White Ripple Community Band August 29th, 2016

This week we addressed an issue that has plagued us at open mics all over the county; namely, no one knows how to play Happy Birthday. Which is kind of a problem, since any time there's a birthday at Paul Henry's (which happens at least every week), Dave has to hunt Rich down from whatever hidey-hole he's crept off to and has him bang out the chords. Basically, knowing how to play Happy Birthday will enable Rich to hide out more successfully.


Here's Happy Birthday in a nutshell. In class we did it in F, but on the video I do it in G.

If F is your I chord, then the V chord is C and the IV chord is Bb.
If G is your I chord, then the V chord is D and the IV chord is C. It all depends on where you want to put home base.


            I                  V
Happy Birthday to You
            V                I
Happy Birthday to You
            I                               IV
Happy Birthday dear ______________,
            I             V  I
Happy Birthday to You!




Next we did another one that comes up fairly often, especially in July and around the Summer Olympics: The Star-Spangled Banner. This is Rich's favorite rendition in the whole world.

Song 3 was Across the Universe by The Beatles, which we're going to play this Saturday at Tinker's Attic. I hope you can join us!

We've going to take this Monday off for the Labor Day holiday but will be playing Second Saturday's event on the 10th and will be back to class on September 12th for a brand spanking new session, which will also mark our 1-year anniversary. Sue Ross from the Post-Tribune will be there to talk to band members about your experiences this past year as a musician and as a performer in a community band.

I'm so happy to get to the chance to teach this class every week. Teaching and music are my passions, and I hope I get to combine my two favorite things for a long time to come.

Two weeks worth of White Ripple Community Band (part 2)

Two weeks ago we discussed chord progressions, last Monday it was verse and chorus. Verse and chorus go together like Moose and Squirrel, only more musical! And we demonstrated the concept with three Beatles songs.

Song 1: Drive My Car

Song 2: Ticket to Ride. George's adorable top hat!

Song 3: Come Together (post-Beatles clip)

Next week starts a new session of White Ripple Community Band. If you've always wanted to play in a band, here's your chance! No matter the voice or the instrument, you have a place in the band. We meet every week at 7 p.m. at the White Ripple Gallery & Co., 6725 Kennedy Avenue in Hammond.

Songwriting Class February 17th, 2016

Last Wednesday we broke down two songs to see how they ticked. One, Girl by The Beatles, wins the award for the shortest chorus known to humankind.

The next song, Moonlight in Vermont... I don't remember the first time I heard it. Maybe from Maxine, she was a big Sarah Vaughan fan. I love it so much.

Two surprises for me. I never realized the song contains no rhyming lines at all, for one. Mark pointed out the other one, which brought us all up short-- "The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven, and the third line has five." A haiku. Haikus don't rhyme, and are often about nature and the seasons. A beautiful song I never realized was a poem as well.

White Ripple Community Band February 1st, 2016

It's not January anymore! I don't know why that puts me in such a good mood-- we have a couple more months of winter weather no matter what the groundhog says, but turning another page on the calendar means warmer days are coming.



Last class we warmed up with Roadhouse Blues before going into Wild World by Cat Stevens. Rich chose it because it goes around the Circle of Fifths, pictured below:

We start at Am-- Am is the relative minor of C. Then we move to D. From D we go counter-clockwise around the circle.

Am, D, G, C, F, Dm*, E, G

Going around the circle counter-clockwise turns the Circle of Fifths into the Circle of Fourths. It's weird, it's confusing, but it'll make more sense the deeper you go and the more you get into the theory of it. The chorus is C, G, F, G, F, C-- do that two times, then back to the verse.

We finished up with Don't Pass Me By by The Beatles, written by Ringo Starr. The song is in the key of C and uses 3 chords: C, F, G. The interval from C to F is a perfect fourth. The interval from C to G is a perfect fifth. In music there are exceptions to just about everything, but a good rule of thumb is, when you know a song is in the key of C, you can safely assume that you're going to run into F, G, and the relative minor, Am, at some point. It's because those tones, perfect fourths and fifths, they sound good to our ears.

Next week I made a request for kid's songs because playing for anklebiters is fun, darnit. There may be whales, ducks, and dragons in store for you all...


*F is a good substitute chord if you want to play that instead.