Mandalyn May grew up in a musical family and learned to love and appreciate music practically through osmosis. She now considers herself a modern day hobo and troubadour. As a performer she has delighted audiences throughout the US and Europe with her whimsical stage presence, rhythmic ukulele love songs, soulful guitar ballads, and her earthy, yet ethereal voice. As a songwriter, she incorporates genres from blues to bluegrass, celtic to jazz, pop to folk, and the songs she writes are just plain fun. Her instrument of choice, however, is the ukulele. Before Mandalyn May runs off to join the circus (or a visiting band of gypsies), we’ve managed to pin her down to share a little of what she knows about playing bluegrass music and using your ukulele as a percussion instrument in her first appearance here at the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival.
Workshops
Introduction to Bluegrass
Would you like to add a few bluegrass tunes to your basic repertoire? How about learning to easily transpose from one key to another? Are you ready to start jammin’ with other folks? Or would you just like to hang out with Mandalyn May for an hour or so? “Yes” to any of the above, and this might be the workshop for you. You’ll learn some basic transposition skills by playing the 1 – 4 – 5 chord form (don’t worry of you don’t know what that is, you’ll learn) in “easy” keys such as C, G, and D, and a few bluegrass, new traditionals, and old-time standards to boot. (Level 1 – 2)
Basic Bluegrass
Expand your bluegrass repertoire while learning different positions for familiar (and some not-so-familiar) chords, transposing from one key to another, minor chord progressions, and the value of barre chords in any repertoire. The net result will have you well on your way to playing a given song in any key. This workshop can be taken consecutively with Introduction to Bluegrass, or on its own, if you’re already familiar with the basics. (Level 2–3)
Percussive Strumming Techniques
It’s time to start thinking beyond those four strings and the fret board, ‘cuz there’s a world of sound in your ukulele just bustin’ to get out. In this workshop Mandalyn May will teach you some of her favorite percussive techniques: slapping, chucking, plucking, and clucking. Well, maybe not clucking. But you will be amazed at what you and your little ukulele can do together. (Levels 1 – 4)
