Ukulele Crash Course in January

Saturdays, January 14^th and Jan. 21^st
10 AM – 12 NOON, $45.00  
You will learn basic chords, strumming patterns and how to transpose any song into a ukulele friendly key.  You'll have fun making music with others. The cost includes an instruction/songbook.  The class will be held at my home and is open to age 14 and up.  For an additional $55.00 I will supply a nice sounding Lanikai soprano ukulele.  If you want to give the ukulele and class as a gift, you can pick up the ukulele from me in December.  Send me an email to register.

circle of fifths

The circle of fifths is a very helpful way to organize the musical keys into a chart that has many uses.  I have written the circle of fifths in two ways in the charts below.  It is not obvious from looking at them why it is called a "circle".  Bear with me and I will explain.  In the first chart, you will see that each scale is written vertically.  The name of the major scale or key is written in blue.  The relative minor key is written in pink.  You can start with any key on the chart and the key to its right will be up a perfect fifth and the key to its left will be down a perfect fifth.  Here is an example:  C major is in the center of the chart.  The key to the right of C major is G major which is a perfect fifth up.  The key to the left of C major is F major which is down a perfect fifth.  Pick any note on the chart: the note to its right will be up a perfect fifth and the note to its left will be down a perfect fifth.

One useful feature of the circle of fifths chart is that it will help you understand key signatures.  You'll notice that as you move by columns (each column is a key or scale) progressively to the right of C major each column adds a new sharp while keeping the ones from the previous column.  As you move progressively to the left from C major, each column adds a new flat.  The video will explain this a bit more and also explain the "circle" part.

more sight singing practice

Today's lesson gives you practice sight singing in the key of E major in the bass clef.  The key of E major has four sharps in the key signature, F#, C#, G# and D#.  The time signature is cut time which is the same as 2/2 time with the half note getting the beat.  If the rhythms pose any problem, you can slow it down and count it in 4/4 time with the quarter note getting the beat.  Speed it back up and tap only the first and third quarter note in each measure and you have cut time.

Tie Dye Sale on Nov. 12-13

I will have a sale of my hand-dyed textiles on Saturday and Sunday, November 12-13, noon-6 PM at my home, 7107 Valley Haven Drive, Charlotte, 28211.  Get a head start on your holiday shopping or buy something for yourself.    If you don't need to buy anything, then just come by for some cookies and tea and conversation.  If you'd like to see my tie dye but can't make it on Saturday or Sunday, give me a call or email and we can set up another time for you to come by.  I also have some items for sale at The Bag Lady in Charlotte, The Harvest Table in Meadowview, Virginia and Made in Glade Spring, Virginia.  Here are some samples of some of the items I will have for sale on November 12-13 including shirts, skirts, baby onesies, pants, napkins, placemats, tablecloths and scarves.   I also do custom dying if you have an item that you'd like to have refurbished like white napkins or a table cloth that you don't use because of stains.