Humble Baritonics: Photos

Showing posts with label Photos. Show all posts

Saturday, February 5, 2011

PHOTO: ChristyLynn42 with her Baritone Ukulele

Canadian Christy Lynn

with her Baritone Ukulele

in Winter Snowlands

I have posted Christy's lovely videos whenever a new one has been posted. The Baritone community is diverse and spread all over the world as you can see if you look at the red dots on the world map. I asked her if she would share a picture of herself with her baritone ukulele and tell us a little about her musical background. Perhaps, you'll get an e-mail from me next. If I missed you please send one. So here's a little about Christy from Canada...

"I grew up in a musical house - my mom was a music teacher, a master of all instruments, my dad a banjo hobbyist. We were surrounded by instruments which I played for fun - nothing formal outside of a few organ lessons (it was the early 80's -- what can i say?)."

And she came across the bari...

"There was an old, cracked baritone ukulele kicking around the house for as long as I can remember. When my parents moved out of my childhood home 3 years ago it found it's way to my house and I couldn't keep my hands off it. In no time I bought myself a new bari uke - one where all pieces were actually attached to one another :). Since then I've also picked up guitar & soprano ukulele. It's been an absolute joy to explore my musicality. It's one of the truest forms of expression for me.

And thanks for your blog. :) --Christy"

Be sure to check out Christy Lynn's YouTube channel, click here. Christy's other videos are clearer than these below, but the quality of her voice and her playing comes thru beautifully...

So lastly, I want to know what type of baritone ukulele you are playing now? (to follow)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

PHOTO: Katharine Whalen

We've come across more about Katharine. Well Ron is always up for a challenge and had remembered seeing her with a Bari in a photo. Turns out Ukulala blog had a nice long article dated July 22, 2008, here...

Katharine Whalen, Chris Phillips & Bari
(Now is this a Bari obsession?)

Image from
http://www.acephotos.org/c12107981/katharine-whalen-photo.html

Katharine also has a MySpace Music page. Sometimes these hunts fell like a bit of an overkill. But there's a challenge that makes it so rewarding. I was listening to quite a bit of swing music for a while and even took some West Coast swing dances with my wife Wendy. The Squirrel nut Zippers were definitely on of the top modern swing bands. Katharine has a new band called the Parlour Folk Troup, link

Monday, November 1, 2010

PHOTO: Cheryl (Rockettedog)

Cheryl posed for Amy Foster with her Baritone Ukulele

and she was kind enough to share this piece with us.

I get the chance here to introduce Cheryl as a person and to share some of her special gifts. She sings professionally with a few different bands but has only been playing ukulele for a few years. She started playing during breaks the band took, and people loved it! I first saw her videos in a format that she calls “The Messy Desk Concert Series” where she gets her talented musician friends to perform with her on YT videos.

Cheryl and I have passed a few e-mails back and forth across the country. I learned that she was in a program which used music to reach struggling teens between the ages of 11 and 14. The "musical therapy" program was paid through a grant. They bought (4) Baritone Ukuleles and removed the low 2 strings off of two guitars. She had four classes and ten students in each class.

Cheryl used her musical background and Bari skills to squeeze a G, Em, C, and D7 out of them. These were kids that had little or no music education. She says, "It was the best thing I've ever done and I want to do more. They all played. Even the ones that vowed they couldn't." She also said there were, “...so many moments through the year really touched my heart! I would play and sing a song or 2 for them every week. Some of the kids had never been sung to before. Really heartbreaking, but they loved it.”