UKULELE MIKE LYNCH – All things UKULELE

Full Ukulele performance and tutorial of “WHEN I FALL IN LOVE” by Ukulele Mike Lynch as seen and heard on VIMEO

According to Wikipedia: “When I Fall in Love” is a popular song, written by Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics). It was introduced in the film One Minute to Zero. Jeri Southern sang on the first recording released in April 1952 with the song’s composer, Victor Young, handling the arranging and conducting duties. The song has become a standard, with many artists recording it, though the first hit version was sung by Doris Day released in July 1952. Probably the most notable recording was that done by
Nat King Cole,
Doris Day’s recording was made on June 5, 1952. It was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39786 and issued with the flip side “Take Me in Your Arms”. The song reached number 20 on the Billboard chart.

This arrangement has been done as a Chord/Melody style. With Chord/Melody style there is no fingerpicking involved. Simply strum the strings with the thumb and the melody sings out on top. Below is a short clip of the opening bars of WHEN I FALL IN LOVE. . .

Notice the dim7, m6, m7 and maj7 chords. These are the “bread and butter” chords for all jazz arrangements. Working through this piece will give you a good exposure to these essential Jazz Chords.

WHEN I FALL IN LOVE is contained in the Chord Melody eBook THREE which can be purchased for just $20.00 and can be purchased through the paypal donate button on the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com
Note that the eBooks are delivered to you via email as pdf files for download. We do not have hard copy paper versions of these books. Once the payment is made, PayPal will give you the opportunity to add more instructions such as the name of the collection etc It will then
be emailed to you within the day. Please, be sure that the email account attached to your PayPal account is current.

Each of the Chord/Melody collections can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at a new Combo “TRILOGY” discount of just $50.00

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

UKULELE MIKE SAYS CHORD MELODY ARRANGEMENTS ARE THE BEST WAY TO GET INTO SOLO UKULELE INSTRUMENTALS 

Questions regarding any Ukulele Resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com

Here is a full performance and full tutorial as seen on VIMEO:

The backstory of this song is really quite interesting and here it is via Wikipedia:
“My Heart Will Go On”, also called the “Love Theme from Titanic”, is the main theme song to the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. Its music was composed by James Horner, its lyrics were written by Will Jennings, and it was produced by James Horner and Walter Afanasieff; Celine Dion recorded and released it.
Originally released in 1997 on the Titanic soundtrack album and Dion’s album Let’s Talk About Love, the romantic song went to number 1 all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia. “My Heart Will Go On” was released in Australia and Germany on December 8, 1997, and in the rest of the world in January and February 1998.
The song became Dion’s biggest hit, and one of the best-selling singles of all time, and was the world’s best-selling single of 1998. The music video was directed by Bille Woodruff and released at the end of 1997.
Due to the song’s widespread popularity when it was released, it is considered to be Dion’s signature song. Today, along with two other songs from film soundtracks, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard and Bryan Adams’s “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, it is considered one of the biggest love ballads of the 1990s.
James Horner had originally composed the music for the song as an instrumental motif which he used in several scenes during Titanic. He then wanted to prepare a full vocal version of it, for use in the end credits of the film. Director James Cameron did not want such a song, but Will Jennings went ahead anyway and wrote the lyrics. When Dion originally heard the song, she did not want to record it. Horner showed the piano sketch to Simon Franglen, who was working with him on electronic textures and synthesizers for the film score. Franglen, who had, himself, worked with Dion for several years on many of her major hits to date, programmed and arranged an extensive demo to take to Dion.
In Tommy Mottola’s book, Hit Maker – The Man and his Music, he claims that Dion recorded the song in one take, and that demo is what was released. Mottola states that since so much money was on the line for Cameron’s film that Cameron felt obligated to include a theme song to promote the movie.
Dion’s manager and husband René Angélil convinced her to sing on this demo version, which she had not done for many years. Horner waited until Cameron was in an appropriate mood before presenting him with the song. After playing it several times, Cameron declared his approval, even though he worried that he might be criticized for “going commercial at the end of the movie”. Cameron also wanted to appease anxious studio executives and “saw that a hit song from his movie could only be a positive factor in guaranteeing its completion.”

I continue to be strongly convinced that the Chord/Melody format for arrangement is THE way to go with solo ukulele arrangements. No fingerpicking is involved which means no need to make decisions as to which fingers play which strings. In Chord/Melody format everything is simply played with the thumb. Strumming the chords as indicated in the tablature also allows you to play the melody right along with them. The melody always rides on top. As I’ve mentioned many times before, often times that melody note may be placed on the second or third strings which means that one must only strum two or three strings. Be sure to watch the tablature closely to see that you do not exceed the strings needed, otherwise the melody will be lost. I chose the key of G for this arrangement as indicated by the one single F# indicated in the Key Signature. Below is a short clip of the opening few measures of “My Heart Will Go On” Note the interesting chord progression. . .

So, notice how in the first three measures the melody is on the second string. We do not play the first string throughout the measures. At the end of the line it does go up to the first string and now we end up playing all four strings. Make every effort to keep the fingers firmly pressed on the frets to allow maximum sustain of the notes. The ukulele, by its very nature, is not a long sustaining instrument so we need to do as much as possible to enhance the sustain. This will lend a smoother, not so choppy, sound to our playing.

“MY HEART WILL GO ON” is contained in my Chord Melody eBook THREE $20.00 and can be purchased by making a payment through the paypal donate button on the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com
If you have any questions regarding how to purchase my materials please inquire by email:
TheUkuleleman2012@hotmail.com

Complete table of contents of the Chord/Melody eBook THREE:

Currently I have THREE other Chord/Melody eBooks in the Chord/Melody series. . . Not including my Christmas Chord Melody eBook. Bear in mind, these are not delivered as hard copy books but rather in the PDF format to be downloaded. The THREE Chord Melody series can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at a combined discount of just $50.00

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

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All 4 of the Chord melodUy ebooks can be purchased at a combo discount of  $70

UKULELE MIKE SAYS CHORD MELODY ARRANGEMENTS ARE THE BEST WAY TO GET INTO SOLO UKULELE INSTRUMENTALS 

Any questions regarding Ukulele resources such as eBooks, DVDs, etc. Email TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com 

Performance of YELLOW BIRD on YouTube

From WIKIPEDIA we find: Choucoune (Haitian Creole: Choukoun) is a 19th-century Haitian song composed by Michel Mauleart Monton with lyrics from a poem by Oswald Durand. It was rewritten with English lyrics in the 20th century as Yellow Bird. One of Oswald Durand’s most famous works, the 1883 Choucoune is a lyrical poem that praises the beauty of a Haitian woman of that nickname. Michel Mauleart Monton, an American-born pianist with a Haitian father and American mother composed music for the poem in 1893, appropriating some French and Caribbean fragments to create his tune. The song Choucoune was first performed in Port-au-Prince on 14 May 14, 1893. It became a popular slow méringue (mereng) in Haiti, and was played prominently during the bicentennial celebrations in Port-au-Prince in 1949. Chououne was first recorded in Haiti by Emy de Pradines for her “Voodoo – Authentic Music of Haiti” album (Remington R-199-151) released in the USA in 1953.
The song also appeared in the 1957 Calypso-exploitation film Calypso Heat Wave, performed by The Tarriers, sung by the group’s lead singer, Alan Arkin.
The English rendering of Choucoune: Yellow Bird, first appeared on the album Calypso Holiday, a 1957 release by the Norman Luboff Choir, Norman Luboff having arranged the song in the calypso style that become popular in the English-speaking world in the mid-1950s. The lyrics for Yellow Bird, by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, have no connection with the narrative of the Durand poem—other than the poem features the words “ti zwazo” (little birds) in its refrain, and so the original Haitian song is sometimes called Ti Zwazo or Ti Zwezo. The song became a minor hit at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the Mills Brothers in 1959. Its most successful incarnation came in the summer of 1961 when the Arthur Lyman Group reached #4 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the newly formed Easy Listening chart with their Hawaiian flavored instrumental version,[1] which bested a rival instrumental single release by Lawrence Welk (#61).
Several versions of Yellow Bird were recorded and released in Jamaica around the late 1950s/1960s. Jamaican mento/calypso singers renditions include Lord Jellicoe (Hilary ILP-1040), Keith Stewart (WIRL 1031), Count Frank (WIRL 1058), Roy Fuller (Tiger 002/Dynamic 3312), Archie Lewis (Federal 213) and The Joy Makers (Somb, 1976).
Yellow Bird has also been recorded by Keely Smith, Roger Whitaker, Davy Graham, Roger Williams, Johnny Tillotson, The Brothers Four, Gary Crosby, and Paul Clayton. The song continues to be popularly associated with calypso and the Caribbean, and is often performed by steelpan bands—but some versions, such as Chris Isaak’s from Baja Sessions, show a Hawaiian flavor.

I chose to do this current arrangement in a chord melody style. It’s become increasingly clear to me that solo ukulele performance is most easily achieved through this format. There is absolutely no fingerpicking involved. No decision as to which finger plays which string etc. . . Merely stroke the strings with the thumb to get both the chord and melody combined. Note that although many times the melody is on the first string, other times it is found on the second or third string, so in those cases avoid playing the higher strings. You will notice this in the short
excerpt shown below.

YELLOW BIRD is contained in the CHORD/MELODY eBook TWO now reduced to just $20.00
It can be purchased by making a payment through the paypal donate
button on the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com
Once the payment is made, PayPal gives you the option to add more information
such as the name of the collection etc. . .
It will then be personally emailed to you within the day.



 Each Chord/Melody collection can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at the new Combo “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  $70

For information regarding any ukulele product please email:TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com

YOU TUBE PERFORMANCE OF BRIAN BORU’S MARCH

Brian Boru’s March is a traditional Irish tune.
Brian Boru was a High King of Ireland who founded the O’Brien dynasty.[1]
In 1969, the song was recorded by The Chieftains. Horslips used it in 1976, as the intro and basis for “Trouble (With a Capital T)” from the album The Book of Invasions

This a tune of great antiquity belonging to the class of tunes known as “clan
marches”, i.e. pieces that are the “property” of a particular family and are closely
associated with that family (the musical analogue to the Scots highland tartan
designs).
There is an excellent Wikipedia article on Brian Boru which makes it unnecessary
for me to go into great detail about him here. Born into a family of local chieftains
around 941, he was the “High King” of Ireland at the time of his defeat of the
“Danes” at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Prior to his death in that battle, he
established the O’Brien dynasty as successors to the O’Neills. He is sometimes
referred to as “the Emperor of the Irish” from the fact that by the year 1011, all the
regional rulers of Ireland acknowledged Brian’s authority – a situation that might
have had a profound effect on subsequent Irish history if it had lasted.
There are no records actually relating this piece of music to Brian Boru or his any
of his exploits – as “Chief” Francis O’Neill points out, the style of the tune suggests
an origin much later than the 11th Century. That it is clearly in the clan march
tradition, however, cannot be disputed, even if the actual origins of the tune are
lost in the mists of time.
In his Irish Minstrels and Musicians, O’Neill quotes as follows from the journal of
a German traveller named Kohl, who heard Brian Boru’s March performed on the
pipes in County Louth in the mid 1800’s:
“The music of this march is wildly powerful and at the same time melancholy. It is
at once the music of victory and of mourning.”
O’Neill also quotes the poet Thomas Davis, who writes in regards to the music of
the clan marches:
“No enemy speaks slightlingly of Irish music and no friend need fear to boast of it.
Its antique war-tunes … stream and crash upon the ear like the warriors of a
hundred glens meeting, and you are borne with them to battle …

Brian Boru’s March Tablature CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FREE PDF

Check out all of the resources in the Ukulele Mike Chord/Melody series. Now all THREE ebooks
available at a combined discount. They can be purchased through the paypal donate button on
the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com

For information regarding any ukulele resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail..com