August 18, 2024: Singing Ukulele Retreat

Description

Instructors: Jim Beloff & Kate O’Connor

Date: Sunday, August 18th, 2024

Times: 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST, community supper included

Location: 80 Bassett Road, Shelburne MA 01370

Cost: $70-125, sliding scale

# of Participants: 30

Program Description

The Singing Ukulele Retreat

with Jim Beloff and Kate O’Connor

Last year Fabric of Life offered a new musical program as part of its ongoing efforts to preserve and promote traditional skills which enrich our daily lives: the Singing Ukulele Retreat. Its success has inspired us to bring the program back this summer with two superb musicians.

People have always made music, but in our modern world most people are passive listeners rather than active music makers. Both singing and playing ukulele are easy and accessible to anyone who wishes to discover how enjoyable and rewarding it is to be a musician. This one-day retreat will enable participants to work with high-level teachers and performers at the beautiful Bassett Homestead farm in Shelburne, MA; it’s only a ten minute drive from the Greenfield Rotary but you’ll feel like you’re way out in the country. Participants should have some experience in playing ukulele, knowing basic chords and being able to easily switch between them. Most ukulele workshops offer the chance to learn new songs and new techniques to improve your playing, and this will be no exception. But even though the ukulele is most often used to accompany singing, attention to vocal technique is rarely offered in group settings to ukulele players. So this retreat will also teach basic vocal technique, how to use your breath to improve your singing.

The workshop will feature two great musicians:

Jim Beloff has been a tireless evangelist for the ukulele for over 20 years. He has written many instruction books as part of his “Jumpin Jim’s” series as well as compiling the beloved “Daily Ukulele” songbooks. Over the years he had done hundreds of workshops, introducing beginners to the ukulele and helping thousands to improve their playing. He has also written a concerto for solo ukulele and symphony orchestra—“Uke Can’t Be Serious”—and over 30 songs performed on his CDs. Jim’s 2010 workshop in Northampton sponsored by Downtown Sounds and the Northampton Community Music Center led to the creation of AEIOUkes, Northampton’s ukulele club, which still meets weekly at Forbes Library. He and his wife Liz were also featured performers in the Northampton Arts Council’s Four Sundays in February show “Ukes and Yo-yos”.

Kate O’Connor is a longtime career musician and band leader who has entertained audiences throughout New England with her stellar vocals, keyboards, steel drum, and guitar playing, and her original R & B, Jazz, Pop, and World Beat compositions. Kate is a best vocalist award winner from newspaper polls in the Western Massachusetts region, and was a longtime studio session vocalist for #1 hit songwriter Tony Romeo (I Think I love You). She performs with A Beautiful Future Band, (Caribbean, Irish, and multicultural original music), Blue Rendezvous, (Retro Soul and Swing), and Catalytics Swing Band, and teaches music lessons at the Northampton Community Music Center, Smith College, and Downtown Sounds.

The retreat will feature three sessions: there will be an introductory session for everyone led by Jim that will combine some warm-up playing and singing to get us all in the mood. At this session Jim will also talk about how he approaches arranging and performing a new song, which is often a challenge for beginning and intermediate players who want to learn new material.

Then half of the group will have a 90 minute session with Jim and the other half with Kate.; these sessions will focus on improving technique in playing and singing respectively. After that the groups will switch teachers for another 90 minute session. Following this there will be a community supper where we’ll have a chance to relax and socialize. The retreat will end with a short concert where our teachers will get a chance to perform for participants, and then the group will get together and show off what they have learned during the day.

Please contact us with any questions at office@fabric-of-life.org.

Our sliding scale fee allows us to keep these programs accessible to a wide range of individuals. The ‘admirer’ option covers the cost of the instructor fee, program support, marketing, and administration. The ‘friend’ option covers all of this and allows for a small profit margin to be contributed towards sustaining Fabric of Life programming for next year. The ‘enthusiast’ option covers all of this and allows for us to begin to sustain Fabric of Life programming for generations to come.

FOL will refund 90% of your fee if you cancel more than 30 days before the beginning of the program. 10% will be retained for administrative services. Cancellation with less than 30 days notice will automatically be rolled over as a credit for another program of your choice within the next year from the date of the original program. FOL will maintain the funds and carry them forward once you determine what program you would like to utilize them for. If there is a balance after paying for the second program, it will not be refunded. If a program does not run due to circumstances beyond our control, participants will receive a full refund of the fees paid.