“SUNRISE SUNSET” from the Broadway Musical “Fiddler On The Roof”. . . . now in a Chord/Melody arrangement for the Ukulele by Ukulele Mike Lynch . . . . contained in the Chord/Melody eBook TWO (now reduced to just $20.00)

“Sunrise, Sunset” written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock for the Broadway Musical “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”.  It is a captivating tune and definitely one of the crowning moments of the musical. This song is performed at the wedding of Tevye and Golde’s eldest daughter. The two parents sing about how they can’t believe their daughter has grown up, while Hodel and Perchik sing about whether there may be a wedding in the nearby future for them.

It is without a doubt the most captivating of all the songs in this musical.  It has been sung countless times at weddings and continues to move people still after all these years.

The Lyricist Sheldon Harnick says this about the song.  “I do remember when we wrote “Sunrise Sunset,” the first person we played it for was Jerry Bock’s wife…and when I finished, then I looked at Jerry’s wife Patti and I was startled to see that she was crying. And I thought my goodness; this song must be more effective than we even know. And the same thing happened – I am not a pianist but the music to “Sunrise Sunset” is easy enough so that I could learn the piano part – and I played it for my sister. And when I finished I looked and she had tears in her eyes. And that was a very unusual experience.”

When I first began the process of arranging this piece for the Ukulele, I initially thought I would do it with a fingerpicking arpeggio style but quickly went over to the Chord Melody style and that suited it perfectly.  Furthermore, I was delighted to find that the fingerings and chord changes flowed so nicely on the Ukulele. . . Almost as if the song had been written on the Ukulele to begin with.  Quire often one will find that to be the case. Songs like HERE COMES THE SUN work so effectively on the Uke. Here is a brief few bars that open the piece. Try it out and I think you’ll discover how nicely it fits for the song.

When arranging any piece on the ukulele, the arranger finds that the melody will invariably hop from the FIRST string to the SECOND and every so often the THIRD or FOURTH. Note in the THIRD measure Am, the melody is on the FIRST string but in the next measure it jumps to the SECOND string. In this case, we need to be careful to not strike the FIRST string on that FOURTH measure chord. In playing solo instrumental pieces, we don’t merely find the chord and strum as we would in accompaniment rhythm style for singing. . . Instrumental is a whole different animal. 

Below is yet another snippet from furher on into the song:

Notice the BARRE chords in measure 3, 4, 5 & 6.  Barring is used a lot in solo instrumental playing so working on instrumentals is a great way to increase your Barring skills and technique.

“SUNRISE, SUNSET” is contained in my Chord/Melody eBook THREE which can be purchased by making a payment of just $20.00 through the paypal button on my website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com Once the payment is made, I will personally email it to you within the day.

 Here are the complete contents of the Chord/Melody eBook TWO

The Chord/Melody eBooks can be purchased individually for just $20.00 or all three in the series for a combined “TRILOGY” discount of just $50.00

Announcing the release of the NEW Chord melody ebook FOUR  $25.95

All 4 of the Chord melody ebooks can be purchased at a combo discount of price of  $70.

For all inquiries regarding Ukulele resources, please email TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com