The Austin Ukulele Society held TWO fantastic holiday events this year, one in-person and another online!
December 8: Holiday Strum-a-long and Potluck Party!
On a pleasant December evening, nearly 100 festive members got together to enjoy an evening of music and company. It was the first time in three years since we’d been able to meet in person for our (typically) annual Holiday Potluck and Strum-along, and the energy reflected appreciation for the opportunity. We really made the most of it, with plenty of cheer, holiday attire, laughter, good food and desserts – and, of course, music.
After mingling and munching for a while, Bob led us in our always-optimistic warm up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” We then played songs in our holiday music repertoire. We enjoyed a terrific variety of tunes played by talented groups, duos and individuals during the open mic portion of the eve. The Tuesday Ukulele Group (TUG), Paul, Jay, Helen, Rodger, and Christen all had us smiling and singing along.
Then we resumed playing and singing some more lovely songs of the season!
Many thanks to those who brought tasty dishes to share, who performed in the open mic, and everyone who came out to play and sing so heartily! Happy holidays to all!
December 15: Online Holiday Strum-a-long!
We had a lovely evening of ukulele music, filled with many holiday favorites, at our quarterly livestreamed meeting, our 3rd annual Online Holiday Strum-a-long. It was wonderful to check in with our global uke community, as nearly 150 friends from England, Australia, Brazil and coast-to-coast in Canada and the U.S. (and Hawaii) joined in.
After Bob shared some information about the format of our strum-along, we warmed up our fingers and voices with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” Bob then provided a mini-tutorial for each Christmas tune before we played it; the hints and tips were well received. As always, it felt like the time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to wrap up for the evening. We played our favorite closing song, Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and then we bid one other good tidings for the holidays ahead.
You can watch a replay of the December 15 live stream. Watch the entire show or use the Table of Contents in the video’s description to jump to the song you most want to watch!
This songbook includes charts for all our joyous Christmas and wintry-themed songs in a condensed format designed to minimize page turns when printed two-sided. You can also play along with videos of these songs on our YouTube channel. On our website’s “Music Library” page, our holiday music repertoire – Holiday Season Favorites! – is grouped together near the top, for ease of video play-along.
Bob asked folks to stick around to chat and enjoy a few of the fabulous collaborative videos produced by our good friends Marty Porter and Paul Butler. As always, we appreciate Jen Richardson’s tireless assistance with monitoring the chat and Lyda Guz’s fantastic projectionist skills throughout the song chart presentations.
We are so glad to have had this holiday event with our great uke friends both near and far. Thank you for joining us, sending in your selfies, and staying connected! We look forward to “seeing” you all on March 23, at our next virtual meeting.
And we look forward to seeing our local friends – near, far, visiting and otherwise – back in person on January 12 with a new featured song.
For more downloadable music, visit our Ukulele Music Library. For more Austin Ukulele Society videos, check out our YouTube Channel.
Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!
Ukulele Society T-shirts!
Austin Ukulele Society t-shirts are available for purchase at our in-person meetings, porch pick up locally, or via mail order. Each one is designed by the talented Lyda Guz! We are excited to now have our latest “AUS Classic Ukulele” design available as well.
The shirts are silk screened here in Austin at a fantastic locally-owned print shop. The new “AUS Classic Ukulele” design, “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $20. We also have vinyl decals with the AUS logo for $1 each. Please drop us a line if you’d like to purchase a shirt (or two or three). 🙂 Have a look at the shirts in our online “Shop“.
Austin Ukulele Society (AUS) 