Musicianship

You want your ear and your fingers to become as one; to develop good ear-hand coordination, so to speak.

Listen and appreciate the various inflections you can impart to the sound as you play. You can make the sound sing sweetly, bark angrily, dance joyously, laugh, cry, boast. Pay attention and observe how your interaction with the instrument can bring out these qualities and others in your sound.

Never play mindlessly--focus on the character of the sound that you make. Strive to make the kind of sound you think best compliments the music you are playing. Be it a simple exercise or a complicated performance piece, always make it music and not just noise.

Once you have a degree of control over the technical aspects, musicality will come naturally as long as you have the habit of actively listening and shaping the sound you create.

Always listen first, and a fine musician you shall become.
 
Tootler said:
You can do all these things and become a technically competent musician. However, musicianship is about the things that aren't written down in the score. It's how you put something of yourself into the music. It's how you relate to the music, how you interpret those directions.

Friends of ours had two daughters both of whom learnt to play the piano. If I went to their house and one of them was playing, I could pretty well always tell which one was playing. The elder one tended to be technically very good but mechanical. The younger was sometimes not quite so accurate but there was always that something extra, She somehow could put feeling into her music which the elder didn't.

The younger one eventually went to music college and is now a professional musician.
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Bill1 said:
Some people don't need to ask for some tools and techniques to be more creative, they just relax and be creative. Other people need some pointers and need to learn the techniques a bit to work out how to be creative. Not everyone is the same, but everyone can be creative. Some people need to ask the questions like we see in the OP. As has been stated there is an element of creativity and emotion in what some call musicanship, these things are hard to teach and learn. If you look at the tools provided in the conventions of standard notation, which I have listed, you can start to look for the techniques to think about, but learning them wont necessarily guarantee you develop musicanship as pointed out above. However, you if you are looking for somewhere to start, it is a good list, it shows you the things that can be added to music. You do not have to learn how to read the notation, just research the effects and see how you can do them on your ukulele. It is up to the player to add them into the music in a way that is creative and emotional, and as also stated above, you do not always need to get them perfectly right. If you are unsure or can't seem to get the emotion happening, learn the technique first so you have a baseline, then rip it up and pull it to pieces to find some feeling and emotion.
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I think that together you have hit the nail on the head. I do agree with Bill, the more tools one has, the more likely they will be able to express themselves in their music. I agree with Geoff, that when one immerses themselves is the mechanics to the point that there is no room for creativity, that their music will be missing something. Putting each one in perspective with the other is the trick.
 
I think musicianship is a double sided understanding of what is happening.
Music is both created and consumed so its appreciation is really two fold.
Its making music in a way that is both appropriate and appreciated.
It's not just techinique, and virtuosity, which people have already talked about.

There's also... a deeper underlying understanding of what you're playing, why, and who's listening beyond just the how.

For instance... improvisation.. is a form of personal creativity. But quoting another piece because it means something is also musicianship.
It's something that draws a listener deeper into the music or expresses ideas beyond just the notes.
It's something that makes the difference between sound, and music.
 
From what I've seen, I think it is a combination of at least 3 ingredients.
Mastery (technical, understanding and using theory)
Expression (like the masters)
Love (pure love of the music, and care about what the audience is experiencing, and enjoyment in what the musician is doing, being "inside of the music")
 
Lots of great comments. Thanks.

Bill1 mentioned "Beam Properties". Even Google couldn't help me figure that one out. What is it?

I think that my technique needs more work before I can get the musicianship I'm looking for. What I'd like to hear coming out of the ukulele isn't what is coming out, but that is, I now think, in large part to need to practice more vs. not being able to hear it in my head.
 
There are a ton of u tube uke performances covering the entire spectrum from why? to Wow!. Listening to them will help you see what other do. I have done this, find it helps.
 
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