Join us for Occidental’s First Annual Ukulele Festival!
Musicians of all experience levels are welcome at this inclusive event. With a festival ticket you’ll enjoy:
Workshops and Jams
Performances including evening headliner George Kahumoku
Local Ukulele Clubs’ networking
Open mic, strum along and more!
You will also be able to join a special, optional workshop with George Kahumoku (separate fee applies for the workshop).
Don’t miss this fun event for Ukulele players and enthusiasts!
Tickets are $50 for the festival, $40 for OCA members.
Morning snacks, lunch and dinner will be offered for sale on-site. You may also walk to downtown Occidental where there are several options (about 3 blocks away from OCA).
Free parking is available.
Event schedule:
10:00 AM Registration
10:30 AM Strum Along in the amphitheater
11:30 AM Beginner Workshops/Jams/Presentations
12:30 PM Break
1:30 PM Strum Along in the amphitheater
2:15 PM Workshops/Jams
3:15 PM Local Ukulele Groups’ presentations
4:15 PM OPEN MIC (1-2 SONGS EACH)
5:15 PM Break
6:00 PM 45 minute SLACK KEY WORKSHOP with George Kahumoku ($35/$30 separate registration)
7:00 PM George Kahumoku performance (included in Festival ticket)
Workshop descriptions:
Simple Strumming - Craig Shaw
BOOM-CHUCKA! How to chuck for Reggae and island strumming. Basic instruction and some tunes to play along.
Intermediate Ukulele - Gary Sugiyama
This class will center around various techniques to enhance arrangements and phrasing of Hawaiian songs in particular. Topics will include learning various chord substitutions, chord shapes for playing up the neck, and alternate intros and turnarounds. Participants should be familiar with basic open ukulele chords.
Playing Chord Melodies – John Mentras
This workshop will outline a number of steps involved in creating chord/melody arrangement on the ukulele. Examples will show how to take a given melody line and create arrangements in various styles. Workshop participants will be able to practice these steps in creating their own ukulele arrangements. A knowledge of reading music in standard notation or tablature will be helpful for this class.
Double Stops Workshop – Sheridan Malone
Under five common ukulele chord shapes lies a simple scale and twin string pairing. For every chord on the charts the patterns repeat themselves up the neck. In this workshop we’ll show you to play nifty intros, leads, and outros anywhere on the neck and in any key.