September 11 – 15, 2013
Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington
Join us in 2013 for Centrum’s inaugural Port Townsend Ukulele Festival! The workshop will be held at Fort Worden State Park, a venue unparalleled in beauty and facility. Expect four nights and three days of intense fun, ukulele instruction, and merry music making with some of the finest ukulele instructors and players working today.
Artistic Director Marianne Brogan has assembled a world-class faculty for the gathering – check them out here. We’ll also have a “house band” on site, consisting of Piper Heisig, Matt Weiner, Nova Devonie, and Greg Canote. The workshop offerings will feature a wide variety of styles – jazz, blues, swing, Hawaiian, 60s music, pop, big band, novelty, and jugband ukulele – as well as introductory-level sessions, chords, melody, improvisation, and performing tips.
We’ll warm up each morning with a group singing session – see the schedule below. Most of the faculty will lead two sessions each day. The last block of each day will be the “wild card” slot, where faculty will lead one-time classes, participants can host jams or classes, and the house band will offer instrumental lessons – percussion, bass, accordion, fiddle, etc.
DAILY SCHEDULE
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
- Arrive and settle in 3:30 PM
- Community dinner 6:00 PM
- Welcome & Orientation 7:30 PM
- Entertainment and jamming after
Thursday, Friday, Saturday September 12, 13, 14, 2013
- Breakfast 8:00 AM
- Singing 9:00 AM
- Choice of classes 10:00 AM-11:30
- Lunch 12:00 PM
- Choice of classes 2:00-3:30 PM
- Jams/Workshops 4:00-5:30 PM
- Dinner 6:00 PM
- Entertainment/Open Jams evenings
- (public performances by the instructors on Friday and Saturday at 7:30)
Sunday September 15, 2013
- Breakfast 8:00 AM
- (Please check out of rooms by 11:00 AM)
What about Class Levels?
The workshop is open to everyone, and differing levels of ability are expected. However, it’s sometimes helpful to know at what level the instruction will be. We’ve assigned level numbers to class descriptions to help you make decisions about the classes and get the most out of your time here. The teachers will describe their classes on the first evening and you’ll have an opportunity to talk to them before making your class selection. One strategy might be to select one class where you’ll be challenged, because that’s where the learning occurs, and one class where you already have an established level of comfort.
LEVEL 1 beginner: This level of beginner has been playing for 3-6 months and has learned 3-4 chords but hesitates in-between chord changes to move the fingers to the next location.
LEVEL 2 advanced beginner: This player knows a handful of chords and can move from one chord to another without pausing. May have trouble with barre chords, and has developed a strum or two or a finger pattern for picking.
LEVEL 3 intermediate: This player can hold a steady rhythm, and is competent with a variety of basic chords (for example: A, Am, B7, C, C7, D, Dm, E7, Em, G, and G7). Understands simple chord progressions (such as I, IV, V chords), can sing and strum at the same time, and learns chords to simple tunes fairly quickly.
LEVEL 4 advanced: This player can hear I, IV, and V chords, has mastered some chord inversions, knows there is life above the fifth fret, and has been there with barre or 4-fingered moveable chords. Plays lead and backup easily with others and keeps steady rhythm.
PACING: Classes usually pace themselves to match the participants’ abilities. Classes designated LEVEL 1 proceed at the pace of the slowest student in the class, i.e., no one gets left behind. Classes designated LEVEL 4 move at the pace of the most capable student in the class, i.e., no one gets bored. LEVEL 2 and 3 classes try to follow the pace of the majority of students in the class.