Midwest Ukulele & Harmonica Camp – 2024
Another MUC is in the history books! And a wonderful time was had by all! This year the venue was the University of Toledo. The campus was pretty nice and the facilities well suited for learning the ukulele and harmonica. The format was pretty similar to previous years, the biggest notable difference was the slightly shorter class sizes. Capped right at an hour, many instructors were a bit frustrated at the shorter time frame. Starting off at noon on Friday and going until 2 on Sunday afternoon, it included eight workshops, two concerts, two strums and open mic opportunities Saturday at lunch and dinner. And room and board in the dorm next door was available, making for a convenient commute! For videos of some of the concert acts, visit Midwest Ukulele & Harmonica Camp’s Youtube Channel. After the concerts, there were strum alongs and impromptu jam sessions. Andy Wilson,…
Midwest Uke Camp 2018 – Workshops
One of the big draws of Midwest Uke Camp is the opportunity to learn from some of the best instructors available! The organizers spend a lot of time lining up top talent and then trying to fit it all into a coherent schedule. And Ben Hassenger and company do a great job. Everyone has to choose eight workshops from a selection of over 60! When selecting workshops, I consider a number of factors. I usually start with the track aimed at my playing level, looking down the list of classes. Typically, I will eliminate any class I’ve already taken, but you’ll see below where I actually repeated myself! The other big consideration is to try and take a course from as many different instructors as I can. Not only does it expose me to new instruction, but helps me learn effective teaching techniques to use in both my ukulele workshops…
Midwest Uke & Harmonica Camp 2018 – Overview
The 3rd Midwest Uke & Harmonica Camp (MUC) has entered the history books. And it was as epic as the previous two years and getting larger! So let me start with the general and move to the specific items to share with you. I’ll share my workshop and instructor info in a separate post. Attendance has grown, there were 100 more people than there were at the first camp, getting close to 200! Which means more people to jam with, more folks to share with and more opportunities to learn! Olivet College is simply beautiful this time of year! The campus is green and lush and there are well kept beds full of flowers and perennials. The classrooms and most areas are air conditioned to help with comfort. Workshops are diverse and full of choices! This year featured six ukulele tracks, Beginner, Confident Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Intermediate were joined…
Reading Chord Charts and TABs – FAQ
One of the common questions beginners have is on how to read a chord chart or TABs. I’ve put together a one page diagram that should answer most of the questions and help get a beginner get used to the correct nomenclature to use when they are asking more in depth questions. Feel free to download and share with others, I just ask that you leave the website and copyright info on the document. Showing up to an ukulele club meeting for the first time can be a bit daunting. You don’t know the people and you don’t know if you have the skill level to play with them. The biggest challenge is the possibility of getting confronted by a new and unexpected format for the music. Learning the Z Chord can be a big help! Clubs collect music from many sources and they all seem to create their own…
BeCause Everyone Forgets – Simple Ukulele Music Theory
An Introduction to ‘Eine Kleine’ Musical Theory for Ukulele Players I know! Your eyes glazed over just thinking about it and you are thinking “I just want to play the ukulele and have fun, I don’t need to understand any of that theory stuff.” Trust me! This will be pretty painless and will provide some basic tools that will help keep you from going crazy in the future! I’m not going into all the whys and therefores and deep depth dives, this is sort of a top layer ‘here’s enough to make you dangerous’ stuff. How many notes can you play on the ukulele? It is a pretty simple question. Most people readily understand that there are seven notes, A through G in music. Many of us learned the FACE and Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and the notes found on the basic music scale. That covers all the white…