a new song

hello again! it's been a while. in case you were starting to forget what i look like with soft focus great lighting and sunglasses in an auto-rickshaw, here's a recent selfie:

seems every time i go to write a new blog post, i have no idea where to begin. and it gets even worse when i haven't posted anything in a while. how to account for all that unblogged about time?!! well, the last few weeks have been an absolute blur, with eleven of my students about to leave for their home country -- all on the same day --  and i wanted to send them off with their very own kala brand music makala dolphin ukulele. and to get that beautiful ukulele they had to earn it.

here's what they had to be able to play to earn their ukulele:

1) tu pyaar ka saagar -- chords and melody

2) kuch kuch hota hai -- chords only, but the timing is tricky!

3) survivor girl ukulele band song in hindi -- also tricky timing

4) c major scale -- forwards and backwards and be able to name all the notes

in addition:

5) each girl had to write an original song and perform it.

before we get any further with this post, here is one of the new songs:

[audio http://theworkingdraft.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/guitar-teacher-song.m4a]

and then we planned out a program to play for the home before they left, and they practiced and practiced!

but it wasn't all on the girls. on my end, i had to think about what materials to send with them so they could easily review and continue to work on their music. this whole project was an experiment, and i started from scratch. plus, i didn't have a printer. so for two months i had been teaching mainly with this one sheet of paper:

here's the other side. it got a lot of use!!

but then i finally sprung for a nice little printer. wheee!! and now we're working off sheets that look like this:

and believe me, these took hours and hours.

i also purchased some clear sleeves and some folders for the girls in which to keep their music and chord charts.

here's one more song, not to be missed:

[audio http://theworkingdraft.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/train-station-song-16may2013-2.m4a]

requiring the girls to write an original song turned out to be so amazing. many of these young women cannot read or write. one uses her thumbprint as her signature. and none of them had ever written a song before. but they are learning how to learn. more than that, they are creating and expressing themselves through music. the range of feelings and the ideas that come out in these songs -- well, i wish you could see and hear what i have witnessed in the past weeks. it is such an honor and privilege to be here with these dear sweet traumatized hurting intelligent loving and hopeful young women.

the survivor girl ukulele band project is truly impacting these girls' lives in a positive way. thank you, friends and family for your support and encouragement. you are part of this, too!

sgub song in hindi!!

if you have a minute and forty-three seconds, this just might make your day. it's audio of day two of the girls working on the hindi version of the "survivor girl ukulele band song."

back in december, with the survivor girl ukulele band benefit concert coming up, my friend record-producer-musician-singer-songwriter ed tree wrote the song for the girls. here's the original lyrics:

survivor girl ukulele band

if you're down, we'll lend you a hand if you're lost, we'll show you a plan if you're scared, we will understand survivor girl ukulele band

no matter who you are no matter where you've been the door is always open we will let you in

there's a brighter day there's another choice there's a melody waiting for your voice

(chorus)

see who you can be see how you can grow see what life will bring blessings overflow

there's a brighter day there's another choice there's a melody waiting for your voice

(chorus)

and here's chorus of the hindi version, written by my new friend joseph pawar.

kya ho tum gire, thaam lo ye haath kya de khoge, tum ko hai yeh aas kyu tum dare, hum hain denge saath survivor girl ukulele band

and here is the hindi version of the song written phonetically in bangla by one of the bangladeshi girls. is that cool or what?

and now for the audio:

[audio http://theworkingdraft.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/sgub-song-day-two.m4a]

as you can tell, they love this song, and they lovelovelove singing the last line. and i think it's because they know its about them, and it makes them feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.

something special,

something good,

something strong:

a band.

a survivor

girl

ukulele

band.

the sound of music and give me some sunshine

some days i feel like i'm fräuline maria in the sound of music.

oh, there are those minor differences: she was in salzburg and i am pune; she wore a dirndl and i wear a salwar kameez; she had a guitar and i have a ukulele; she had a handsome sea captain, and i have a -- hey, wait a minute!

anyway, the the joy in task is the same!!!

i now have 26 students in four different classes. they are all learning anthony raj's "tu pyaar ka saagar", which i've transposed into the key of c major so it's easier to play. its a song they love, so they are willing to play it over and over. we start with chords and strumming and counting. we then add singing. and then we move into the c major scale -- complete with naming the notes on the fretboard as they play, and from there they learn how to play the melody in fingerstyle.

here's a 39 second video of batches 2 and 5 playing "tu pyaar ka saagar." (i know these videos take a while to load, but if you watch this one to the end, you will be rewarded with a view of one of the dear kitchen girls hanging in there despite difficulties :) )

[wpvideo DS8YRfia]

one day toward the end of my batch 1 class, nandita* was struggling to keep up with the other girls in learning the c scale. soon there was a frown on her face as she complained in bangladshi about all the english letters in the c scale and how it was too difficult to learn. the next class i took her and another girl aside to give them special attention on the c scale. within minutes she had it. and what was so cool about her success was how eager she was to share with the other girl and teach her how to do it, too. she could hardly contain herself in her eagerness to help the other girl. yay!!

and here's a 12 second video of yet another girl, anika, and her 3rd batch classmates working that c scale.

[wpvideo DP9Mlg92]

i wish you could see the smile of achievement and delight in her face as she finishes off with a flourish. they love learning ukulele!!

and here is alisha* who, along with laksha*, bravely learned how to change ukulele strings.

what would fräuline maria do? create contests and give prizes? i think she would!

here are the prizes from last week's contests. the addition of little plastic rings and nail polish has upped the ante.

two happy winners in batch 3!

when you know the chords to play, you can play most an-y-thing.

recently one of the girls started jamming on her uke and singing, "give me some sunshine," the catchy and yet poignant song from the much-loved bollywood movie 3 idiots, starring aamir khan.

the girls all chimed in on the song, and that evening when i looked up the chords and lyrics, it struck me how relevant the words of the song are to these girls.

here are some of the lyrics from "give me some sunshine" translated from hindi into english (adapted from: http://johnboednew.blogspot.in/2010/08/translation-give-me-some-sunshine-ost-3.html). the chorus is already in english.

we kept living

an incomplete life till now,

let us live fully for a moment now

we have lost our childhood

as well as youth

now let us live fully

for a moment

give me some sunshine

give me some rain

give me another chance

i wanna grow up once again

na na na-na...na na na-na....

i'm hoping that learning to play the ukulele will be part of the survivor girls's chance to grow up once again.

*names have been changed