|
Player Profile |
Name: |
|
John Bird |
 |
Screen Name: |
|
Ukulele Shoni |
 |
City: |
|
Iqaluit |
 |
Province: |
|
Nunavut |
 |
Country: |
|
Canada |
 |
Postal Code: |
|
X0A 0H0 |
 |
Email: |
|
johnbird@sympatico.ca |
 |
Brief:
|
|
I've been playing uke only since 2003 (and nothing much else before that)--and I love it--but of course I've developed UAS. I now mostly play my Johnson resonator concert and Lanikai tenor (mainly because of the scale and the pickup), and my latest acquisition, a Gold Tone Plucky five-string travel banjo. Don't worry, I turned it into a tenor-scale banjo-uke by removing the fifth string, and replacing the steel strings with nylon. And I put a cookie-tin lid on the back as a resonator. She sings now. Affordable and playable.
<br><br>
I also have a 1927 Johnny Marvin tenor with airplane bridge, 1920s John Grey & sons banjo-uke, 1930s Clarion (Gretsch) soprano, 1920s no-name banjo-uke, and a Degas bari. But they're all down south, temporarily distributed among various friends and family.
Still messing around with clawhammer and fingerpicking, but since moving to Iqaluit I have been playing rhythm uke (the tenor) with the Road to Nowhere Band. Great fun, although I miss SwingBridge.
I'm also having lots of fun accompanying old-time fiddlers, who are thick on the ground up here. The banjo-uke seems best for that; volume, don't you know. I like all kinds of old time swing, blues, cajun and Canadian fiddle music.
My wife, Lorraine (accordion,melodica), and I, along with a local guitarist and fiddler, are working towards a French Cafe style band to play at the local Francophone Association. Swing-Musette.
<br><br>
Oh yeah, and I also played ukulele in the pit orchestra for a joint community-high school production of Fiddler On The Roof. That might be a ukulele first?
To read about or order my beautiful coffee-table book, The Spirituality of Music, go to the publisher's website [www.woodlakebooks.com] and scroll down to the link. Or find my blog at: http://spiritualityofmusic.blogspot.com/
Any other ukers in the vicinity?
|
|
 |

Login to modify your Player Directory Listing or create a Player Group.
Create a new account and be listed in our Player Directory.
Forgot your password? We'll send you the password via email.
|