Ralph Shaw’s Ukulele Songshop Series: Songs from the 1950s Workshop

Songshop 1950s

The Cuties are happy to announce that, Ralph Shaw, the King of Ukulele and leader of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, is returning to the suburbs to present the second of three workshops in his Ukulele Songshop Series.

Songs from the 1950s

The decade that gave us Doo wop, The Everly Brothers, Elvis and the songs of Lieber and Stoller provide the material for this workshop. Every song is handpicked as a means for learning a variety of techniques and strumming styles. And you’ll pick up some nifty new repertoire along the way! You may also record the lesson for your personal use! Seats are limited so RSVP soon.

Date: Sunday, April 12, 2015

Time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $20 (please bring exact change)

Map:

Registration Form

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Free Community Screening of “The Ukes in America” Documentary

The Ukes in America

Come and join us on February 8, 2015 for the Coquitlam Premiere of “The Ukes in America”, a documentary about the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s tour across the United States produced by the independent filmmaker Robert Stern at Litmus Films.

We thank Litmus Films for letting us purchase a community screening license for this film and for the generous assistance of the Glen Pine Pavilion staff and for the use of their facility to hold this event.

To reserve seats, please call 604.927.4386 and mention barcode 518262 during Monday to Friday between 8:30 am and 7:00 pm.

Synopsis

Your back-of-the-tour-bus seat on The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s anarchic first coast-to-coast tour of the USA. America is The Ukes’ major musical inspiration, but what will Americans make of the cult heroes’ British humour and ukulele musicianship? The Ukes In America features barnstorming stage performances, impromptu jams and guerrilla gigs in unlikely venues, including eight previously unrecorded songs.

From Carnegie Hall to California, from the NY subway to a San Franciso cafe, The Ukes In America is bursting with unexpected encounters, genre-bending music and self-deprecating wit. Backstage, on the road and at play, unique access reveals an intimate, fun and compelling portrait of this unique band.

Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015

Time: 11:00 am – 12:10 pm (immediately before the Cutie Circle’s Hawaiian Ukulele Workshop with Gary Cyr at Pinetree Community Centre at 12:30pm)

Location: Great Room, Glen Pine Pavilion, 1200 Glen Pine Court, Coquitlam

Parking: Free underground parking on the first level of the building

Cost: Free Admission

Map:

Hawaiian Ukulele Workshop with Gary Cyr

Poster_Gary

Chase away the winter blues with a Hawaiian music workshop! We will be learning 2 or 3 songs during the 90 minute lesson. One will be in the Hawaiian language and the other(s) in English with perhaps a few Hawaiian words salted in. Hawaiian attire is optional!

Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015 [SOLD OUT]

Time: 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm (immediately after the Cutie Circle Free Community Screening of the documentary film, “The Ukes in America”, at 11:00am, Glen Pine Pavilion)

[Note: There will be no song circle on February 8, 2015 from 2:00 to 4:00pm.]

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $20 (please bring exact change)

Map:

To register, email events@cutiecircle.com.

Cutie Circle 2015 Winter Meetings

We will be meeting the second Sunday of every month at the Pinetree Community Centre in Coquitlam.

Date: Sundays, January 11, February 8 [Cancelled*], and March 8.

On February 8, we will be having a FREE Community Screening of “The Ukes in America”, a ukulele documentary film about the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s Tour Across the United States to be shown at 11:00am at the Glen Pine Pavillion (not Pinetree Community Centre) in Coquitlam. Everyone is welcome. The Hawaiian Ukulele Workshop by Gary Cyr will be held at the usual location at the Pinetree Community Centre.

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $3.50 (to cover the venue rental)

Map:

Accessories: Bring a uke and a music stand.

Songbooks: Bring your White Rock Ukulele Circle Songbooks volumes 1 and 2.

Cutie Circle’s Christmas Extravaganza with Gary and Ron

Gary and Ron

We are very very honoured to have our next meeting be guest-led by our dear friends, Gary Cyr and Ron Usher, from the White Rock Ukulele Circle and Vancouver Ukulele Circle respectively. Big thanks go to Gary and Ron for their kindness and musical camaraderie!

We will be playing Christmas songs from the White Rock Christmas songbook. Please bring along your songbook. If you do not have one, you can purchase them at the next White Rock Ukulele Circle (on Saturday, Dec 6 from 2 to 4pm at the Semiahmoo House Society, 15306 – 24 Ave. Surrey). We will also have some on hand for purchase at $8 each.

For the break, we will have a mini snack potluck to celebrate the year-end. Please feel free to bring goodies and/or non-alcoholic beverages of any kind to share. We will have coffee and hot water for this special occasion. Cuties are also welcome to play their favourite tunes during performance time or even dress up in festive colours.

Following the song circle, we will have a Christmas Ukulele with Ralph Shaw workshop. Let’s make it an afternoon of holiday ukulele fun!

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $2 (to cover the venue rental)

Map:

Accessories: Bring a uke and a music stand.

Christmas Ukulele with Ralph Shaw

Come and join international ukulele star and teacher: Ralph Shaw. This class will improve your ukulele playing while learning favourite Christmas songs.

Seasonal songs from the Vancouver Ukulele Circle Christmas book (which you can download at no cost) will be used as a vehicle to learn: Strumming Techniques, Simple Picking Patterns, and other easy-to-understand ideas. The goal is to make your festive repertoire sound great as well as being satisfying and fun to play.

(IMPORTANT – you need to download and print the book using the link below. Some books will also be available to purchase.)

You will come away with a package of seasonal songs that you can strum for all your future Christmases!

Everyone and all ages are welcome.

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2014

Time: 4:15 pm – 5:45 pm (immediately after the Cutie Circle December Christmas Extravaganza)

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $20 (please bring exact change)

Songbook: Free (Click here to download and bring printed songbook to workshop.)

Please check out the following songs from the songbook before the workshop:

White Christmas
Mary’s Boy Child
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
Silver Bells
O Holy Night
The Little Drummer Boy
I’ll Have a Blue Christmas

Bring a music stand and a chord chart. You may record the workshop for your own purposes.

Map:

To register, email events@cutiecircle.com.

Ralph Shaw’s Ukulele Songshop Series

The Cuties are excited to welcome, Ralph Shaw, the King of Ukulele and leader of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, to the suburbs to present the first of three workshops in his Ukulele Songshop Series.

Songs from the 1960s [SOLD OUT]

Music from the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield, Ben E. King and the Sinatras, plus others, provide the material for this workshop. Every song is handpicked as a means for learning a variety of techniques and strumming styles. And you’ll pick up some groovy new repertoire along the way! You may also record the lesson for your personal use! Seats are limited so RSVP soon.

Date: Sunday, November 23, 2014

Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Location: Room 4, Pinetree Community Centre, 1260 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam

Parking: Free

Cost: $20 (please bring exact change)

Map:

To register, email events@cutiecircle.com.

Cuties Welcome Paul to Song Circle

Cuties strummed with our new leader, Paul Joaquin, for the first time at the November meeting! Having another gorgeous day to start off the song circle, we were all playing our ukes in harmony!

Cutie Circle

Paul prepared a series of songs to share with Cuties, some came from other parts of the province. We were so fortunate to have members from as far as Abbotsford, Agassiz, Mission, North Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, White Rock, etc., to share their music with us.

Cutie Circle

During performance time, Norm led the charge by performing a spirited and seasoned “I’m Going Back to Where I Come From” with good humour and rhythm.

Cutie Circle

Next up was Brian. He also shared a humourous song by giving us “Blow Up Your TV”. We all had fun humming along with him.

Cutie Circle

Jen then took the plunge, too, and did “I Will Survive” without the lyrics.

Cutie Circle

Paul finished off performance time by sharing “Price Tag” with us. It is a very catchy song indeed.

Cutie Circle

Then, by popular request, Pat led the group strumming, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” and Harvey, Jen, and Paul went up to provide extra vocals!

Cutie Circle

More requests came in and “Crazy” was a crowd-pleaser song that Harvey and Paul did as a duet.

Cutie Circle

The last song we chose as a group to wrap up the day was the romantic “Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight”.

Thanks to Paul and all the Cuties, we had an enjoyable ukulele jam once again.

Cuties Volunteer to Lead the Circle

Cutie Circle

Our October meeting was led by our talented Cuties, Jacqueline and Harvey. They alternated their presence with songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Show”.

Cutie Circle

Jacqueline shared her “chucking” techniques and impressed us all with her beautiful voice.

Cutie Circle

Harvey charmed the group by introducing each song in his mellow story-telling style before leading us all in songs with his wonderful carefree smile.

Cutie Circle

Between Jacqueline and Harvey, we got to play a good selection of traditional and contemporary songs. We applaud them for their talent, kindness and generosity!

Cuties

Many Cuties stepped up to the plate and contributed their talent to the mix. Brian and Gill performed the funny song, “Boney Fingers”.

Cuties Group Photo

Brenda was volunteered by a Cutie to play one of the golden oldies, “It’s a Heartache,” despite having a cold. She was a good sport indeed.

Cutie Circle

Gill, Harvey, Leone and Jen strummed out “Save the Last Dance for Me”.

Cutie Circle

Brian joined us at the front and did one of the all-time-favorites, “Country Roads”.

Cutie Circle

Jacqueline, Jen and Tom chose “This Land is Your Land” before Brian and Jen performed the hurting song, “Tear in My Beer”!

Cutie Circle

Lorraine even shared an anecdote with us!

Cutie Circle

We are grateful to all who brought snacks to share and for the very good turn-out of Cuties, given that it was, after all, a Thanksgiving Sunday afternoon!

Snacks

Sunday Fun with Ukes in Hand

Photo Credit: Judy Williams

What did 30-some people do on a warm sunny afternoon last Sunday? Well, they stayed indoors, were air-conditioned, and played their hearts out on their ukuleles, of course!

We are tremendously grateful for the enthusiastic turnout at our first circle meeting. The room was packed with Cuties of all ages! Our thanks go first and foremost to Gary and Ron for their musicianship and leadership! They even brought along hardware to round out the performance, too! We also thank Braden, Gladie and Jacqueline for volunteering, and the Pinetree staff, Mike and Sue for having the room ready for us.

As for Cutie talents, Derek will always be known as the very first Cutie to ever strum and sing at our performance time! He was the brave one and picked out a song with under 15 minutes notice! Good job with “Down on the Corner”!

Up next was Brenda, an avid songwriter and activist, who shared her song, “Old Home Place,” with much gusto.

We were then graced with the song, “On the Road Again” by our friends, Brian and Mike, who drove a long way to attend and wow the crowd. Mike played his harmonica and uke in addition to singing! What a treat for us.

Finally, Ron played a special edition of “One Toke Over the Line” just for the Cuties. Hmm, but what did he mean by “What happened in Port Townsend stays in Port Townsend”? I guess we’ll never know.

Last but not least, we thank all the Cuties for playing music together and for having fun.

For the next meeting, we are also happy to announce that we will have some music stands on site for use during the circle.

See you next month!