THE COLORS OF THE WIND – from Disney’s POCAHONTAS . . . A lesson by “UKULELE MIKE”

PLEASE NOTE: My UKULELE BASICS DVD is now available for purchase.  For more information email me at mike@ukulelemikelynch.com

THE COLORS OF THE WIND – You Tube Video Tutorial by “UKULELE MIKE”

For me, the most compelling aspect of this song is its amazingly lyrical melody.  In 1892, the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak came to America to tour and while here he was totally captivated by the folk music of America and in particular the music of the Native American people.  Upon returning to Europe he set about to compose his 9th Symphony in E minor and when he came to the second and slow movement he composed one of the most classic of all themes. . . Today it is called “GOING HOME”  In fact I did a ukulele arrangement of that song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG48AG7MMEY&feature=player_embedded  When Alan Menken composed this song he too went to those very same roots and if you listen to the two side by side I’m sure you’ll certainly hear similarities.  It has been a decades long tradition of composers to look back to derive ideas and feelings to impart into their own compositions.  Alan Menken did the score for a TV Documentary “LINCOLN” and he went to another more recent composer. . . The American composer Aaron Copland.  In the 90’s I was on a composing team that wrote music for 2 PBS Documentaries . . “WASHINGTON D.C. OUR NATION’S CAPITAL http://www.amazon.com/Washington-D-C-Our-Nations-Capital/dp/B0000AZW12 and “OVER AMERICA” http://www.amazon.com/Over-America-Deluxe-Box-Set/dp/B000IJ7ACE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312592986&sr=8-1 In both cases I too drew from the inspiration of both Alan Menken and Aaron Copland.

In designing this tutorial on COLORS OF THE WIND I chose to use “CHURCH LICK” as the basic strumming pattern for the ukulele.  I’m not really sure how it got that name, perhaps you might know. . . But I do know it goes back to the early days of the Carter Famly and the folk music renaissance of the 60’s.  Below I’ve inserted a graphic of the CHURCH LICK strum pattern to help you more clearly understand how it is played.

Now, here is the full songsheet with lyrics & chords: