White Ripple Community Band February 22nd, 2016

WRCB is for adults, but hey, adults have kids. Cool kids, who hang out with us band members and play pianos and tambourines and musical saws. Have fun, no running, and don't cut yourself playing that chord.

Last Monday we welcomed a new player and a brand new instrument: Kody, I apologize in advance for misspelling your name, but am so happy to have you and your violin in the band! We played Groovin' and Crystal Blue Persuasion to introduce our newest band member into the mix. It may be the first-ever guitar-banjo-violin- musical saw-tambourine combo-- I just wish I had a recording of it. Next time.

We played Jamaica Farewell after we got nice and warmed up. Jamaica Farewell is a traditional song, but most of us (myself included) associate it with Harry Belafonte. And when I think of Harry Belafonte, I also think of the civil rights movement and all he did for it. Mr. Belafonte could be reliably counted on for financial support, playing benefit concerts and lending a hand wherever he could. He is one of the good guys.

At the end of class I handed out melody notes for the song. The song is in the key of C, and the melody notes can be found in that scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C-- no sharps or flats. I've talked before in class about how the melody is within the chord; it so happens that the melody is in the scale as well.

Yeah, that's great Mary, but where is the scale?  You'll see on Monday. :)

White Ripple Community Band January 25th, 2016

The White Ripple Community Band worked on barre chords for the second week in a row, and now all the guitar players have left hands like champs. I've been practicing the past two weeks with the rest of the class and I find it gets slightly less awful each time I give it a go.

We worked on two songs that used four basic barre chord shapes. We charted them out and they are available here for your reference.

For Groovin', we used C and Dm barre chord shapes. Here are the song sheets.

For Crystal Blue Persuasion, we used G and Am barre chord shapes. Here are the song sheets.

 

 

 

Then we mercifully took a break and let the guitar players rest up!

 

We finished off the night by belting out two more songs:

 

The Way You Do the Things You Do by Smokey Robinson and Robert Rogers

 

 

 

Roadhouse Blues by The Doors

 

 

 

 

White Ripple Community Band January 18th, 2016

Here is what WRCB covered in Week 3 of the winter session:

This Little Light of Mine. It's been sung by so many people. Here is a great version by the folk singer Odetta.

Next we did People Get Ready, written by Curtis Mayfield and sung by his band, The Impressions. We did it in the key of G. It's four beats each of the following chords: G, Em, C, G.

For our final song, Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondells, we introduced bar chords for the first time. I should let Rich expound on the topic a bit more as he can speak to it better than I can, but bar chords are good! Do not fear the bar chord.

Earlier that day I went to the Old Town School of Folk Music's 2nd Annual Peace Sing in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day. I love the solidarity in that room-- I often go to the Old Town School to recharge my batteries. Singing is a great way to build solidarity among friends and to drive your enemies crazy. Here is the PDF packet filled with many of the songs we sang on Monday. Hopefully we will be singing them together all year long.

p.s. The lyrics & chords to This Little Light of Mine are in the packet on page 19.