Midlin Day Care + 28/03/17 Round Up

Dee Ukes rounded off their March gigs with a visit to Midlin Day Care where we are always guaranteed to have a fun afternoon. The banter with our audience started from the first song and continued throughout. For a few of the songs many managed to get up on their feet, albeit slowly in some cases, to have a dance. So much so we created a record for the number of choruses we played for Rockin’ All Over the World as we had almost finished by the time everyone was on the floor. So we just kept on going! It was brilliant!

We finished off with almost everyone in a big circle dancing to Wild Rover. There was even a bit of foot stamping. Some were dancing at the side and I’m sure the bus drivers, who had come to collect people were itching to get on the floor. I could see them from the corner of my eye bobbing away. All great fun!

I have to give a special mention to staff member Carol Ann for demonstrating how to do the Morecambe and Wise dance for Bring Me Sunshine. What a good sport she is! 🙂

Dee Ukes @ Midlin Day Care  29/03/17

Staff member Carol Ann joining in the fun at Midlin Day Care

28/03/17 Round Up

• New gig – Wednesday 12th July 2-3pm – Storyville House, Beechwood Place, Kirriemuir, DD8 5DZ.
• Scottish Parliament gig has been confirmed for Saturday 21st October 2017. Definite time slots to be confirmed after a meeting in May, but should be between 1 and 3pm.
• Charity Concert at the Space has been booked for Saturday 28th October 2-4pm.

• We started off the lesson with trying to play the following songs by ear: When the Saints, Down by the Riverside and first three sections of Dundee songs. We played them all in the key of C and used chords C, F and G7. It is good to train your ears to know when to change chords and which chords to use. If anyone wishes to have another look at the Chord Families chart, you can download it here. Chord Families
• From memory (mostly) we played Rockin’ All Over the World – well done
• Leaving on a Jet Plane – we looked again at the ending and confirmed that we do slow down on the last line and finish with <C>. We are also trying to memorise this one. Most people are managing the choruses from memory. Well done.
• New York New York – Please check that you have version 1.1. (on website) We are getting better with each practice of this one. Just confirming that the last line slows down and each chord gets a count of 4 beats, finishing with a <G>. Play 2 beats of the D chord on the last line before singing ‘I love’.
• New song – We’re Not Going to Make It. Denis has been working hard on this song which we hope to sing at the Scottish Parliament to fit in with their theme of youth / rebellion. There are a couple of tricky chords in it which you could have a look at for next week. We’re Not Gonna Take It in C v1.4 You could also familiarise yourself with the tune by listening to Twisted Sister.

If you wish to see them in action see below! You will need to move the video forward about 1 minute before they start. I should issue a health warning at this point!

There are many things to work out and work on with this one, but we have until October. It will be brilliant if we can pull it off. We will gradually work through it over the coming weeks and months.

• We also tried another new song We’ll Meet Again medley, which also has a couple of tricky chords, but is already sounding pretty good considering it was our first attempt. Well done again.

Well, we have covered a lot of ground this month and had great fun. Many thanks to everyone for all your hard work and enthusiasm. Roll on April!

Ward Road

Seven from Dee Ukes were at Ward Road today to entertain members of Dundee Blind and Partially Sighted Society. Before we even started we were treated to sandwiches, biscuits and juice. Once the music started our audience was soon singing along and, despite the lack of space, Rose and Rod managed to take to the dance floor a couple of times. When Rod was complimented on his dancing efforts, he replied he had no choice in the matter!

We particularly enjoy performing here as there is always a great party atmosphere among all the different characters. One member has promised to bring her tambourine the next time! We look forward to returning at some point in the future.

One member of staff would like us to learn the song Lava. Here is the video if you haven’t heard it. We’ll try it out some time. Many thanks to all at Ward Road for their hospitality and lovely comments.

Just a reminder for those going to Sunday Sessions this Sunday, we will be singing Can’t Help Falling In Love and Rhythm of the Rain.

Hope all mums have a good Mother’s Day. Don’t forget the clocks go forward on Sunday. See you all soon hopefully. 🙂

Happy Ukes’ Presentation

Well done to Happy Ukes who held a presentation evening in Alison’s Bar to hand over a cheque for £2148.19 to Maggie’s Centre, specifically to go towards Ewing Sarcoma, which is a rare type of bone cancer. This fantastic amount of money was collected over the year from donations given at various gigs. Happy Ukes performed prior to the presentation and had the audience singing along to a variety of well known songs. This was followed by a terrific buffet. Many thanks to Happy Ukes and to Alison’s Bar. The final part of the evening was an open mic session which provided lots of brilliant entertainment. Dee Ukes performed a couple of songs.

Dee Ukes @ Alison’s Bar 21/03/17

 

21/03/17 Round Up

• Confirmation that our class on 11th April will be from 11am – 12.45pm to allow those who wish to go to the U3A AGM time to get there.
• Next gig is Friday 24th March – @ Dundee Blind & Partially Sighted Society, Ward Road 1.30 – 3pm.
• New gig – Wednesday 12th April @ Glebe Court, Kirriemuir 2-3pm.
• New gig – Saturday 3rd June @ Kirkriggs Court, Forfar 2-3pm.
• New gig – Saturday 10th June @ Beech Hill Court, Forfar 2-3pm.
• New gig – Saturday 21st October @ The Scottish Parliament Building. We have been invited to provide entertainment in the Festival Cafe of the Scottish Parliament during their Festival of Politics.

 

We now have a master Playlist for 2017, numbered 1-40. It can be downloaded here. 2017 Master Playlist For specific gigs, I will list the numbers of the songs we will aim to do. e.g. for those attending Ward Road this Friday click here DBPSS 24th March 2017.

Songs practised:

• New York New York / Fly Me to the Moon – still needs a bit more practice
• Country Roads – no problems
• Rockin’ All Over The World – most people have memorised this well. 🙂  I made the most mistakes! 😦
• Happy birthday – from memory
• Leaving on a Jet Plane – Most people have memorised the chorus and are pretty good at the verses.
• Can’t Help Falling In Love – sounding lovely.
• Rhythm of the Rain – no problems.
• When You Walk In the Room – no problems.

Lots of busy days ahead. 🙂

Daffodil Tea!

What a lovely way to start a new week. Dee Ukes were invited to entertain the Guild members at Meadowside Church. This was their  last meeting of the session and they wanted to finish off with a fun shindig! Well, as you all know, Dee Ukes love nothing better than a shindig! What fun we all had. Everyone joined in the singing and the exercise routines with great enthusiasm!

As you can see from the photos above, a lot of effort was put into making the room look lovely and bright. The long table was just for us with sandwiches and cakes galore! What a treat! Many thanks to Mary and other committee members for the brilliant hospitality. Some of us even came home with daffodils!

Roll on the next gig which will be Friday! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Great Gigs Galore!

Dee Ukes @ Dorward House, Montrose 17/03/17

Dee Ukes have certainly had a busy few days. On Friday 17th March we went all the way to Montrose to entertain in a beautiful building called Dorward House which provides residential care for people with dementia as well as offering respite care which encourages older people or their carers to have a break from routine.

We were greeted by members of staff wearing their tall St Patrick’s Day hats and we knew from there we were in for a fun afternoon. As soon as we started our selection of Irish songs, to our delight Hester, one of the staff, produced a microphone and took it around a few of the residents to join in with the singing. Well, we just had to offer a few solo spots after that and were not disappointed! We were asked to do 45 minutes, but this was extended to 1 hour as everyone was having such a good time. Virtually from the start we had a number of residents dancing along in style to our music. It was great fun! At the end, one of the residents got to his feet and gave a very touching vote of thanks. Thanks Ed! 🙂

We then were led along some very long corridors to visit some more residents who were a bit more frail, but we still got a good response from all of them. It is so rewarding to see some obviously frail people managing to sing a few words, clap their hands or tap their feet. The smiles said it all!

On Saturday 18th March Dee Ukes experienced another first when we provided entertainment at a Conference held in the Apex Hotel! The Conference was for Dundee Mental Health Cairn Fowk. To find out more about this organisation you can visit their website here http://www.dmhcairnfowk.org

Yet again, we had such an amazing time with a brilliant audience. We may have some video clips to add to the Blog as Ray was busy all day filming the day’s events. I will post these once avauilable. Here is a section of their 2016 newsletter.

http://www.dmhcairnfowk.org/news-and-events

I must say a huge thank you to  all my faithful friends who make every Dee Ukes experience such a great one! Looking forward to seeing you again on Monday 20th! 🙂

14/03/17 Round Up

For those who were unable to be with us today, here are the points covered:

• Change of time – As we will be singing three songs at the start of the U3A AGM on Tuesday 11th April, our class for that day only will be starting at 11am prompt and finishing at 12.45pm to enable those wishing to attend, sufficient time to get to the Victoria Suite in the Queens Hotel. The meeting starts at 2pm and various groups will have some of their work on display. Tea and coffee will be available free of charge to members.
• New gig – Thursday 4th May 2-3pm, Beech Hill House, Lour Road, Forfar.
• Invitation from Happy Ukes – Just a reminder that we have been invited to attend a presentation to Maggies (Ewing Sarcoma) next Tuesday 21st March at Alison’s Bar, 101 Camperdown Road. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Happy Ukes will play a short concert, followed by the presentation, then the buffet, then an open mic session. Dee Ukes will perform Leaning On a Lamp Post and When You Walk in the Room.
• Next gigs:
  • Friday 17th March @ Dorward House, Montrose – first session 2-3pm. Second session (using the same playlist) 3.10-4.10pm. Dorward House Montrose Playlist.
  • Saturday 18th March @ Apex Hotel 1.30 – 2.15pm. For you interest here is the Programme for the day. one-day-conference-for-mental-health-carers-docmarch2017. We may not be able to set our things until after the workshop from 1.15-1.30 finishes, but I still intend to be there between 12.30 and 12.45pm which is when the attendees will be having lunch. Here is the playlist again for the Apex Apex Hotel 18th March 2017.

We practised the following songs:

• Whiskey in the Jar
• Wild Rover
• Black Velvet Band
• Molly Malone
• Country Roads
• Rockin’ All Over the World – from memory
• Leaving on a Jet Plane – We tried to play the chord pattern from memory whilst humming the tune and managed pretty well. For next week we could try to learn at least the chorus from memory.
• When You Walk into the Room
• New York New York and Fly Me To The Moon – After some assistance from You Tube and Denis, I have made version 1.1 with a couple of changes. New York New York and Fly me To The Moon version 1.1 You can also sing along with Frank, play along with Frank or do both at the same time!

Thanks again to everyone for their hard work today. Practice makes progress. 🙂

Dee Ukes in Stonehaven

Dee Ukes @ Invercarron Resource Centre, Stonehaven 11/03/17

What a brilliant time Dee Ukes had today at Invercarron Resource Centre. We were treated to tea/coffee before and after our entertainment. Thanks Gwen. 🙂 The people in the audience were bussed in from various venues and were soon singing along to our songs. You Are My Sunshine had a few of them on their feet, dancing along. Lovely to see. When we sang our Al Jolson medley, one gentleman called Godfrey had a story to tell. In 1972 he went in to the cinema, just to get out of the cold. There was an Al Jolson film on and he said it transformed his life! He became a member of the Al Jolson Society. I think he was impressed with our efforts.

During the performance, I had to leave briefly to move my car, so the others carried on without me. When I returned I joined the audience and listened to Dee Ukes singing. Guess what? They looked and sounded terrific! I was very impressed. 🙂

We bought some raffle tickets and ended up with three winning tickets – so the winners decided to pull together their prizes and have a slap up meal consisting of soup, spam and munchies!

The Three Lucky Winners

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We are so lucky! See you all soon 🙂

Dee Ukes In The News! + 07/03/17 Round Up

Article in Evening Telegraph 9th March 2017

Thanks to Barbara for alerting me and Catherine who sent a copy of the above article. Woo Hoo to us! 🙂

 

07/03/17 Round Up:

• New gig – Thursday 4th May 2017, Beech Hill House, Lour Road, Forfar, 2-3pm
• Invitation from Happy Ukes to attend a Presentation Evening for Maggie’s Centre (Ewing Sarcoma) on Tuesday 21st March @ Alison’s Bar, 101 Camperdown Road. The evening starts at 7.30pm with doors open at 7pm. Happy Ukes will do a short concert, followed by the presentation, then a buffet. The rest of the evening will be open mic entertainment. Hopefully some of us can add to the entertainment.

New Playlists for the events below:

Dorward House Montrose – Playlist

Apex Hotel 18th March 2017 – Playlist

Songs practised:

• Dee Ukes Ukulele Band
• Whiskey in the Jar
• Wild Rover
• Black Velvet Band – This was a new one for us and the words are a bit different from the version some people may know. However, the story in the same. The first line of the chorus sounds better with “Her eyes they shone like diamonds” – leave out the word ‘the’.
• Molly Malone – This was another new one. I have made it version 1.1 on the website. The changes are: the intro is  C   Am    Dm   G. The ending is <C>. For the last verse we slow down and either play a single strum or a tremolo. Molly Malone version 1.1
• Rockin’ All Over the World – from memory. Most people have mastered this. I made a few mistakes! We’ll try again next week. We will also practise Happy Birthday in the key of C from memory. Next on the ‘memory’ list will be Leaving On a Jet Plane as the chords follow a simple pattern. We can work on this over the next few weeks.
• Can’t Help Falling In Love – lovely!
• Country Roads – we took off a couple of the ‘echoes’ and it sounds better a little faster.
• Leaning On a Lamp Post – We managed to keep a steady faster pace at the end.
• Rhythm of the Rain – The rain maker was in good form.
• When You Walk in the Room – We tried this without the riff and it worked fine, but we missed Denis!
• Fly Me To the Moon – I have just added New York New York to the start of this one to create a Frank Sinatra medley. You can download it here. New York New York and Fly me To The Moon

Hope to see you all soon for more fun and excitement!

 

 

March Already! + 8/02/17 Round Up

Dee Ukes @ Brander HA, Forfar 02/03/17

March is going to be a very busy month for Dee Ukes as we have no less than 7 gigs this month, despite me saying we will aim for one per week.  How did that happen? The first one took place today at Brander HA, Forfar where we had a lovely time. We started off by singing Happy Birthday to Irene who smiled from start to finish and sang at every opportunity. Lizzie was trying her best to sing along and definitely had her eye on Pat for most of the time – maybe it was the new shirt and hat! Mrs Pat also looked resplendent in her matching shirt – both came all the way from Hawaii. One lovely lady, well into her eighties,  who had to leave early for an appointment literally danced her way out of the door when it was time to go. A lovely moment! We were also treated at the end to tea and exceptionally good cakes! Roll on August when we will see everyone there again. I have just opened a Thank You card from them and it says “Thank you all so much for coming and entertaining us. The Ukes are the highlight to our year.” Wasn’t that nice! 🙂

28/02/17 Round Up

It was great to have Anne H with us on Tuesday to play her new bass guitar. We were all impressed!

• The gig at St Margaret’s Church Forfar has now been confirmed for 11th September. We will play from 2-2.45pm, then following a break for a cup of tea play on until 3.30pm.
• The U3A AGM will be held on Tuesday 11th April at 2pm in the Victoria Suite, Queens Hotel.

Songs practised:

• Dee Ukes Ukulele Band
• Blame It On the Ukulele
• Rockin’ All Over the World – this is our memory song and most people managed fine without words. We will all try next week with closed folders.
• Can’t Help Falling In Love
• Country Roads – this went well for the first attempt despite one member hating the song! We tweeked the ‘echo’ sections a little. We will try it again next week before I change the version. Most people liked it.
• Leaning On A Lamp Post
• Rhythm of the Rain
• When You Walk In the Room
• Fly Me To The Moon – we generally felt this one was a bit monotonous. It was suggested we look for another Frank Sinatra song to make a medley.
• Skye Boat Song

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support. Couldn’t do it without you! 🙂