Guess What!?!?!?

New Uuer Danny224 is a student at the school where i teach. The other day, the band director asked if we would play Mele Kalikimala for the Holiday Concert this year. We are in. That means an audience of 3400 students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Do any of you have a version that is a little bit more exciting than the slow versions i have heard? We may add in a third Uker as well.

My band did this song last Christmas; we played it quite quickly, with an Andrews Sisters sort of feel to it. I suppose, technically speaking, we weren't really going much faster than Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfuUlZdUtbg

However, instead of drawing each phrase out languidly, we stuck more precisely to the timing and added plenty of silly, fun percussion, including jingle bells. I did two extended uke solos, and we turned the bridge into a whistling duet (i.e., two of our singers whistled in harmony for the length of a verse). I would suggest that you use the existing versions as models but simply ramp up the excitement via tone, rhythm, and, if possible, percussion. "More cowbell" is not a bad rule of thumb here.

Very cool, mendel! Hope it goes well.

Thank you both!

Congrats! Hope all goes well.

That's way cool.. I hope you find a version you love.. Have fun and please record!!

That's really cool! Keep us apprised as to how it goes and as fitncrafty says, record!!