Tag Archives: Ralph Shaw

Summer Picnic Jam to Celebrate Ralph Shaw

We are celebrating our ukulele friend, Ralph Shaw, founder of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, who’s visiting from the UK with a picnic jam this Sunday at Bear Creek Park! He is instrumental in building our ukulele community!

Ralph shares his musings and entertaining musical insights in a regular newsletter that you can subscribe for free here.

Bring your own snacks and water, hat, ukulele, blanket / chair, and love for Ralph and join us for a grand time to sing and strum. If you have the Vancouver Ukulele Circle song book, please bring it along, too, as most of the songs for the jam will be from that book.

Ralph, Carol, Harvey, Jen, Ron and Tara will be leading songs!

Time: Sunday, August 13, 2023. 1:00 to 3:00pm

What to Bring:

  • ukulele
  • kazoo
  • music stand
  • blanket or chair
  • hat
  • tropical attire (optional but very welcome)
  • lei (optional)
  • Vancouver Ukulele Circle song book and/or song sheets
  • clothes pins, clips, or magnets to fasten song sheets to music stand
  • snacks and water
  • park address / map

Location: Bear Creek Park, 13750 88 Ave, Surrey, BC V3W 3L1
We’ll endeavour to gather in the general area as indicated by the NEW LOCATION on the map below. The white box with “///” is where we’ll meet.

Please keep the park clean by not leaving any waste behind. Thank you for placing garbage into trash cans (available throughout the park).

New Map

Views from new spot (near the concession / train station):

Song List:

Singin‘ In The Rain Page 174
Jambalaya  
Brown-Eyed Girl Page 31
Dream Lover Page 54
Bye Bye Blackbird Page 33
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue Page 62
Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight Page 70
Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)   
Home for a Rest  
I‘m Yours Page 100
It’s Not Unusual   
Jamaica Farewell Page 105
On the Sunny Side of the Street Page 153
It’s Intermission Time  
King of the Road Page 110
Puff, The Magic Dragon Page 159
Raindrops Keep Fallin‘ On My Head Page 161
Runaway Page 166
Stand By Me Page 179
Sea Of Love Page 169
Take Me Home, Country Roads Page 193
The Weight  
Save The Last Dance For Me Page 168
Under the Boardwalk Page 207
Tiny Bubbles Page 203
Til There Was You Page 202
Y.M.C.A.  
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Page 12

 

See you on Sunday!

Cutie Circle April Updates and May Meeting

Happy Portuguese “National Play Your Ukulele Day”! This is indeed a time for ukulele celebration. Tahiti just broke the world record with 4750 ukulele players strumming and singing simultaneously for over five minutes on April 11 in Papeete!

Cuties had lots of fun in April, too! After a few of us played at Tonari Gumi accompanied by a pianist and a drummer (many thanks to Harvey for organizing it!),

Courtesy of Wayne S.

Courtesy of Wayne S.

we had a terrific turn-out at our song circle led by Paul! Kiwi and Soegi accompanied Paul by noodling and playing an upright bass, respectively!

April 2015

Our performance time started with Luisa and Paul playing a beautiful traditional song, Haere Mai, they learned on their recent trip.

April 2015

Harvey did a fingerpicking solo of Misty.

April 2015

Brian and Gill had another entertaining tune, I Want My Dog Back, to share with us.

April 2015

Alan, Harvey, Jen and Paul played their rehearsed song, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

April 2015 April 2015

Ralph (who came to give the 1950s Songshop) and Paul got recruited to play Midnight Special with a Coquitlam twist along with Alan, Harvey and Jen! Thanks, guys!

April 2015

Kiwi performed an instrumental of Girl from Ipanema!

April 2015

Paul rounded it all up with a crowd-pleaser solo of Dock of the Bay.

April 2015

Ralph’s Songshop challenged us to some cool strumming patterns. He certainly worked us hard and it was well worth the effort learning to strum like pros!

Ralph Shaw

We again had some great snacks with Susi bringing in a special platter of homemade goodies! Thanks, Susi! Just a reminder that we are meeting at the Pinetree Community Centre on May 10 from 2 to 4pm. Rumour has it that there will be ukulele cookies for Mother’s Day. Ralph’s “Songs from the 1940s’ Songshop” follows immediately after the song circle on May 10, from 4 to 5:30pm. Only a few seats are left for this workshop. To sign up, click here. There will be a draw for two pairs of tickets to “Ruby & Smith | ‘A Ukulele Album’ CD Release Concert” compliments of Ruby’s Ukes.

Email us to enter the draw if you cannot attend the May meeting. See you all at the May 10 song circle!

ukulele

Ralph Shaw’s Ukulele Songshop Series: Songs from the 1940s Workshop

Songshop 1940s

The Cuties are happy to announce that, Ralph Shaw, the King of Ukulele and leader of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, once again will be returning to the suburbs to present the third workshop in his Ukulele Songshop Series.

Songs from the 1940s

In this workshop you’ll discover a range of song types from one glorious decade of music. It was a period overshadowed by World War II and the songs are some of the finest expressions of love, yearning and joyful escapism you’ll ever play. 1940’s people interacted through music and dance and it was a time of exceptional songwriting. Each song is handpicked as a means for learning a variety of techniques and strumming styles (samba, syncopation, waltz, triplets, rolls and more.) And you‚Äôll pick up some swell new repertoire along the way! You may also record the lesson for your personal use! Seats are limited so RSVP soon.

Date: Sunday, May 10, 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

To register, please complete the following form:

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

To register, please complete the following form:

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.