The Magnetic Gypsy Jazz Ukecamp 2021
was
was a great success!
So we’ve decided to run a Continuing monthly group to stay current with all the work we have put in and keep the Gypsy Jazz humming away under your fingers.
We’re still aiming to ‘strum in the sun,’ on magnetic Island 2022 but who know what could happen!
~ Review ~
The Magnetic Gypsy Jazz Ukecamp 21.
We went over all the material we had already covered, integrating it another step, revising and applying the scale patterns & drills into free soloing, as well as the written solos and arrangements to the backing tracks. We went through each of the existing swags; Sweet Sue, Minor Swing, Dark Eyes, Sweet Georgia Brown adding a new swags for C jam/Dukes place and our featured song Joseph Jospeh. All these practice resources are available on the Shop page.
We also revamped out practice portals so each window now has h everything you would need to play the scales, triads solos, melodies to different speeds of backing tracks. We also created a video of each of the 5 sessions so you can review the teaching points. Access to these resources is password protected so please get in touch if you want to come along to the monthly sessions and use these resources. It would be great to talk with you first and give you a heads on our methodology of studying Gypsy Jazz Ukulele.
Please get in touch below
You can also purchase our compilation of charts for the songs we are studying called ’13 Tunes for Gypsy Jazz ease contact Anu thru the contact portal if you want to know more about the monthly GYPsy Jazz study group run by Jen Hawley and Anu GraceUkulele’
We will be working directly from the book we have specially created for our Uke community
The DJAM Book – 13 Tunes for Gypsy Jazz Ukulele
We have also compiled comprehensive Study ‘Swags’ for 4 tunes in the repertoire – Minor Swing, Dark Eyes, Sweet Georgia Brown & Sweet Sue. Our intensive ‘Swags’ are detailed study booklets for each song, with TAB and notation charts covering the melody, scale and triad work with written solos to backing tracks.
The DJAM BOOK – ’13 Tunes for Gypsy Jazz Uke‘ & 4 Song Swags are available for purchase and download under the Shop Tab of this website – just click the Tab below to have a look!
MEET THE TUTORS
Jen Hawley’s special love is Gypsy Jazz and she has been playing in the style for over a decade. A graduate of the late great jazz tutor Bruce Clarke, she currently works with The Royal High Jinx, The Great Chefs of Europe, Old Hat Jazz Band, Alanna & Alicia. A committed experienced teacher, Jen is actively bridging the gypsy jazz world on guitar with the Uke. Jen is well known in the community music sector for creating The Footscray Gypsy Orchestra in 2011 & Supporting Women in Blues (2014-2016). Jen is an experienced and very knowledgable teacher who is completely dedicated to her craft..
Anu Grace seeks to inspire the creative process in others through The Pop-Up Ukestra, singing & ukulele workshops. A Level 3 James Hill teacher, Anu has been playing and dynamically teaching uke for 15 years. She is currently touring Australia teaching ‘The Pop Up Ukestra’ format to regional groups and getting folks ‘off the page’ (really learning the music). She knows how to break the teaching down and keep the energy up. Anu has fronted many bands – most recently Halelujah Baby and now Uke Nomad who are currently touring Australia playing their original Folk jazz compositions. She has just completed recording her 7th album in Melbourne.
So…..
What is The Magnetic Gypsy Jazz Ukecamp (MGJUC)?
It was originally conceived as a 5 day’ live-in’ Uke get together on Magnetic Island, Nth Qld Australia, offering intermediate Ukulele players an opportunity to progress their playing with in-depth studies of a select Gypsy Jazz (Djam) repertoire. We have just completed out 2nd year of teaching it as an online Zoom group but we still carry the flame for our ‘Live’ camp in July 2022. This has been very beneficial as our small dedicated group now have so much more experience and are really getting a feel for the 6 songs we are focusing on in great depth!
This Intensive Gypsy Jazz Dive offers differentiated levels of study/resources pitched at 3 different skill levels (101 – 201 – 301), specially arranged for Ukulele to suit players from early Intermediate to advanced levels. While we do study the Django Soloing style in depth, if soloing ain’t your bag, you’re most welcome to just study the Song Forms, Lyrics and comps. You are much needed for the Ensemble work too.
We scaffold the teaching to incrementally build your skills, layer by layer, with lots of repetition. While MGJUC doesn’t assume you have a music theory background, we will assume that you have done the pre- requisite courses or have enough skill and are willing to learn basic music principles along the way. We offer plenty of time to practice and develop the core materials of the repertoire and play it ‘for real’ in the Ensemble each evening ~ and for those keen, to try Djamming. MGJUC is a chance to deeply immerse oneself in this jazz swing genre – think Django Reinhardt, evocative rhythms, darker chord tones & beautiful melodies, recognisable at a stirring deeper level. This is not the quick fix ~ it’s a life journey!
And what’s not to love about coming to beautiful tropical Magnetic island (we call it Maggie), where the July blue sky floats around 27 degrees, the beaches are perfect for fishing, swimming & snorkelling, the wildlife is roaming all around you, and you can play barefoot Ukulele to your hearts’ content. Our accomodation is called Amaroo on Mandalay, an old resort with well kept single, twin and family units, set in landscaped gardens with a magnesium pool, tennis courts, a restaurant and 2 conference rooms. All walking distance to cafes, supermarket and the Sealink ferry that brings us across on a half hour trip from Townsville.
You’ll have a relaxing holiday while you learn / embed new skills, make new connections with other Uke geeks, as well as get to perform in an ensemble as ‘The Gypsy Jazz Pop Up Ukestra’ in Townsville.
It’s festival month in Townsville In July, so we are planning to have a roving Gypsy Jazz Caravan doing Pop-up gigs, playing the repertoire in various locations around Townsville City, in the week directly following the UkeCamp. You’ll be most welcome to jam along with us (in costume) and further embed these songs!
We are also available for private lessons on Zoom to bring you up to speed with the group.
Please click the tabs below to contact the main Ukulele tutors via email for Private Lessons
Please email Anu Grace with any enquiries.
The Magnetic Gypsy Jazz Ukecamp
By July 2021, most of us participating will have been working intensively on Triad/ scale work alongside 6 repertoire songs for over a year now. We want to keep building on the level of knowledge the group has already attained so we are restricting the entry of Beginner uke players.
For Beginners we have our Booster Ukulele Course the teaches the fundamentals of note, scale & chord and a swag of songs in a 6 week course. This is not yet online and is presented ‘live’ by Anu in WA and Jen in Melb.
To follow that up we have the ‘Swing’n Yr Blues Uke’ course. This 10 week course makes it all come alive within the Blues Genre, where we learn to animate the C pentatonic scales with riffs, licks and triad patterns that give you a bag of tricks to develop your ability to solo on uke. There are some great tunes we cover and some include the Art of Chord Melody playing – truly a way of playing uke you will aspire to the rest of your life. Swing Yr Blues Uke is available online with a weekly video and practice tracks or as a ‘live class.
Both these classes are pre-requisites to The Magnetic Gypsy Jazz Ukecamp and will set you up well with the skills to take it on as an exciting lifetime study. (i.e. no shortcuts here)
Stay tuned for more Gypsy Jazz adventures.
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