5/19/2023 0 Comments Ukelele ladyBut when she met songwriter Peter DeRose in 1923, love bloomed and new career opportunities beckoned. At the start of the decade, she performed on the radio in a female group known as the Syncopators. Photos of Breen with bobbed hair and long strands of pearls hanging over her chest show her to be a modern woman of the Roaring ’20s. The store wouldn’t take back the uke, so Breen learned to play it, soon blossoming into a gifted and ambitious ukulele enthusiast. She received her first ukulele as a Christmas gift but since she didn’t know how to play the instrument, she tried to return it to a department store in exchange for a bathrobe. She was educated in private schools, learned to play piano at a young age, and traveled extensively in Europe while still in her teens. Who is she? She’s May Singhi Breen, inductee in the Ukulele Hall of Fame and a Goddess of Uke.īorn in New York City in 1895, Breen was the daughter of an Italian builder and a pianist. And she created a ukulele teaching method for enthusiasts on the mainland. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, she wrote more ukulele arrangements for piano sheet music than any other arranger. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers.In 1931 she took on the New York Musicians’ Union, threatening legal action if the organization would not include the ukulele in its list of musical instruments. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone.ĭeveloped in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the machete, cavaquinho, timple, and rajão, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. The ukulele ( /ˌjuːkəˈleɪli/ YOO -kə- LAY -lee from Hawaiian: ʻukulele , approximately OO -koo- LEH -leh), also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. To learn more or to join the group go to their Facebook page at: About the Ukelele: Source Wikipedia “As can be expected, I have UAS….Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome and am presently at #11,” he concluded with a chuckle. “It is amazing the number of people I have met because of music,” he said. “They are from all walks of life, such as a photographer, homemaker, accountant, artist, musician, farmer, secretary, and baker, etc.,” said Jim. HUB members are from Hastings, Campbellford, Norwood, Warkworth, Keene and Peterborough. HUB has played at Community lunches at Hastings, Norwood and Warkworth, the children’s library in Campbellford, Gillies Pub (McGillicaffey’s Pub) in Hastings, Campbellford Market, Campbellford Rotary lunch, Hastings Waterfront Festival, Hastings Canada Day Parade, and Grand Maple Event Centre. The Hastings Ukelele Band performing at the Campbellford Market in 2022 Jim Victor is front left. HUB gives free lessons to beginners and the group has a couple of Ukuleles for loan until band members can get their own. “We have three players who have been with HUB since the beginning,” he noted. The band rehearses every Monday morning at Branch 106, Canadian Legion in Hastings. The Hastings Ukulele Band (HUB) started with about six players and now has about 30, with 15-20 at each rehearsal. “When we returned home, I was bored, so I started Ukulele classes in the Hastings Civic Centre June, 2018 We gave an end-of-year concert with 57 Ukuleles and nine Hula dancers,” Jim explained. “The first year teaching in Arizona I had 107 beginners over the course of the winter. “The only rule is you must have fun,” he added. “I use the same technique for teaching as I did previously as a Salvation Army Band Master many years ago,” he told Trent Hills Now. His ukulele teacher passed away in December 2017 and he was asked to take over teaching. He has a Musical Instrument Certificate for 29 instruments, none with strings, which is what the ukulele has. He says he picked it up very quickly because he already had a musical background. HUB at the Rotary Hall where the Campbellford Community Lunch is held regularly.įor these answers we asked Jim Victor, who along with his bandmates make up the Hastings Ukulele Band which performed at the recent community lunch held in Campbellford at Rotary Hall.Ī retired accountant for a gravel company, Jim started playing ukulele in 2015 as a snowbird in Arizona. Kawartha Pine Ridge (KPR) District School Board.Royal Canadian Legion Campbellford Branch 103.Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit.Campbellford-Seymour Agricultural Society.Campbellford/Seymour Community Foundation.Campbellford Business Improvement Association.
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