Newcomers to Boston will soon learn that nearly every Bostonian knows the song “Charlie on the MTA.” There will be an aha moment when they realise that the card they use to enter the metro system is the Charlie Card. Some may surmise that Charlie is short for Charles, as in the Charles River.
Is it so?
At the request of my ukulele students, I recorded my first video tutorial. The song “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” is ideal for beginners as it gets them to practise frequent switching between the easy chords of C and F. It rarely requires the more challenging G7 chord.
Over the years, I subconsciously collected stories of successful business models with a view to writing and publishing an e-book to share with like-minded individuals. Here’s the story of my late grandfather who built a successful English school in Taiwan.
Little did I know that buying my first ukulele and learning to play it would change the direction of my life.
During the four hour mash-up medley marathon, I conferred with six other ukulele players that mash-ups shouldn’t just be about songs that have similar chords or rhythms. There has to be a rhyme and reason to choosing songs for a mash-up. I introduced my new mash-up of “It’s So Easy to Fall in Love” Linda Ronstadt style with “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” while our apple cake was baking in the new oven.
I’m building a playlist of songs I can confidently and competently lead a ukulele group. The secret to successful song leading is to do it in a key with the entire melody falling within my most comfortable vocal range. In observing song leaders, I noticed they only lead songs that they know well. They would never sightread. They would not risk winging it unless they have to. Of course, leading a jam session poses less risk than leading a performance. I’ve experienced fantastic jam sessions because the leadership is solid. What does it take to lead?
Yesterday, two friends from high school sent me private messages asking why I had contacted them to request friendship when we were already friends on Facebook. I was not hacked but “compromised” — that’s the word. Regardless, it was quite a shock to see someone impersonating me. Even more so, I was surprised that people who shared mutual FB friends with me were on the list of friends of the fake account.
Has this happened to you before?
In the UK, older students are called “mature students.” In the US, anyone over 25 studying for their first degree falls into the category of “nontraditional students”. In the Netherlands, it is uncommon to see a mature, nontraditional student at conservatory. One first year (traditional) student even opined that older students couldn’t make it in music. Her remark both scared me and challenged me.
Each time I left my job to study for a degree, it felt harder than the previous. I call the latest my last degree of separation, for truly it was more arduous than I had ever expected — a physical and geographical estrangement from those closest to me, rocketing me out of my comfort zone, plunging me into long bouts of solitary confinement and emotional isolation. Yet to do my research, I had to deliberately mingle with crowds of strangers who bonded with me in ways I never imagined possible. That is the paradox.
Autumn: leaves are falling and turning colour. The summer has ended, and soon my stay in London will, too.
My research into the paradox of simplicity that commands the sound of 3,000 voices and instruments (Irish Hooley, Dun Laoghaire, August 2017) led me to conclude that it’s all about following the age-old wisdom of Keep It Simple and Small is Beautiful. Take the jazz version of “Autumn Leaves” for example.