Ukulele Societies

GreyPoupon

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What do ukulele groups / societies do when they all get together?

I imagine they have open mics, but what else?

What would a typical get together program consist of?
 
COUP (Columbus Ohio Ukulele Peeps) gets together and plays music as a group.. sort of a free-for-all jam session. Sometimes people do their own thing, and there are those play-along songs that everyone likes. We all have a good time.
 
In most ukulele societies, there are secret rituals, secret handshakes, uncomfortable but imposing headwear, strange liquid concoctions that are imbibbed or poured over pledges, and lots of other unspeakables.:eek:
 
Buc

Berkeley Ukulele Club, which meets today, 6p - 7p is beginner hour, we play really basic songs that nearly anyone can pick up quickly. After that we open it up a bit. We have a bunch of songs we often play. People are welcome to bring in songs to lead the group in playing (lyrics and chords and about 40 copies). It's fun. 4 times a year we have a potluck with an open mic. I'm kicking myself. I forgot to bring my uke with me this morn, but that is okay because Mike DaSilva (a ukemaker) hosts and always has some loaners. Iffin yer in the area drop by.

details at ukemaker.com/ukeclub
 
In most ukulele societies, there are secret rituals, secret handshakes, uncomfortable but imposing headwear, strange liquid concoctions that are imbibbed or poured over pledges, and lots of other unspeakables.:eek:

Don't forget about the awkward moments. Lots and lots of awkward moments.
 
It rather depends on how many members you have. If there are less than a dozen of you, the format will be very different from a club with fifty members turning up.

In essence, plenty of ensemble playing, some individual efforts, some teaching, lots of socialising, you-show-me-yours-and-I'll-show-you-mine, substance abuse, wife-swapping. That was quite a night!

Ukantor
 
In most ukulele societies, there are secret rituals, .:eek:

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh---uuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm
plinka plinka
aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh---uuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm
plinka plinka
 
After reading some of the posts on this thread, I get the feeling a lot of us are in the same secret ukulele society and post on the same forum. Still, we'd never know because of the hoods and metallic face masks...

Is this the club with the ritual guitar burning followed by a naked (save for the hood and mask) frantic dance chanting "G-C-E-A! We love our ukies e-vry DAY!"?

...no?
 
They are all different. I regularly attend three different ones.

At the Ukulele Society of America in Carlsbad, California, the first hour and a half is led by an alakai'i. That is normally Pat "palika" Enos, or a guest conductor in his absense (Pat's a professional musician that makes a living playing the uke and guitar, so paying gigs override kanikapilas). There are a half dozen of us that lead in Pat's absense. It's a large group with about 300 uke players and 50 hula dancers. 50 to 150 show up weekly. We take a 15 minute break and usually someone will solo during that intermission. Pat then leads us through a few more songs and then the last hour is a semi organized open microphone session. During the kanikapila, Pat's always teaching nuances and tricks of better ways to playthe uke.

At the Moonlight Beach Ukulele Strummers in Encinitas, California, it's three hours of play/sing along with Frank Leong and the Moonlight Serenaders band leading a large group with about 500 uke players and 50 hula dancers. 50 to 100 show up weekly. The songs are picked by Frank and he often asks the crowd for requests. On occassion, some members play on stage with the band.

At the Wind an Sea Ukulele Orchestra in La Jolla, California, it's an hour and a half of instructional step by step learning and playing taught and led by Fred Thompson, a young man in his 70's that fed his family by playing the uke. Fred's acted in several movies and played Vaudville, too. They have about 50 uke players. 20 to 30 show up monthly.

All the above groups have subgroups that play concerts, charities parades and other events. Ages range from 7 to 101 (Bill Tapia of the Ukulele Society of America). Ric
 
After reading some of the posts on this thread, I get the feeling a lot of us are in the same secret ukulele society and post on the same forum. Still, we'd never know because of the hoods and metallic face masks...

Is this the club with the ritual guitar burning followed by a naked (save for the hood and mask) frantic dance chanting "G-C-E-A! We love our ukies e-vry DAY!"?

...no?

My throat is still sore from all the G-C-E-A chanting. Lmbo.
 
What do ukulele groups / societies do when they all get together?

I imagine they have open mics, but what else?

What would a typical get together program consist of?

I've organized clubs twice and the best format for us is this.

We start out with an Open Mic session. I bring a nice field recorder and record it. Some folks do a solo others hand out music and all the folks play along (I later post the recordings on our google group). Folks usually staggle in during this part/

If anyone is new we all go around and introduce ourselves. Someone always says "Hi I'm so and so and I am a ukaholic".

Then I teach a class (we started with the basics and have built on it).

Then we play a songs as a group with the new stuff we learned.

Folks them make annoncements and talk about uke stuff.
 
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