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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
 Posted - 09/01/2007 : 05:36:41 AM
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Discovering the Ukulele is presented in the format of a standard sheet music book. Its authors, Mr. Daniel Ho and Mr. Herb Ohta, Jr., are well known contemporary musicians. Mr. Ohta is strongly associated with the ukulele. Mr. Ho's relationship with slack key music on the guitar is at least as well known as his ukulele artistry. This book contains fourteen works for the ukulele, including Mr. Ohta's enchanting "Ka'anapali Sunset". The collection of music this book contains, in tab format, is enough to justify its purchase (price $15.95 without CD, ISBN 158849985-5).
This may be a unique reference for guitarists interested in performing works on the ukulele, providing guidance with regard to chord substitution. It also contains a partial chord chart reference. This part of the book seems to bear the mark of Daniel Ho. For most of those "discovering" a ukulele as a first musical instrument, the references employed with regard to the chords will be well over their heads and of peripheral interest, as they focus on developing a basic grasp of the instrument.
A segment of major scales is included. This can be useful as a reference showing where to find specific notes, particularly if one is attempting to play not from tablature, where such factors are presumably already considered, but from sheet music. There is another, large print chart showing where the notes can be found in another segment of the book.
Hal Leonard's Ukulele Method Book I (ISBN 0-634-07986-7) is a better starting place for absolute beginner's, and its $5.95 price (without CD) may be more justifiable until a beginner develops basic skills. Ukulele Method Book I also includes an introduction on strumming techniques that I believe many beginners would find useful or at least amusing, in addition to its introduction to fingerstyle playing. Strumming techniques are not presented in Discovering the Ukulele, and I regard this omission as significant in a text focused on an instrument traditionally associated with rhythmic performance.
Discovering the Ukulele does include chord versions for each of the fourteen works that it contains on the same tabs as the fingerstyle works. No CD is included with this book, so one must have some basic grasp of how to read sheet music to acquire the necessary sense of how to time notes or chords when playing the included musical works. The tab versions also do not correspond precisely with the note versions, making finding the right timing for the tab versions more of a challenge even for those who do read sheet music.
Although the book stresses timing, there is nothing in it that provides an absolute beginner with the basis for associating specific notes with timing in the form of basic, musical instruction. Once again, this seems to support the perspective that this book is designed for people with prior musical training "discovering" the ukulele as a second or third instrument. I suspect most young players who have just received their first ukulele and have not had any musical instruction would find the prospect of using this book as their first book of musical instruction rather daunting. (Again, the Hal Leonard book would be more suitable for such learners.)
I look forward to mastering the music this book contains. I have particularly enjoyed its versions of "Sakura" (a well known Japanese work), "Ka'anapali Sunset" (simplified for "the rest of us", but you still might want to simply barre the 5th fret in the 25th bar unless you are quite dexterous, also look for "hammer on" opportunities to make it more consistent with the original), "Royal Hawaiian Hotel" (a song you may be surprised to find you've heard before), "Hawai'i Aloha" (a very nice tab version of the entire work), "Silent Night", "Amazing Grace", "Sanoe", and "Hi'ilawe".
The large print chord charts are certainly easy on my aging eyes. I doubt that I'll ever develop the level of interest required to focus on chords and their musical pedigrees to the extent presented in Discovering the Ukulele, but those with in depth musical training or education might find this to be a useful refresher if they've been away from chord theory for very long and have an inherent interest in the subject. I believe the book fills a unique niche for musicians with adequate training to be able to interpret the contents, who are seeking to learn to play the ukulele as a second instrument.
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Thank you. |
Edited by - Absolute on 09/02/2007 05:08:00 AM |
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