Song selection advice please.

engravertom · Jan 19, 2013

Hi everyone,

My family and I have played our Ukes at a nursing home twice now.We really enjoy it! We hope to go at least once a month.

I like playing fingerstyle, but a lot of the pieces I know are a bit on the wistful side. Any suggestions for some upbeat, happy sounding fingerstyle/classical pieces I could work on for some solo material? Easy to moderate in difficulty would be great.

It takes us a while to learn new ensemble pieces as a family, so some solo pieces help fill out our time with them will be helpful.

Thanks for any advice!

Tom

Another Stephanie · Jan 19, 2013

What a neat thing to do. How about 12th street rag? Or some of the other ragtime songs that have been adapted for the ukulele? Most versions I've seen have combinations of strum and fingerstyle.

engravertom · Jan 19, 2013

Thanks! Ragtime is a great idea.

mds725 · Jan 19, 2013

It's a great thing you're doing. My dad is unable to walk and lives in a rehabilitation facility, and he looks forward to the entertainment they provide every Wednesday afternoon.

Your question was asked just a few weeks ago by someone else in this other thread: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?74764-Need-song-suggestions-for-retirement-nursing-homes Check it out for lots of suggestions (but ignore the post with the Sarah Silverman video). People made a lot of good suggestions.

One question: I belong to an ukulele meetup group that tried this past holiday season to find nursing homes, hospitals or rehabilitation facilities to perform in, but we came up empty-handed. How do you get your nursing home gigs?

engravertom · Jan 19, 2013

Thanks for the heads up on that thread...

The one place is practically across the street from us, so one day when i thought we were ready, i walked over and introduced myself. They asked how we charged, and they were a bit more enthusiastic when i said we didn't! They have a limited budget for entertainment. It is a 36 bed facility. We have another opening we haven't taken advantage of yet. A friend just told then about us. other times we have gone along with other folks, things our Church has organized, but those tings are not very frequent.

Pretty much, just ask for the activities director, and go from there.

Take care,

Tom

rem50 · Jan 19, 2013

I do this on a regular basis too. All you have to do is talk to the activities director. They are appreciative of you volunteering your time. I have found that the residents really like upbeat stuff. I usually play stuff from the 40's and 50's. They all know it and love it. I did play Bruno Mars count on me and they liked that too though! Ha! As for a fun song, do side by side or sweet georgia brown.

mds725 said:
It's a great thing you're doing. My dad is unable to walk and lives in a rehabilitation facility, and he looks forward to the entertainment they provide every Wednesday afternoon.

Your question was asked just a few weeks ago by someone else in this other thread: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?74764-Need-song-suggestions-for-retirement-nursing-homes Check it out for lots of suggestions (but ignore the post with the Sarah Silverman video). People made a lot of good suggestions.

One question: I belong to an ukulele meetup group that tried this past holiday season to find nursing homes, hospitals or rehabilitation facilities to perform in, but we came up empty-handed. How do you get your nursing home gigs?

Fuzzy · Jan 20, 2013

You might want to consider something by The Carter Family (the original one) or Johnny Cash.

Ukulele Dude · Jan 20, 2013

You could try Music Box Waltz. The tab, along with several other tunes that fit what you are looking for can be found at Ukulele Dav and Arnaud's site here:

http://ukuleledavarnaudd.free.fr/davtabs.html

The have a lot of good older songs that might work

engravertom · Jan 21, 2013

Thanks! The Music box Waltz looks good. Looks like the 12th street rag is over my head!

Tom

Another Stephanie · Jan 21, 2013

Hi Tom, I think those tabs might make 12th Street Rag look a little bit more daunting than it actually is. You might try the Marcy Marxer YouTube tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhF1l8VCi34

...and Ukulelehunt has two tabs (http://ukulelehunt.com/2007/07/15/12th-street-rag-bare-bones/ ). The first is fairly simple, but the second one isn't bad either. I'm not a great player by any stretch, but I found that with a couple of weeks of practice, the second version became pretty fluid pretty quickly.

(Ukulele Dude, I'd never seen the Dav Arnaud site before. Thanks for sharing it! I'm about to try some of those tabs myself.)

engravertom · Jan 21, 2013

OK, I like the tune, so i won't give up on it.

ralphk · Jan 21, 2013

The key for getting access to any retirement village or nursing facility is the simple word "free". Most facilities have some dollars available for entertainment, but except for the really upscale villages, it is very limited. "Free" seems to get an immediate welcome. Go there to have fun and provide entertainment to the residents, maybe get some experience in front of an audience.

Song selection advice please.

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