Post goals / frameworks to follow for 2024. Happy New Year to my favorite community ❤️❤️❤️🤙🤙🤙

[Pissodes]

Well happy 1st ukuversary! That's a good milestone to achieve!

Thanks! Hoping for many more ukuversaries.

 

[ripock]

My goal is a carry-over from last year: complete self-expression. I want to play whatever is in my head. Another goal is to play well enough to justify my expensive ukes.

 

[Jan D]

Well, I must say, reading through everyone’s resolutions for 2024 has absolutely exhausted me. What a (potentially) productive bunch of people y’all are! You’ve convinced me to stick with my resolution from last year, which was: “No goals for me. No goals = less pressure, stress and disappointment = more happiness. Bring on the joy!”

 

[TBB]

Happy New Year to you all

In 2024 I’d like to finally commit to memory the last 12 bars of WS64’s arrangement of Georgia on my Mind. For some reason I have a massive mental block with it, but after the best part of a decade of having to stop playing 3/4 of the way through I feel confident that this will be THE YEAR.

And I’d like to sell my Martin 0XK, I can’t keep hanging on to it on the off chance that I’ll need it in the zombie apocalypse.

But I’m not holding my breath because right now I’ve got covid and even getting dressed seems to be beyond me.

 

[hendulele]

A happy 2024 to everyone! And here's TMI!

General goal: Continue picking up a uke and noodling for a few minutes daily.

Specific(er) goals:

• Learn a song well enough to comfortably lead it at a jam in May at the Blue Ridge Ukulele Festival in Morganton, NC. (I tend to get in my own way at these things, even when I've played the song by memory dozens of times.)
• Be more comfortable at open mics and ... stay out of my own way. Go with the flow.
• Learn some of the tricks of Tin Pan Alley era playing and ... learn them. Don't just fool around with them.
• Listen to my own playing more and find strings that sound as well as feel good on specific ukes. On a lark, I tried nylons for the first time in forever this past year on one uke and they're better suited for me than I thought. (Playing style is evolving, too, I'm sure.)

Very specific goal: Fish or cut bait with my 1920s Gibson. The bridge popped off during the pandemic. A local luthier repaired it (simple glue job) but the action at the bridge is too low. I discovered why this year: The fretboard is lifting from the body (another glue failure on the way, most likely). That may have caused the initial bridge pop. Intonation is sharp up the board. It's very buzzy, too. A different luthier who specializes in vintage instruments will take it on next month. If it needs a full neck reset, I may decide to sell it (with full disclosure) to someone who would take it on as a project, or cough up the money and fix it. If the former, then decide if I want to gamble on a different vintage model.

Way TMI. First world problems, for sure.

Have the best year you can, everyone!

 

[kkimura]

Learn
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/happy-new-year-2/#:~:text=But this form of the,so the apostrophe-s applies.

I stand corrected (and kicked out of the grammar police department).

 

[Patty]

right now I’ve got covid and even getting dressed seems to be beyond me.

Your immediate goal is to get well, @TBB!

 

[ploverwing]

But I’m not holding my breath because right now I’ve got covid and even getting dressed seems to be beyond me.

Ugh. I've been flat out in bed the last few days, I commiserate. I hope you feel better soon. It's so boring being sick and not feeling up to doing anything.

You’ve convinced me to stick with my resolution from last year, which was: “No goals for me. No goals = less pressure, stress and disappointment = more happiness. Bring on the joy!”

That's why I kept my goal to something I'm already working on! It's not stressful to keep doing what I'm doing

 

[necessaryrooster]

My goal? mindset shift? for the year/future way of life -- spend less time watching/looking and more time doing. E.g., less time looking at ukes that I'll never buy or watching Kalei and Corey play or random tutorial videos and more time playing my own. Less time watching videos of amazing craftsmen and spend more time in my own workshop. Also need to spend more time reading.

 

[Brouk]

1. Improve memorization of lyrics/Improving my stage presence

2. Rekindle my skill for plating bass guitar and write some new songs utilizing bass and ukulele. I have a bass on order to arrive in 1 or 2 months. That would be first bass I have purchased in 30 years…oh boy

3. In 2023 I wrote lyrics and music for 16 songs. If I could write another 16 in year 2024 in similar or better quality I would call it a continuation of a miracle

4. Collab with a percussionist/drummer, violinist and a singer on my new songs

5. Improve artificial harmonics

6. I have a looper pedal but I do not use it. I should practice songs I play live with my loop pedal to improve the overall performance

That is enough.

Thanks for this thread to make me think it through.

Now I got some work to do

 

[RosieKamozie]

Goals for 2024:

1. Attend one Uke festival (rollover from 2023)
2. Sell some Ukes & scale down the collection to what I really play
3. Finish my simple Uke build with the 6th graders
4. Work on finger style techniques
5. Keep seeking out opportunities to play/perform/connect with others in the wonderful Uke community

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2024!!!

 

[DelGriff]

SING!!! I really want to sing while playing, and it occurs to me -- since singing is the harder thing for me, I should be practicing it more! And unlike playing the ukulele, I can sing while I say, cook, or clean, or drive. So that's what I want to do this year: sing more. If I can combine it with playing the uke, that'll be awesome, but for now, I just want to sing more. I saw a character in a book I was reading this week say, "I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing", which I think is even more important for people with less than stellar voices (like me!) to remember. The joyful sound is for ME, even if it's not so joyful to anyone else.

In the 5 years I’ve been playing uke my voice has improved hugely. And yes - it can only be down to practice. As a kid I had a great boy’s soprano voice. Then when my voice broke in my teens I thought I’d lost it for good - I was just about able to sing in tune, but the tone was horrible. So I stopped singing. I thought it was gone forever. A good voice coach would, I’m sure, have told me then that I needed to practice, to build it back up to its former glory (though in a lower range). Sadly It was only 40-ish years on that I realised this for myself.

Taking part in the Seasons weekly challenge made me start singing again - and on a regular basis. Practicing and performing a song or two (or more) every week has encouraged me to sing for probably a total of two or more hours every week, and the improvement that regular practice made to the quality of my singing voice started to show quite quickly. And I’ve noticed the same kind of vocal improvement in just about every Seasons newbie after even just a few months of regular participation.

So, Tim (and anyone else who is looking to sing more), get yourself over to the Seasons thread and join in - you’ll be made to feel very welcome!

 

[TimWilson]

As a kid I had a great boy’s soprano voice. Then when my voice broke in my teens I thought I’d lost it for good - I was just about able to sing in tune, but the tone was horrible.

I was the same with the boy's soprano voice, as well a glorious year when I was 12 or 13 and could naturally and effortlessly sing from baritone to soprano...but while my tone stayed okay after my voice changed, I couldn't get in tune! Completely lost it, and like you, I figured it was gone for good...but it's not! I have a long way to go, but that's what I'm working on now -- getting in tune.

It's already better today than it was yesterday! I won't say that perfection is on the horizon, or even on the to-do list, but the idea that it can't be better -- not at all the case. Practice makes better, let's say, and better is better.

I'm finding that to do it that I need to gear down my ukulele playing to sing better, though. My strumming finesse had gotten pretty good, but I can't do it all and sing at the same time just yet, so moving to a couple of downstrums per bar is making the singing easier.

So I've got two parallel tracks of practice -- one where I emphasize playing as well as I possibly can and sing whatever I can do to keep up, and the other where I focus on singing, and play well enough to keep up and not much more. I don't think it will be too very long before I can start merging them, but steps are the key. Taking steps.

Taking part in the Seasons weekly challenge made me start singing again - and on a regular basis.

You know I love the Seasons as a spectator, but having spent decades in video production from a variety of angles, I don't associate it with fun anymore. In fact, I very specifically turned to ukulele to get all devices -- computers, phones, cameras, microphones -- completely out of my life for at least a little while every day. I can't do both, and I'd rather do the ukulele.

But I do think there's more to be said for singing poorly than not at all, so I'm continuing to move in that direction, and it's already better after one day!

Edit: I meant to add to my overall list something I'm definitely doing, which is to MEMORIZE a few songs this year. Not a ton, but if I can do maybe one a month, that'd be plenty to start! So when I'm focusing on playing, I'm also focusing on memorizing the playing, and then working on the words both during my practice, and throughout the day.

Especially with some of these songs that I've been singing ALONG with for 50, 60 years or more, it turns out that I don't know every single word on my own as well as I do when I'm following fractionally behind John and Paul.

 

[Kenn2018]

I am getting over a case of of RSV I picked up in Arizona and carried to Las Vegas for New Years. Yes, I wore a mask. Fortunately it broke and was not infectious when we went to a New Year's Eve comedy show. I stay in my hotel room and rest whilst my wife plays at the casino.

Get well quickly TBB. Tim, all the best to you and your wife. Thanks for all you do for UU.

I have found that to tell myself that I have to practice something. Or I need to do something to improve, it can kill my enthusiasm to do that thing. Instead, I think that I want to practice something so I can ultimately be able to do something.

I know, it's a subtle, pseudo-psychology, positive-thinking, self-help gimmick. But it works for me.

I try to play every day. Even if it's just a few minutes at night before bed. It relaxes me and calms my mind.

I will soon return to Wisconsin. I have to get our house in shape to sell, and must sell some of my ukuleles because I have too many to keep in an apartment. Because I want to rejoin my wife in Arizona.

 

[ploverwing]

I have found that to tell myself that I have to practice something. Or I need to do something to improve, it can kill my enthusiasm to do that thing. Instead, I think that I want to practice something so I can ultimately be able to do something.

Oh yes. Exactly this. It really helps me.

 

[richntacoma]

Play uke every day (did so last year). Dance salsa in 5 new countries. Dance 6 days a week and lift 3 (did last year). Transition gracefully out of my 25 year university proff career into my coaching fulltime. Be as present as humanly possible each day.

 

[ukudancer]

You know I love the Seasons as a spectator, but having spent decades in video production from a variety of angles, I don't associate it with fun anymore. In fact, I very specifically turned to ukulele to get all devices -- computers, phones, cameras, microphones -- completely out of my life for at least a little while every day. I can't do both, and I'd rather do the ukulele.

It's funny because this is exactly why I dove into the Seasons. I spent 2 decades producing and editing on US TV networks (I'm still in the industry, just no longer working the creative side) and I really enjoy that I get to put my knowledge into something just for me.

I get to practice music and learn about new techniques and tricks on the post production side. Idk, all of this never felt like work to me. I can shoot with a GoPro or an Arri Alexa, I'm having fun either way.

That said, I do understand wanting nothing to do with it at all at the end of the day.

 

[jimavery]

My resolution is simply to not let studying for graded exams spoil my enjoyment of ukulele.

Practically that means I'm going take the grade 4 exam in January then blast through grade 5 as quickly as I can so I can then enjoy learning from some of the amazing sheet music I've bought recently by the likes of Choan Gálvez, Samantha Muir and Tony Mizen, then I'll park grades 6-8 until my retirement, by which time I hope all the experience gained will make those exams a breeze.

 

[TBB]

Your immediate goal is to get well, @TBB!

Ugh. I've been flat out in bed the last few days, I commiserate. I hope you feel better soon. It's so boring being sick and not feeling up to doing anything.

Get well quickly TBB

Thanks lovely peeps, I’m on the mend, been trying to put this enforced downtime to good use and get some extra uke playing in but my covid brain is refusing to cooperate

I hope you’re both feeling better now, Amie and @Kenn2018