Multi-week Season

Hi all -

I've been participating in the Seasons for about 6 months, and it has been fruitful and enjoyable. But one part of a Season is starting to bug me.

Many of us have jobs (and even an occasional other responsibility outside of ukes!), so to get a video done in a week kind of requires coming up with a choice early in the week and sometimes either rushing to get it done or limiting what we do in order to get it done. For instance, less in the way of multi-tracking or remote collaboration.

It's think of a song and record it - fun, but a specific kind of fun, IMHO.

I thought it might be interesting to have a Season that ran more than one week, which would open up more possibilities while not eliminating anyone who wanted (or was able) to do a 'one-take wonder'. We could even have a multi-week Season running simultaneously with a single week Season.

What do you folks think of this idea?

To be honest I think the whole fun of the seasons is to be forced to produce a song/video in one week. To me the seasons would not be the seasons anymore if we would be changing the one constant it has, which is every week a new challenge. If you need more time to complete your epic performance you can always post it on the Island. And I do have a job by the way . And having two/three seasons running at the same time, seems to me, like making it even more complicated. Just my two cents.

Maybe if two hosts who have weeks that followed each other agreed to somehow make a double week with a 14 day deadline?

I agree that the Seasons' one-week pressure keeps the entries informal and the banter lighthearted. It's the core appeal of the Seasons.
If you choose to go forward with a two-week performance option, please don't call it Seasons; that would be way too confusing.

You can always start a challenge at any time on the contests thread. Why not start with one there?

WARNING: The Sturgeon General and other authorities have determined that this post is all about ME...me, me, me. I don't even have much to offer on the subject. I just had a minute and a couple of thoughts...

"ever at my back I hear
time's wing'ed chariot drawing near"

Isn't that about right?

I respect the notion of a different type of contest, perhaps as some sort of long form analog to the seasons a la Ginny's comment. AND, I'm no stranger to bending/breaking rules and applaud those who do. How else did we get here in the first place after all?

Still, I feel somewhat protective of the status quo here, and that surprises me in a way. I love every single thing about the Seasons as they are including the time pressure and the way different folks cope with it. I adore the folks who workworkwork all week for one brilliant production and I raise them up as a breed apart from what I could ever hope to be. I love that Berni and others can come up with a wonderful new song out of whole cloth in that length of time. I truly admire folks like you Rick, who gather one or more of us together for a group seasons entry whether in one location or in many and applaud the work that video editors and multitrackers do here.

And, what I know about me is that I wouldn't do much better with twice the time. I also know that if you start double or triple or year-long challenge under contests and mention it here, I'm likely to jump into that, too.

When I started the Island, I was trying to be respectful of the rules set up by any host who hosted. I made it into a joke about being a rebel/misfit but, in truth, I wanted it to do what it's doing, to act as a pressure valve off to the side for those of us who lose a little bit of our verve when limited to two or three songs a week. That will never be the seasons and I started it outside of the Seasons under contests before a friendly Admin moved it here into the fold. (Thanks for that Jon.)

All for fun and fun for all...

love,
alan

Hi folks,

While my participation in the Seasons is not as regular as many of you all, I have participated in a handful of the seasons and I find the 1-week time deadline to be both frustrating (but in a good way) as it applies (for me at least) a positive pressure for me to 'stop making excuses' and sit down and learn a new song well enough that I don't embarrass myself. I've grown accustomed now to being forced to focus on doing the best I can in the time allotted, and as such is an analog to 'real life' outside the forum.

This is what I'd call 'performance pressure', but what Rick is talking about I think is more how to deal with resolving the free time to create an entry, as well as maybe reconciling within oneself the feelings of being left out, if you cannot make an entry before the week is over. I've dealt with this myself, so I can only speak for myself, but I'd think that maybe a few of you have encountered these feelings at least once.

If there's one resource that is always in such short supply it is time, which is ever fleeting.

I've noticed that a few folks are submitting late entries anyway, even after the week is over, and this is sometimes even encouraged by that week's host, and they get posted to the thread, and added to the YouTube playlist, but because they are late, they are not eligible for the judging...maybe this is something that should become a regular option?

I am in no way trying to minimize what Rick said about priorities, as the Seasons are meant to be good fun, and the intense feeling of camaraderie is something I've only EVER seen here on UU, in the Seasons.

I am constantly learning from all of you, and inspired by all of you, such that is pushes me and motivates me to want to be a better player, a better musician, and be a worthy member of the group.

(Recently I've been unable to participate due to fighting a really bad winter chest cold that has a firm grip, and I just cant sing, and have little energy to practice, but I have been watching and following along.)

I would think that if one finds that the Misfits Island, Blues, C&W, Jamming and other sections are not a good place for overflow, or for songs that do not fit in these categories, then maybe a discussion like this is in order, but maybe should be tended on a case-by-case basis, rather than running a parallel or concurrent and competing season.

There are a few of you that I might consider the 'elders' or the 'founders' of the Seasons, and maybe it is my ignorance or false perception of this idea, but if I had such a conundrum as Rick has posed, I might seek your counsel privately before asking the group. But that's just me because I'm still feeling like a newbie (despite my 350+ posts in the forum), and that I'd rather err on the side of caution than ruffle too many feathers.

Having said all of the above, I think that since Rick has brought this topic out into the open, that this is a very good thing, and would like to see and understand the opinions of those who have spent more time around here than myself.

For this, Rick, I thank you. You are more brave than I am.

-Booli

the seasons is what they is

also

they are what they are

sometimes i do think oh gosh could we have another week? but then i would only post twice as many videos! ie TWO googolplex instead of one!

if you wanna enter with a chance to WIN then yeah if you're pushed for time you might not make the deadline. i would like to say that it's not about winning, it's about the whole process of working to a theme and getting a wriggle on and sharing and seeing other people's efforts - but unfortunately doug's week makes a big lie of all that because, man, I WANT THAT BEAUTIFUL UKE OF HIS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD!

however in the normal run of things the prize(s) are a fun bonus factor to the seasons, rather than the driving motivation to enter

i totally agree with other people here who have said that if you're running late after the deadline, you can still post your effort on that season's thread anyway, just to share, i don't think anyone objects? and of course the misfits thread, it's the perfect place to post extra vids, or vids for a season that is over

i love the seasons, i love the whole process and experience of being part of the seasons. i came to the seasons a long time after they started and i knew there was a tradition to them and a structure to them and it's surely all of that that makes them so great?

Get's brought up once a year or so. It is NOT the Seasons of the Ukulele unless it is one week.
That said- Alan and I are back to back in the near future. If you are lucky...and in all likelihood, our seasons will be related Diabolically related- but there is a glimmer. We often share a brain (he got the good half).
There are several other contests (like I look at them) that run for more than one week. But this is the seasons. It is blood sweat and Ukulele. In seven days.

I really have nothing to add. Everyone else has shared so much of how I feel about this subject. I love the one week timeline, the pressure, the practice, the fun and the imperfection I would use the island for a well seasoned song.

There's nothing wrong with well done...

although a properly cooked steak should be rare to med rare otherwise all the flavor is cooked out

Hungry now

I love the seasons as they are. One theme each week and The Island for overload. There used to be a lot more UU contests that would last a few weeks or longer which I sometimes entered just for the fun. I do miss those and wish there would be more. But for me personally, I'd love to see the seasons continue as they always have.

I love a Season each week, too. Making a uke video each week to share with y'all has genuinely improved my life. Love it.

But I also like non-Seasons contests---few have been held recently, but they used to be the staple of the Contests forum. The trick to holding a contest with a longer deadline (two weeks to a month were the standard in the pre-Seasons era) is to offer a nice enough prize to entice each participant to put some work into her or his entry---a prize ukulele usually does the trick.

Yeah, when my young son Dave and I are up for a contiguous fortnight things COULD get um...experimental, perhaps just mental. We might be able to provide a foretaste of the heavenly banquet of chaos that would be seasons unchained rather than seasons unchanged. (psst dave do you REALLY they can handle a perry como week right on top of a don rickles week as we discussed?)

I got the good brain half? The one labeled "Abby Normal"?

TCK said:

Get's brought up once a year or so. It is NOT the Seasons of the Ukulele unless it is one week.
That said- Alan and I are back to back in the near future. If you are lucky...and in all likelihood, our seasons will be related Diabolically related- but there is a glimmer. We often share a brain (he got the good half).
There are several other contests (like I look at them) that run for more than one week. But this is the seasons. It is blood sweat and Ukulele. In seven days.

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