I get regular emails via the website asking for advice about the “best first uke to buy”, advice for beginner lessons, etc. There are lots of websites with this sort of advice so I have started listing them here as and when I find them:
Extract: “A new study from the Institute of Education, University of London, suggests that making music with others can do most to improve an older person’s quality of life. It can also help the over-50s to feel as fit as a fiddle.
Researchers have reached these conclusions after questioning 500 older people involved in a range of activities organised by The Sage Gateshead, Westminster Adult Education Service and the Connect programme at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.”
Rita will be sadly missed by all who knew her,
for her kindness and sense of fun as much as her
magnificent musicianship!
Rita’s funeral will be Thursday 3rd November
1:45 St Vincent’s, Monkchester Road, Walker, NE6 2TX
followed by her burial at
2:30
All Saints Cemetery, Jesmond Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1NL
After the burial, Rita’s daughter Lysa and son Lee have arranged “Rita’s Uke Fest” for Rita’s friends to celebrate Rita’s life, rather than sadness about her death.
3:30 – 5:30
Upstairs at The Cumberland Arms, James Place Street (off Byker Bank), Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 1LD
The Cumberland Arms on Google Maps
Rita’s family request:
* No Sad Songs! * Nothing from The Wizard of Oz! * Everybody join in with the music and have fun!
Rita’s daughter Lysa is trying to gauge attendance in order to arrange catering for “Rita’s Uke Fest”
If you are on Facebook, please use this link to let Lysa know if you will be attending:
Many thanks to Andy Seagroatt for sending this link. I thought it was going to be a hat to be worn by the harmonically-challenged musician him/herself, to assist in some magical way. Well, that idea was just plain silly, obviously. This makes much more sense!
Tune Army Ukulele Club is now meeting in the upstairs function room in Ye Olde Lang Jack pub in Whickham:
Ye Olde Lang Jack
48-50 Front St
Newcastle upon Tyne,
Tyne And Wear
NE16 4DT
0191 488 1567
Google map url: http://g.co/maps/7h62b
Many thanks to “Tune Army Jeff” for this update:
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the pub, it is at the traffic lights on the left if you are coming from Swalwell direction.
There are no parking facilities but you should be able to park in the council office car park (next to the Bay Horse, boo hiss!) or behind the shops. It is only a matter of yards away.
After much begging and pleading,the Manageress has kindly let us have the room for free, which is very good of her.
As usual, it will be the first monday of the month (except bank holidays) at the usual time.
For up to date information always check the Tune Army Ukulele Club website:http://tunearmy.blogspot.com/(Archived blog: Tune Army disbanded 10 Sept 2018)
Update: I was delighted when Julie Carr asked to use my Giving Voice ukulele song as the soundtrack for the event she organised on the Millennium Bridge over the Tyne in November 2011.
I thought about all the times I have been asked what a Speech and Language Therapist does and this song came to me.
It is desperately sad that there are so many people needing Speech and Language Therapy and at the same time there are so few jobs for newly qualified therapists. It is shocking that there are over 300 members of the Facebook Support Group for unemployed newly SLTs, some of whom qualified over a year ago.
I very much hope that the Giving Voice Campaign can succeed in getting adequate funding for SLT services across the UK.
{c:VERSE 1:}
[C]Stranger at the [F]bus stop, we got [C]talking, me and [F]you
[C]All about the [F]weather, then you [C]asked me what I [F]do.
Communication [C]help, is the [F]name of the [C]game
[F]Speech and Language [C]Therapy, from [F]cra-[G7]dle to [C]grave.
{c:VERSE 2:}
[C]Some babies need help [F]sucklin’, from [C]bottle or [F]breast,
[C]Children with cleft [F]palate, we [C]help to speak their [F]best,
Kids with lisps and [C]stammers, au-[F]tistic spectrum [C]too,
It’ll [F]take a while if [C]I Give Voice to [F]every-[G7]thing we [C]do.
{c:VERSE 3:}
[C]Youths with language [F]problems, or “aph-[C]asia”, they [F]say,
[C]Bullied and troubled [F]with the law can [C]kind’a lose their [F]way,
And you know that Stephen [C]Hawking, with his [F]fancy talking [C]box?
[F]Communication [C]aids, [F]that stuff [G7]really [C]rocks!
{c:VERSE 4:}
[C]Maybe you’ve got no [F]larynx, cos of [C]cancer of the [F]throat,
Or [C]you can’t find the [F]words you want, [C]after a [F]stroke?
We help to find new [C]ways to get [F]thoughts and views [C]across,
[F]It’s not just King’s need [C]help with speech and [F]communi-[G7]cation [C]loss.
{np}
{c:VERSE 5:}
[C]Dyslexia, [F]literacy and Sure [C]Start, swallowing [F]too,
[C]Dysphagia’s the [F]fancy name for what [C]we bite off and [F]chew!
Brain injury, cerebral [C]palsy, M-[F]S and MN-[C]D,
[F]Parkinson’s and [C]Downs, Locked In [F]Syndrome, [G7]E-N-[C]T.
{c:VERSE 6:}
[C]An occupational [F]hazard in call [C]centres, courts and [F]schools
Is [C]hurt and pain when [F]talking that we [C]cure with new voice [F]rules.
We keep you in your [C]job and [F]get you back to [C]earning,
Help [F]families to [C]play and [F]children [G7]with their [C]learning.
{c:VERSE 7:}
[C]Problems talking [F]face to face or [C]speaking on the [F]’phone,
When [C]preaching, singing, [F]teaching take their [C]toll, you’re not al-[F]one.
Symbols, email and the [C]internet, [F]we’ve got apps for [C]that!
And it’s [F]on the NH-[C]S, if the [F]funding’s [G7]not been [C]slashed.
{c:VERSE 8:}
We can transform [F]lives, and it’s a [C]cost effective [F]role,
We [C]want to do our [F]jobs, but there’s [C]hundreds on the [F]dole,
You say that makes no [C]sense to you? Well, it [F]makes no sense to [C]me,
So [F]let’s Give Voice and [C]save Speech & [F]Language [G7]Thera-[C]py!
[F]Let’s Give Voice and [C]save [F]Speech & Language [G7]Thera-[C]py!
Uke-Kazoo Flashmob Grey's Monument 10 July 2011 - "Pencil Full of Lead" by Paulo Nutini: Photo 1
Thanks to Paparazzi Bob the Sound Man (in so many ways) for this one. There are more photo’s to follow from Selma and a video from Keith.
Not a bad turn-out at all for so little notice and a crowd of happy onlookers sprang up instantly as if by magic! Just add ukes and watch the smiles grow :-)
Ukes4Fun 