Tenth Season of the Ukulele Challenge

mattydee

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Tenth Season of the Ukulele Challenge: Earth Day and Shakespeare

Alright Seasonistas! It's the TENTH season of the Ukulele challenge. Remember, you need not have participated in any previous Seasons challenge to pariticipate in this one. But, because it is our tenth weekiversary, I'm shaking things up... are you ready?

The Challenges. Yes. Challenges.

Today, April 22, is Earth Day.

and

Tomorrow, April 23 is William Shakespeare's birthday.

The challenge is to either cover (or write) a song that is ecologically minded or cover (or write) a song that references Shakespeare, one of his plays, or one (or more) of his characters. Also acceptable would be setting a sonnet to music, or singing one of the many songs from Shakespeare's plays. You can set it yourself, use one of the possible settings Shakespeare might have used (by John Dowland, etc), or take a popular melody and fit Shakespeare's lyric to it.

Prizes

Earth Day prize: A green uke leash style half strap.
Shakespeare prize: A copy of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Rules

• To enter, post a YouTube performance video as a reply to this thread by the DEADLINE: 11:59 PM HAWAII TIME, SUNDAY APRIL 29.
• Each submission must be a single-take, no cuts, and must have a spoken reference to this contest as an introduction.
• Judging criteria are
(a) playing,
(b) singing,
(c) spark/passion/personality,
(d) originality/creativity,
(e) setting/framing/lighting, and
(f) je ne sais quoi.
• I'm the sole judge on this one, so I'll have a little judging rubric based on the above, but in the end, if there's a tie, I'll hand it off to my wife to be the deciding vote.
• As with all the Seasons challenges, this is a uke-centric deal. You can have other instruments as back-up, but the uke has to be front and center, and remember that it's one take, so no over-dubs, etc. (A little enhancement in post is fine - reverb, etc, but you should know that I like my distortion like I like my coffee: light, if at all.)
• Instrumentals are fine. Good, in fact. I'd go so far as to say impressive. So, you know, there's that.
• Since this is the TENTH season, and I'm splitting the week into two, you may enter two performances, but only one for each category. So for you overachievers (or, you know, if you're just bored) go for it! If you do enter both categories, each video will be judged on its own merits, which is to say, this is not an extra-credit exercise.

When all is said and done, I'll make a traditional Seasons judge's feedback video. I'll shoot for Monday the 30th.

I'll leave you with this from The Tempest, which encapsulates the beauty of Earth Day and Shakespeare in one tidy passage (you'll recognize a bit from my signature, no doubt):

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Play on, my seasonistas! Play On!
 
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ok, it's tomorrow, I have enjoyed learning new songs each week,and listening to all yours. thanks for keeping the ball rolling.
 
Aaaaaaaaand the challenge for the tenth season of the ukulele is ........................................................................................................
 


Here's an old video of mine, just to get people into the right frame of mind for the contest. This is "Hamlet (I Need a Little More Proof)".
 
oh my stars, this is AWESOME.
 
oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I...
 
got a number of WS ideas, might just have to go for the most obvious, though...
 
Hmmm just watched Anonymous... a movie which would suggest that Lord Oxford was responsible for the works of Shakespeare.

No way you could know this, and I won't hijack my own thread beyond this response, but I'm a STAUNCH Stratfordian. So, as far as the contest goes, I'd stay away from this sort of thing, if I were you. ;)

(I'm glad to rebut every one of Emmerich's 'points' via PM, if you like... some of the things he says are outright lies, some are just ridiculous, but all of them, as with all Anti-Stratfordian thinking, are solutions looking for a problem.)

In the end, the work is the work, no matter who wrote it, but this is a hot-button issue for me, because I believe classism is bad news.
 
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:) i thought all of bill Shakespeare plays were written by a load of monkies on type writers during a infinite amount of time lol
wow what a mighty challenge you have set us Matty, many thanks for carrying the torch for another week of ukeness :)
 
All right - hands off "Big Yellow Taxi," y'all! It's mine! Mine! LOL

Just kidding, maybe we should all do "Big Yellow Taxi" and drive poor Matty nuts...

John
 
All right - hands off "Big Yellow Taxi," y'all! It's mine! Mine! LOL

Just kidding, maybe we should all do "Big Yellow Taxi" and drive poor Matty nuts...

John

Wow, that is a Big Yellow Taxi.

I'm glad to see Earth Day get a little love, though. It's very early yet, obviously, but I'm surprised... I thought the ratio of responses as far as Earth Day v. Shakespeare would be reversed.
 
Wow, that is a Big Yellow Taxi.

I'm glad to see Earth Day get a little love, though. It's very early yet, obviously, but I'm surprised... I thought the ratio of responses as far as Earth Day v. Shakespeare would be reversed.

Well...you might not call it love after you hear my Joni Mitchell voice... LOL

John
 
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