Do you like the music your ukulele group plays?

I kinda like the old 20's songs. Hell my break out song that was the first I learned on ukulele was Please dont talk about me when I'm gone. No ukulele groups around me I can find I was thinking of making a night at my shop a music night. Might draw an interesting crowd in a tattoo shop next to a music store. The younger music scene that used to be alive and well around here is DEAD! CT had a big hardcore and metal scene back in the late 80's now... nothing.

I run a ukulele group. I run it because I started it and someone has to collect the money to pay for the hire of the room. I also provide song sheets from time to time and I try to provide a mix of songs. My own interests are pretty eclectic though I consider myself firstly to be a folk musician.

I try to provide a variety of different songs in my song sheets though it's mainly rock n pop from the 50s onwards but not much recent stuff, folk songs and some songs from earlier eras. Some of our members bring in song sheets of their own and I like that as it provides more variety and lets people bring songs they like.

At the meetings I usually ask for people to nominate a song and when someone does we play it. Everyone gets the opportunity to choose what to play, though I don't go round the room but over time, most people choose something. It's a friendly group and I like to keep it informal and relaxed.

The format seems to work - at least it has so far.

Bill1 said:

i marvel at people who worry so much about what a group does and sings. Even here in Perth there are enough groups so you can find one you like, you are allowed to visit them all and don't have to go back to any. As can be seen from this thread they come in all flavours.

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Not all of us live in a city of 1.7 million.

Everybody looks for different things out of playing this silly instrument. I'm not looking to play Cannibal Corpse and I'm not looking to join 20 people all strumming away at 5ft 2.

There are 2 adult ukulele groups within 50 miles or so of me. Both of them are of the sort I mentioned earlier. And again I say, more power to them. I am really truly happy that others enjoy that sort of playing. But it doesn't interest me and there are no other options. That fact doesn't make me some sort of anti-social ukulele snob any more than not playing in a death metal band does.

mikelz777 said:

The repertoire played by the group (2-3 uke clubs) was stuff like Five Foot Two, You Are My Sunshine, Shine On Harvest Moon, All Of Me and the like. I didn't say it out loud but I thought to myself, "What's up with all these stale, corny songs?"

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I think a lot of this has to do with the music publishing industry which would be fully up with the times - if the date was 1890. I understand that the current situation is that the writer has to have been dead fifty years for the song to be free of copyright constraints. With a potential penalty of US$180,000 per work, people in ukulele groups may be wary of printing out words and music to currently popular songs. That's a pity. If the music publishers could get with the programme - and the twenty first century - and put their sheet music online most people would be glad to pay a fair price to download the songs they wanted to play.

I'll second pritch's comment about the relative scarcity of sheet music.

That said --

Our local jam draws between 15-25 people, of varying ability. (I'm certainly in the lower half of the skill level.) The organizer invites anyone to suggest new songs, so long as you bring a dozen or so copies so everyone can play along. I've added "The Great Pretender" and "Shady Grove" to the repertoire. Our songbook ranges from the classic camp songs to the 20s and 30s stuff all the way to 21st century pop songs. I imagine larger groups might be more regimented, but ours is pretty relaxed and collegial, and my playing has improved dramatically since I've been going. If I had been a more advanced player when I first attended, I might not get as much from the group as I do now. YMMV.

Wow, kudos to you all who have started uke groups. I feel for anyone who wants to play with others, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around. I'm always running into people who don't know about our club, but still play. And I've welcomed many of them into the fold.
We're really lucky here, we have the Tampa Bay Ukulele Society. They've been so nice to me, and have made me an Event Organizer. All we have to pay for is the Meetup site. and donations and profits from events take care of that. There is always a surplus of funds that go to benefit other non profit organizations. There are no dues. Some of the events are cheap, some are not, but there's always great value. We're a large enough group to draw great talent from all over.
We've found that leaderless events soon fall into chaos....
We use Jim Beloff's Daily Ukulele, and the second volume Leap Year Edition. They offer a huge variety of strum/sing songs. Some of us learn Travis style and Campanello style, and other stuff. We have bass players when we can get them. We even had a percussionist for a while, and one harmonica player.
I'd better like the songs, I pick them out for the jam session I organized. We start out with simple, easy songs, then gradually go up to more difficult things. If someone has trouble, we stop and let them catch up, if they can. If everybody can't play it, we call it a work in progress. All the players are invited to pick or bring songs to play, so I only pick 10 to get us going. And I make sure I know each one very well. If people don't like a song, we don't do it anymore. If they are in love with it, we do it a lot.
Our groups meet every month, and are all different sizes. There are 3 jam sessions and one open mic. Plus we have lots of workshops and TBUG, our annual festival, which is about the biggest bash you can imagine.
Geezus, did I highjack this?

Photojosh said:

Not all of us live in a city of 1.7 million.... There are 2 adult ukulele groups within 50 miles or so of me...

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I'm in a similar situation. The main group go around the table choosing a song, it's played as fast as possible. Beginners are welcome but get no attention or help that I've seen (depends who you sit next to).
Other group used to have a teacher but now it's also an around the table strumalong / singalong. Beginners get some help & easier tunes are chosen earlier in the session.

The music at both groups is mainly the same corny stuff others have mentioned, plus a fair dose of country & western. The age group is mainly 50+ (including me). And no, I don't like most of it. I also don't feel it helps me develop my playing much. I like the people though, and enjoy making music with others so that's why I go.

I've heard of small, closed groups (invitation only) that focus more on playing as an ensemble & singing with harmonies etc. One day maybe someone will invite me to one.

I like the music played in my 'uke group for the most part. There is a small percentage of songs that I don't like (or am tired of playing) and when those are being played, I practice the second position (movable) chords. as the ones I know come up.

We attended the only uke group in our area, 30km away. It closed down, probably because of the leaders moving on. Must admit the songs were not to my taste, though I enjoyed joining in with a group of about 60.
At the beginning of 2014 we started out own group, a Strum and Singalong, with string instruments (guitars, 10 or so ukuleles, mostly beginners, 4 mandolins and a violin) and non players (the singers) welcome. It has been word of mouth only and we meet for free in our church hall. Last year I put together a book with 40 chorded and a couple of instrumental songs, and have had only praise for my playlist. By the end of the year we were in a place to put on a Christmas concert, and those the 60+ (good attendance for our country town) who attended were pleasantly surprised. Our favourite was Ashokan Farewell as an instrumental. This year we are planning a mid year and Christmas concert.

I like so many different kinds of music, and am really "old school". I think it would be tiresome to only play Tin Pan Alley or only Hawaiian songs, though. I'm not in a uke group for a number of reasons, but the music played wouldn't bother me. I played extremely cheesy music in my school years in band.

IamNoMan said:

You list :Willie Nelson, Jimmy Rogers, Leon Redbone and then suggest they covered corny songs?

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I don't understand what you are saying here. Are you saying I suggested they covered corny songs when they didn't? That I presented them as examples of non-corny music when they actually did cover corny music?

I'm not picking a fight or taking offense in the least, (I'm a jazz and early country/roots fan, people regularly insult my music choices, it doesn't bother me.) I genuinely don't know what point the poster is making.

P.S. This is in response to a reply that has since been deleted.

In the ukulele groups I've played with, the music is secondary to the social aspect of playing together. Members have different goals, expectations, ability, time available, and desire to improve. I don't like all the music we play or how many times we play the same song over and over. But I love the people in these groups and appreciate the time they take to come out and play music together. We can play music by ourselves every day but its so much more fun to play with friends.

We play primarily out of the two Daily Ukulele (Daily Ukulele and Daily Ukulele Leap Year Edition) books because many people in our group like having the traditional melody notation (chord and lyric sheets don't help with the melodies of unfamiliar songs). But we also supplement these books with music people bring and post songsheets of on our meetup site. For example, we play songs that were written and/or performed by people who have recently died, and we commemorate events and holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas, New Year's Day, Halloween, etc. with appropriate songs. Most people seem to be happy.

NewKid said:

In the ukulele groups I've played with, the music is secondary to the social aspect of playing together. Members have different goals, expectations, ability, time available, and desire to improve. I don't like all the music we play or how many times we play the same song over and over. But I love the people in these groups and appreciate the time they take to come out and play music together. We can play music by ourselves every day but its so much more fun to play with friends.

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I'm with you Don! If groups met before or after the gathering to eat, I'll be more inclined to meet. I'm too relaxed in a group session unless everyone was the same ability and wanted to gig frequently.

When I was a member of the Westside Ukulele Ensemble, I liked the variety of music, but I couldn't keep up with the instrumental arrangements. The other group to which I belong, The CC Strummers, is sing and strum organized through the Culver City Senior Center. It's officially classes twice a week taught by Cali Rose, but I consider it more like a club. Cali provides a great variety of songs, so there's something for everyone.

NewKid said:

In the ukulele groups I've played with, the music is secondary to the social aspect of playing together. Members have different goals, expectations, ability, time available, and desire to improve. I don't like all the music we play or how many times we play the same song over and over. But I love the people in these groups and appreciate the time they take to come out and play music together. We can play music by ourselves every day but its so much more fun to play with friends.

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This is a big part of the purpose of the group I run.
We use the Daily Ukulele books, so we don't have copyright issues.
We play from a preselected list, members are always to make suggestions or plan a whole gathering.
Some songs just don't work in a group setting. Not to be nasty, but unless you have run a group you may not realize how challenging it is. The music I play at home is much different than the group.

Just to add to my post, I record our rehearsals and post the mp3s on my web site so members can practice at home with audio. I've found that it gives the members more incentive to practice.

I run a group and encourage members to post and bring songs that they play or would like to play. The members tend NOT to post anything so I end up posting/playing what I do which is mostly the Tin Pan Alley Stuff. We also do an open mic at the meetings where people can do what ever they like. I also encourage members to teach a little something (a song, strum or technique) to the group.

Hi Jandante I am from the northern rivers also Alstonville ,,used to go to the Lismore club till it dwindled and ended must get in touch