  Hope to see everyone on the normal Thursdays.

Holidays and Uke Meetings

No ukulele meeting this Thursday because it's Thanksgiving Day

We will only have December Thursday meetings on the 4th, 11th, and 18th. For Thursday the 25th is Christmas Day.

We won't have a meeting the first Thursday of January 2015 because it's New Years Day.

Thank you.
Happy Holidays.

Performance songs from The Yellow Daily Book

This is a list of older and happier songs I chose from the Yellow Book (YB) to perform mostly at retirement homes. We started practicing this list, up to Let It Be, last meeting. We intend to work on these songs every first Thursday meeting. I have actually performed this list of song in a solo ukulele performance and the retirement home residents loved the songs. The songs were familiar and many residents sang along.

Okay, here's the list: (song title,key, page)

Ain't We Got Fun, C, Y-17

Ain't She Sweet, C, Y-16

Baby Face, G, Y31

Beautiful Dreamer, C, Y-33

*The Best Things In Life Are Free, G, Y-34

Bill Bailey, D, Y-35

Blue Skies, Am, Y-38

Bye Bye Blues, F, Y-38

By The Beautiful Sea, C, Y-42

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, G, Y-43

Dinah, F, Y-61

Five Foot Two, C, Y-82

Give My Regards To Broadway, G, Y-89

Glow Worm, G, Y-95

Hey Good Looking, C, Y-108

Indiana, F, Y-129

Jambalaya, C, Y-140

Ja Da, C, Y-138

King Of The Road, G, Y-143

Let it Be, F, Y-146

Let The Rest Of The World Go By, F, Y-150

Look For The Silver Lining, C,Y-153

Mister Sandman, G, Y-161

Moonlight Bay, F, Y-165

My Blue Heaven, C, Y-169

On The Sunny Side Of The Street, G, Y-183

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, C, Y-193

Ring Of Fire, A, Y-197

Sentimental Journey, A, Y-205

Side By Side, C, Y-210

Three Little Birds, C, Y-237

Toot Toot Tootsie, C, Y-243

Walk Right In, G, Y-255

What A Wonderful World, C, Y-260

When The Saints Go Marching In, C, Y-267

*When You're Smiling, G, Y265

Whispering, C, Y-267

Yes Sir That's My Baby, C, Y-278

Yankee Doodle Boy, F, Y291

Additional Hawaiian Songs from the YB:

Aloha Oe, C, Y-21

Hukilau Song, G, Y-115

Lovely Hula Hands, F, Y-156

On A Beach At Waikiki, F, Y-184

Pearly Shells, G, Y-186

That Hawaiian Melody,C, Y-228

Tiny Bubbles, F, Y-241

Ukulele Lady,C, Y-249

9 Oct 14

Open Mic Night is 9 Oct 2014. Come out to participate or watch or both. Bring your ukes and books in case we end up jamming.

Open Mic, 2nd Thursday, 14 Aug 2014,

Come out and perform or watch. Bring you ukulele (and books) either way for you never know when we might end with a jam session or talk you into performing.

We try to video record the performances and upload them to our YouTube channel (Tulsa Ukeclub). If you prefer your performance not to be recorded that is fine as well.

Tulsa Ukulele Jam July 31, 2014, songs played

Here's the list of tunes played at the Tulsa Uke Club Jam Thursday July 31st.
Tulsa Ukulele Jam
July 31, 2014
1 Jambalaya 150bpm 4/4 straight tempo
2 Five foot two 160bpm 4/4 swing
3 That's Amore 140bpm 3/4 waltz tempo
4 Glow-Worm 125bpm 4/4 shuffle
5 Goodnight, Irene 115bpm 3/4 moderate waltz
6 You are My Sunshine 150bpm 4/4 straight
7 Proud Mary 130bpm 4/4 straight
8 Tiny Bubbles 120bpm 4/4 swing
9 Oh, Susanna 145bpm 4/4 swing
10 Pearly Shells 120bpm 4/4 swing
11 Hukilau Song 120bpm 4/4 swing
12 This Land is Your Land 145bpm 4/4 straight

Thank you Therese for recording this info.

Wacky Hat Fifth Thursdays:

Only several times a year is there a fifth Thursday. On this fifth Thursday we are granted an extra time that in that month to gather together and play our ukuleles.

I dub this special day Wacky Hat Fifth Thursday. So join me this Thursday to play our ukuleles and don an Wacky Hat (or a normal hat) if you desire.

Tulsa Ukulele Club and its summer 2014 transformation.

A lot of people in our group have invested in the two Daily Ukulele song books and we are using them more and more in our meetings rather than printed out song sheets.

Advantage: Actual song score shows how the song is played precisely. We don't have several versions of the same song at the table.

We have sadly had some of our long time members move away while joyfully seeing a host of new players join us. With the newer players at meetings we have been going through the Yellow and Blue books, as we call them, picking out easier songs and jamming. For myself it has been an enjoyable time reconnecting with these songs. As a group changes so does the song list for possible performance songs. After some discussion at last night's meet it was agreed to take this approach for our new performance song list:

1. Pick easy songs from the Yellow and Blue books that we enjoy and would like to perform.

2. Develop Intros ,Endings, and determine repeats (if required for song length).

3. Work on these songs at meetings during the rehearsal period.

Advantage: We won't need to print out any new song sheets to practice. We can practice right from our Yellow and Blue books. We might want to make notes in these books pertaining to the Intros, Endings, and Repeats. 

If we do perform we have two options for on stage music:

A. Actually use the Yellow and Blue books on stage. Having our song list on a sheet with our performance songs and page numbers. Ideally working from one book for a time then changing to the other and not changing out books constantly between each song.

Advantage: Only one sheet to print out and we use books we have.

Disadvantage: Using two heavy books and switching them out during the performance.

B. Actually use a specially printed out songbook derived from the Yellow and Blue book songs we have chosen. 

Advantage: It will be lighter and the songs in set list order. 

Disadvantage: Requires printing and now we have another book.

Now some members my not be interested in performing and we respect that but one might assume that we all like to be proficient at playing songs. Whether practicing these songs for performing or proficiency together we can use this list. 

So, we are taking suggestions. Look through the books and pick out some beginner to intermediate songs. Let us know your ideas for performance songs.

17 July 2014 Meeting:

Let's do a rehearsal/Jam tonight at the NYC Pizzeria.

3rd of July meeting cancelled.

We discussed it last night at the meeting and decided to just cancel  the meeting on the 3rd of July. Enjoy your long Independent Day weekend everyone. Maybe find a patriotic songs to play on you ukulele.

TUC Level One Hawaiian Song Book

After a discussion in our last club meeting I picked out twelve Hawaiian songs from our club's two main song books. I made up a small book of song sheets. The song sheets are the same as in the main books except intros because the main books have no intros for most song. If the main book had an ending I left it the same but most songs don't have endings so I made them up as well. Mostly we can use our main books while the sheets I made are for stage use or until everyone has the main books. The song book is called "TUC Level One Hawaiian Performance Book D3" and is located on the Tulsa Ukulele Club Resources Page.

I also made Play Along Videos of these songs on our Tulsa UkeClub YouTube channel. These Play Along Videos are on a playlist called "Level One Hawaiian Song Book" (if I recall correctly). The videos have the chords and lyrics on the screen so a book isn't even needed.

We have had three requests for our club to perform Hawaiian songs on our ukuleles in the last two years. One party, one group meeting, and one retirement village. We did all three gigs but with minimal players. It would be nice to have many of us up to speed on these songs and have a bigger band to perform the next luau.

Thank you.
Rex (Jazzbanjorex)

SUMMER 2014 SCHEDULE:

2nd Thursday meeting will remain Open Mic Nights while all other Thursday night meetings will be Rehearsal/Jam Nights. We have been relying on the Yellow Daily Ukulele Book for a lot of our material lately. Other materials are always welcome. We have beginners through well experienced players. All are welcome.

12 June 2014

This Thursday, 12 June 2014, we will be having a Ukulele Open Mic night at the NYC Pizzeria. Come to eat, visit, play, and listen. Performance is not required for we have many who just come to listen and visit regularly.

Captain brings his PA system and mics the vocals and ukulele.

I (Rex) will bring my audio and video recording equipment. If you wish to not be recorded we respect that and we won't. What we usually do is record each performance and upload the video to our YouTube Channel (Tulsa UkeClub) as soon as we can. This is great for those who don't have their own YouTube Channel and wish to exhibit their videos through our club channel.

We hope to see you there.

This Thursday, 29May2014:

This Thursday is a Fifth Thursday which means there's nothing on the calendar for a meeting. How about a jam meeting at NYC Pizzeria? Bring your Yellow Daily Ukulele book (and other material as you wish) and let's play some songs. We've had some players new to the uke at some meetings lately and it has revived my appreciation for easier fun songs. I hope to look through the yellow book ahead of time and have my requests ready.

Jazzbanjorex

Handy Links

Just a reminder that the Handy Links section of this blog has a lot of useful information, songs and the like.  Check them out.

Social media

This blog was our initial venture into the world of social media to tell folks about the club.  There is a lot of really good information in the Handy Links section off to the right side of the page.  But for more current activity news, Facebook seems to have replaced the blog.  Facebook, the YouTube club channel and our web page that has all our song files and resources augment our exposure too.

So sign up on the Facebook page and keep current.

Thursday, 3 April 2014, Rehearsal/Jam Night.

We will be verifying San Francisco Blues, Side By Side, That's Amore, White Sandy Beaches, and You're Sixteen. If we complete these songs our performance book will be complete and Rehearsal time will be more about practicing the song instead of determining how we want to do them.

The second half of the meeting is the Jam portion and I don't mean strawberry. We have our old song sheets, the blue and yellow Daily Uke Books, or any music members bring in to share as our jam material.

We have had some new ukulele players come to visit and play from distances like Muskogee and Stillwater lately. We are growing and we are developing relationships with other possible ukulele groups. I have hopes for a Oklahoma network of ukulele clubs. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Thursday, March 27, is Open Mike Night

Just a reminder that you can show us a new song you like, or just come and see what others like.

6:30 to gather, 7 PM start time.

Thursday meeting

Lest we forget, after all the latest snow situation, that we have a uke club meeting this Thursday.

Hope to see you there

Thursday, 19 Feb.

Just a reminder that our club jam evening is coming up this Thursday. All skiils are welcome for there is always somebody to assist, one-on-one. 6:30 PM at the NYC Pizza shop, 49th and Harvard. Bring a song or two to share if you have one that you want to introduce to the group (10 copies to share.)

Valentine's Day

Feb 14 is Valentine's Day and our open mike evening, on Thursday the 13th, would be a good time to brush up on your love songs.

Hawaiian music

There is an invitation to do a short gig at a retirement village.  30 minutes of Hawaiian music.  Should be fun.

Pop's workshop is cancelled

There was a scheduling glitch and Pop's Bayless will not be able to come to Tulsa.

We'll keep in touch with him and try and arrange a meeting at a later time.

Pop's is coming in a month

Pop's Bayless will be here in a month. We need to get ready to join him in his signature song, Flaming Ukulele in the Sky, shown here at a Dallas festival. Get our song sheet from our web page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNe4j5Ltvgo

Ukulele Meeting Format Adjustment:

We are going to adjust our ukulele meetings. It will now be Rehearsal/Jam meetings.

The first half of the night will be rehearsal time. We will rehearse songs from the performance list of songs in order to have songs well learned for upcoming performance opportunities.

The second half of the night will be a jam session playing songs from our collection of books or songs brought in by members.

This will give us both old reliable tunes to polish and fresh new songs to experience in an evening.

Thursday the 23rd

In the distant past, we have had, on occasion, a short lesson plan at the start of the meeting.  So if any of you have a subject you would like covered, I'll see if we can come up with a short program to address these issues.  No guarantee, but I'll try.

We will have some time after a warm-up period with some of our standards, to look at some new, interesting songs.  I'll bring one or more but if you have some, bring song sheets to share.

Hope you can make it.

Ralph

Good cartoon

Great Open Mike Night

We did have a nice open mike night with 9 folks who went to the microphone.  A nice club evening.

Thursday's Open Mike

Please bring your uke to the Open Mike night even if you don't plan on performing.  We might do some jamming if there is time available after the performances.

Open Mike Thursday the 16th

We will be having our usual open mike night this coming Thursday so be sure and come that evening.

Sometimes we have a large number of folks at the mike, sometimes just a couple.  So bring along your ukulele even if you are not going to perform in case we do some jamming afterwards.

Thanks to Cap'n for his effort to setup the equipment.  I'm told Rex will have his video camera there too, and with his new video editing gear, all of us are bound to look good and sound great.  I'm also understand that Rex's camera takes off 10 pounds, not adds 10 pounds like some cameras, another PLUS for his recordings.

See you there


Ralph

Thursday the 9th

The weather reports show that the really cold spell will be gone by Thursday, so I hope everyone can make it to the first club jam of the new year.  NYC Pizza shop, 6:30.  See you there.