Midwest Ukulele & Harmonica Camp 2023
Another fabulous weekend of musical learning and fun! This year was a change from the past in both the location and format. Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana was the venue and instead of the 48 hours starting on Friday, it began on Saturday and ran until 1:00 on Monday. About 125 students and an all-star faculty gathered for 7 workshops, 2 special events, 2 concerts, strum-a-longs and open mic opportunities. And this year there was a Fingerstyle track added to the listings, for a total of 44 separate classes in 8 tracks. Tracks were offered in four skill levels plus Harmonica, Bass/Baritone, Fingerpicking, and Other. The biggest rivalry of the camp was who had the better hair, Grace or Neal! Here’s a snap shot of this year’s instructors along with links to their web sites or YouTube presence: Andy Wilson I believe that Andy is the only instructor that…
Molly Lewis
This is a short entry, but is full of links that will keep you busy for a while! One of my earliest influences in the world of the ukulele was the UkeCast, a podcast created by Chris in the US and soon joined by Nipper from the UK. The program included original ukulele music, interviews with musicians, hints and tips and ukulele related news. It only ran from 2006 to 2009 and had just gone ‘off the air’ when I first discovered the instrument. But it introduced me to a lot of musicians including The Fabulous Heftones, Lyle Ritz, Jonathan Coltrane and The Dominator. And an artist known as SweetAfton23, Molly Lewis. Molly has a way of creating songs that goes a long way toward capturing the fun the instrument provides to all of us. Her cover of Poker Face introduced me to the Stylophone and she performed her Letter…