Ukulele Tunes for little ears contest

grammy

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Hi. I would like to announce a competition, in the spirit of passing on our love and enthusiasm for the ukulele.

I, like many others of you out there, am a parent and I love to play my uke for and with my kids, I often play spontaneous songs that I make up about them, or their toys or what we did that day…sometimes they are even quite good, it doesn’t matter though cos we really enjoy what we do…good, bad or silly.

Anyway that got me thinking, wouldn’t it be great to have fun new songs to play for the kids? and wouldn’t it be great if we could share them?

SO… I have this idea about making a site where we can post the vids, the words and chords and share these tunes free for everyone. I will host the site and pay all costs related to it, I’ll probably throw a few discreet uke related ads on there to pay the bills. Of course to make this happen I need you.

So here is the comp.

Write an original ukulele song for children.

The prize…

A Makala Dolphin, set up by MGM, in any colour you want! WOO!

This can be sent anywhere worldwide.

Since this is a comp about encouraging kids to enjoy the uke, and since many of you already have a dolphin or something much, much better. I will happily accept if you wish to nominate a rug rat or other deserving entity to receive the uke instead of you.

Rules, terms and all that malarkey

1. You must play a ukulele in the video. DUR!

2. Only two entries per person.

3. Multi tracking is ok, but the idea is to make the tune accessible to everyone so please bear that in mind.

4. Kids love songs with actions, so actions would be awesome, though not compulsory.

5. You must post the chords and the lyrics in the side bar, so everyone can play your tune.

6. you must post your video as a reply to the competition video…it’s here

7. closing date for the competition will be May 31st. contest closing date extended to June 14th
8 . Judging will take place during the following 2 weeks, the judges will be Sarah age 3 Lucy age 4 Laurie age 7 Sam age 1 George age 5 and Gray age 40.

9 By entering you accept that the video may be used on a uke tunes for kids site which will be free to access for anyone.

Judging criteria, well it’s very simple…. The kids must like it.


Once the competition is finished I will make the site and make it possible for any user to submit new songs.

Comments, suggestions and ideas much appreciated.

Good Luck Have Fun,


can’t wait to see the entries!
 
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Thanks for having the competition/contest, grammy. Mighty nice of you to throw in a dolphin for the prize too. You've given us lots of time so don't be surprised if the majority of "us" wait until the last week or so to post something. Not that any of us procrastinate. Several good contests going on right now so it's time for me to get busy.
 
Can the tune be borrowed but the lyrics be original? I am actually working on something like this right now for my class. an example would be borrow the tune for let's say old macdonald but change the lyrics.
 
tough call but i am gonna have to say no.

first cos original means 100% original and half the fun in writing a song is writing the tune and second cos Barney the blummin dinosaur does it all the time and my daughter now thinks that the words to 'this old man' are actually 'i love you , you love me' etc and i can't in all good conscience encourage that kind of malarkey.
 
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Does the song have to stoop down to the level of a barney song? I'm working on a song right now that's kid friendly, but sounds closer to a John Mayer song. It has to do with living in a jungle, but its not a bouncy happy song like Barney songs.

So what I am asking, do the kids who are judging this song like barney songs or are they into more popular songs as well as long as they are kid friendly?
 
hmmm. trying to pump me for info on the judges so you can pander to them eh? :)

my advice, write what you want to write. who can say what will appeal to kids. the other day i was listening to The doors while i worked and my daughter came in said ' daddy what's this?' i said' it's the doors.' she said ' excellent music'. she isn't even three, i was very proud. personally i think Barney style is loathsome cos it is patronising, insults the intelligence of kids, is over moralising and all them American kids with too much make up and fake smiles is downright nauseating - but not all kids music need to be like that, look at 'puff the magic dragon', made many a kid cry for poor puff all on his own cos Jackie grew up, but they all love it. or what about 'the worm at the bottom of the garden' fun, funny and still silly suitable for small kids without stooping to Barney vomit.
 
Great that's exactly what I wanted to know! Thanks.
 
I love this contest!

This is right up my alley. I love to make songs for the kids! I play for my little ones class once a month. Too bad about not using popular tunes that they are familiar with though because I have made up some great lyrics of well known cover songs that have been a hit with the kids. I've only written one song myself for my little girl. The class has requested it before so it must be pretty good. I'll send it in. Thanks for this contest!
 


A Song About A Possum & Chicken
2010 Captain Lovehandles

There was once a young possum who left his abode
But he was smarter than most - before he got to the road
He stopped in to see his chicken friend, he’d heard that she knew
About crossing the road, and asked her what he should do.
Chicken told our friend that she would be delighted to tell him
Of the rules of the road because she knew them so well
But he should carefully write down every word that she said
Because they’re not just for chickens but for most quadrupeds.

(She said) Be careful not to cross in the dark of the night
And it’s a good idea to wear clothes that are bright.
Stop, look and listen before you take the first step.
That’s three simple words that will make you adept.
Don’t stop to play, just move on across.
It may seem like fun, but don’t do it because
One little slip, and you can bet that for sure
You’ll be a big greasy spot with some eyeballs and fur.
(and we wouldn’t want that, would we?)

Knowledge is good and now he knew what to do.
He marched out to the street as his excitement, it grew.
He looked left, he looked right and he was fixin’ to hop
Into the road when right behind him he heard someone say STOP!

Now Possum, there’s another rule that I meant to include.
It’s extremely important so I’ll tell you now, dude.
Any time you feel like crossing, you can never go wrong
With four eyes instead of two, so take a good friend along.
(It’s also more fun!)

So hand in hand they proceeded ‘cross the roadway to glide
And when they made it across, Possum was glad that he tried.
Though he now had forgotten why he wanted to go.
Chicken smiled, That’s another thing that all chickens know.
(But that’s a story for another time.)

Chords:
(Intro - Verse - Instrumental)
G | B | G | C | D | D7 | G | D7
G | B | G | C | D | D7 | G | D7 | G

(Bridge)
Em | B repeat...
Em | G | C | D7

MUCH thanks to Bunnyflower and her girls, who put a lot of effort into her part. Please visit her channel.
 
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Here is my entry. It was written by me, my brother and my sister with help from my dad. It is played by me and my sister and brother. I hope you all enjoy it.



It is an 8 bar blues song. The kids play it with a straight strum adding a pick pick after each strum. Strum then pick the G string then pick the A string.
The chords for the Chorus: C C C C, F G C C
The chords for the Verses: C C C7 C7, F F G#maj G#maj
The chords are straight forward except the G#maj, to play this play a normal G then add the 5th fret on the G string, we play it by barring the 3rd fret.
The words are:
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone
Mama Come back home.
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone
I'm almost skin and bones.
Daddy don't feed me, my hairs getting greasy
The other kids at school are starting to tease me.
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone,
Mama, come back home.
Well the kids are not fed, the cats are both dead,
The dog ran away after pooping on the bed.
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone,
Mama, come back home.
Well Daddy is grumpy, my clothes are getting frumpy,
I wish I had some food even oatmeal that is lumpy.
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone,
Mama, come back home.
Well Mama's in Hawaii, it makes me want to cry,
Daddy's got his gun out and I think were going to die.
Daddy don't feed me when Mama's gone,
Mama, come back home,
Mama, come back home.
 
Three Little Goats



This song is intended to get the kids moving. Don't let the kids just sit and watch the video, make them do the motions. They jump up, down, spin, lay on the floor, wiggle and then stand very still. The young kids will like it.

A E7 A
My grandfather has three little baby goats;
E7 A
Their names are buckwheat, barley, and oats
D A
When they see him coming; well, they come a'running.
E7 A
They are so funny to see.

A E7 A
They jump up, down, and spin all around
E7 A
They lay on the ground and wiggle like a hound (Howl)
D A
They stand very still like the rocks on the hill
E7 A
They are so funny to see.

I wish YT wouldn't goof up the sound to video tracking but it looks like that has happened in my upload. Oh well, there's not much to see in the video anyway.
You can repeat the whole song as many times as you can stand it.
 
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Hello all. Here is one of my entries. Still working on the second one and hope to have it up soon. I'm really enjoying playing the ukulele and I'm hoping to spread the fever her in Berryville, VA by donating a uke to our public library and to the grade school library. I also play at the grade school once a month and the kids love it.



The idea is to use your own name with a rhyme in place of Ziggybanet.

Thanks!

Hope it's okay I didn't actually show my face this time :)

The chords and words for this song are in the description area of the video on youtube. They would not post properly on this site so here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHA581rFS2o
 
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Here's my first entry for the Ukulele Tunes for Little ears contest. Its Called Animals on Parade. Includes some silly elements and some fun actions. I've already tested in for some kids and they thought it was good.



Below are the lyrics and chords Enjoy.

Jon

. F C
1 Today is August 21, and all together, just for fun,
2 Today is August 22, the Crocodile got painted blue
3 Today is August 23rd, the Hippos dressed up like a bird
4 Today is August 24, the Butterflys have learned to ROAR!!!
5 Today is August 25, the Bees are dancing in their hive

. Bb C F
1 All the animals in the zoo are on parade.
2 So the animals in the zoo are on parade.
3 So the animals in the zoo are on parade.
4 So the animals in the zoo are on parade.
5 So the animals in the zoo are on parade.

. (Add one animal to chorus per verse.)
[Animal 1]
. F C
The Elephant comes in first - And he goes STOMP,STOMP,STOMP.
[Animal 2]
. Bb C
The Monkeys come in second - And they go Aaah-aah, Oooh, Aaah, Ah Ah
[Animal 3]
. F C
The Turtle comes in third - And he goes MMUUH, MMUUH, MMUUH
[Animal 4]
. Bb C
The Kangaroo comes in fourth - And he goes SPROING, SPROING, SPROING.
[Animal 5]
. Bb C
The Coyote come in fifth - And he goes OWOOO, OWOOO, OWOOO.
[...]
. Bb C F
On the day when the animals are on parade
 
Here is my second entry. This was an interesting song for me. While I was working with it I came up with two different sets of lyrics for one tune. then I couldn't decide which version to submit. finally I decided to submit them both as one entry. I hope you enjoy

Five Little Puppy Dogs/Three Giant Dinosaurs



Chords and Lyrics below.

Five Little Puppy Dogs

.F Bb
Five little puppy dogs sitting on a step
.C F
Five little puppy dogs as cute as they can get
.F Bb
One ran to meet a boy walking up the drive
.C F
Now there are four puppy dogs where there once were five

Four little puppy dogs sitting on a step
Four little puppy dogs as cute as they can get
One ran to chase a ball that rolled across the floor
Now there are three puppy dogs where there once were four

Three little puppy dogs sitting on a step
Three little puppy dogs as cute as they can get
One ran to chase a squirrel that scampered up a tree
Now there are two puppy dogs where there once were three

Two little puppy dogs sitting on a step
Two little puppy dogs as cute as they can get
One ran beneath the porch to chew upon a shoe
Now there is one puppy dogs where there once was two.

One little puppy dog sitting on a step
One little puppy dog as cute as he could get
He ran to chase a leaf because it looked like fun
Now there is no puppy dog where there once was one.

Five little puppy dogs sleeping in their bed
Five little puppy dogs warm and all well fed
They are tired from their day of running, romping fun
And they will soon be back at play when their nap is done.

Three Giant Dinosaurs

.F Bb
Three giant dinosuars standing on a hill
.C F
Three giant dinosuars looking for a meal
.F Bb
One chased a hunter as he jumped into a lake
.C F
They were eated by a giant fish so that was a mistake

Now there's...

Two giant dinosuars standing on a hill
Two giant dinosuars looking for a meal
One chased an antelope that ran so fast it flew
They ran off a giant cliff and that's a mistake too

Now there's...

One giant dinosuars standing on a hill
One giant dinosuars looking for a meal
He's a vegetarian so hunting is not hard
He ate a giant carrot and grew about a yard
 
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