Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Bob Brozman Ukulele Workshop

The last workshop was amazing. I plan on attending at least one of these, if only to have Bob sign my diploma, attesting that I'm now a certified practitioner of the elusive two-finger triplet stroke.

Sez Bob:
"I learned a lot about uke-teaching during the last session, and also after teaching uke for a week (!) at George Kahumoku’s camp on Maui.

I intend to make these classes mostly covering new material, and not a repeat of the last session. We are going to narrow the musical focus and spend more time on particular concepts. There will, of course, be some review of strums, and chord shapes. We will focus more on a handful of particular songs, including blues in a few keys, and simple swing era tunes. We will also examine very closely all the possibilities found in the first seven frets in the keys of C and G. I plan to have people playing songs and using these ideas by the end of the sessions. At this point, all four sessions will be in this new format, unless there is a large demand for something else, like Hawaiian and/or calypso..."
Four dates to choose from: Saturday, July 25, Sunday, July 26, Saturday, August 1, 2009, and Sunday, August 2, 2009. Link

2 comments:

Bob Brozman said...

More info:

Bob Brozman Ukulele Workshop - Registration Now Open!

Four sessions to choose from:
• Saturday, July 25, 2009
• Sunday, July 26, 2009
• Saturday, August 1, 2009
• Sunday, August 2, 2009

2:00-5:30 PM, plus optional 1-hour advanced session 6:00-7:00 PM
Ben Lomond, CA (about 1½ hour south of San Francisco)
Spend an unforgettable afternoon learning with Bob Brozman at our spacious, new facility nestled in the lush Santa Cruz Mountains, south of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. We will explore and improve your ukulele playing in a relaxed, focused environment. Bob has been playing ukulele his entire life, and is known through his instructional DVDs and worldwide workshops to be a patient, effective, and generous teacher. His goal is to strengthen your musical confidence and provide you with a huge new toolbox of really useful ideas.
This will be a very hands-on workshop, with lots of playing. We’ll strike a balance between improving your playing and studying how songs work, using simple tunes from “mainland US” uke styles including old-time songs, blues, and swing.

Open to easy-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced players, with an optional extra session for advanced players. If you can change basic chords while keeping basic time, you will be very comfortable taking this workshop. (Not recommended for absolute beginners).

RIGHT HAND TECHNIQUES COVERED:
• One finger strums
• Two finger strums
• Three finger triplets and strums
• Full five finger strum techniques
• Picking individual strings to enhance melodies
We’ll work on these together with simple music and easy pacing, with the result that you’ll come away with a large variety of ways to change your sound and arrangements.

LEFT HAND TECHNIQUES COVERED:
• Quick chord change methods
• Everything about the keys of C and G in the first 5 frets
• Learning the simple relationships between chord shapes
• Chord inversions up the neck
• Chord melody within chords and by using inversions
This sounds like a lot, but is actually pretty easy to grasp, and will yield huge progress in your playing in a short time. We’ll apply these techniques to a few different types of tunes.

MUSICAL REPERTOIRE WILL INCLUDE:
• Classic Mainland Jazz & Popular Tunes of the 1920s and 1930s
We’ll focus on a few songs which help understand how hundreds of songs work.
• Blues
We’ll focus on blues in just a few keys, with the goal of learning real blues licks and getting comfortable with jamming.
• Swing
Gain an entry into some of the more sophisticated sounding chords and typical musical moves of this classic music.

ADVANCED SESSION will also include:
• Calypso
• Deeper versions of chord-melody swing
• Soloing ideas

PRIVATE SHOWING OF UKULELES
...by Mike DaSilva and by National Reso-Phonic Guitars. A gourmet uke-tasting, so to speak!


FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION:
Call Haley S. Robertson at 831-336-0304 or Email to register.

Registration fee is $70 per person for 3½-hour class; $90 for advanced (includes the 3½ hour class, plus an extra hour of more personalised, advanced instruction).

Workshop size is limited to 25 people per class.
Book early to avoid disappointment!

http://www.bobbrozman.com/bbukeworkshop.html

Unknown said...

actually had the priviledge of doin' a gig with bob brozman in Bullhead City Arizona of all places....ah, Mohave Community College or "trailer tech" as it was affectionately called back then....

who would've thunk that 14+ years later, i'd be a uke fanatic and get 're-turned' on to his music again.....interesting :)

 
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