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A call for help, ukulele style
04 July 2010
Most of you know I play the ukulele. For 40-plus years before I discovered the uke, I played the guitar. I was never very good on the guitar: my passion for making music far exceeded my technical skills. But I had a passion for playing music that has sometimes translated itself into a variety of instruments, from flutes to sitar. I've managed to develop my musical skills somewhere between mediocre and adequate. But I love playing almost beyond my love for writing.
Since I discovered the ukulele, more than two years ago, I've been working hard to learn a lot of the music from the 1920s through to the 50s. It's music my parents would have known. Odd how that happened. I still play a lot of the music from the 1960s-70s, but I am increasingly attracted to that of the between-wars years. It's always been an area of historical interest for me; now it's a musical interest.
My biggest problem is getting the old song sheets and song books to work from. There are many around - for sale on eBay and in second-hand stores, and many, many more reside in attics and basements - but I don't have the disposable income to spend on them that I had a few months ago (before I sold my store).
The vast majority of these song sheets are for tunes that no one knows today. And not just the younger generation - literally thousands of songs were published in that format, and yet only a few dozen are remembered as "classic" songs or performance "standards." I have hundreds that have been lost - not even the Internet has the tunes so I can learn them. I've written about my interst in archiving vintage music in a previous post.
So here's my request: if you have any old music sheets or song books in your attic or basement, can you give or lend them to me? In return for a collection of sheet music, I will give you a DVD with your song sheets in PDF, along with the rest of my music collection.
If you want them back - there is a small collectors' market for them, albeit penny-ante stuff (I just bought 76 song sheets from the 1920s to the 1940s on eBay for about $30 plus shipping and on average pay $0.50-$1 apiece for lots of them) - I'll be happy to return them. Just please let me scan them. I will return them to you within 10 days.
My big concern is saving these songs in some digital format that can be shared, and keep them from being lost and totally forgotten.
My interest in vintage music has led me to many interesting sites. I have bookmarked a few places where thousands of old 78s have been ripped to MP3 format. This has provided me with sources for the actual songs, which helps me to learn them. But without the sheet music, I often struggle to come up with the chords. I have many songs on paper that simply aren't available in any audio format.
If you don't want them back, then allow me to donate them to a music library. Several libraries are now posting digital music. I plan to donate my collection to one - perhaps even our own (if they want to digitize it - that's for another post ).
Please - if you have any old song sheets or song books, contact me. I'd really like to scan them, even copy them for other uke enthusiasts to learn. I might even be able to buy them, if you're willing to make a deal for the sake of posterity.
PS. While my interest is mainly in pieces arranged for the ukulele, I am also interested in pieces with guitar or banjo chords.
Since I discovered the ukulele, more than two years ago, I've been working hard to learn a lot of the music from the 1920s through to the 50s. It's music my parents would have known. Odd how that happened. I still play a lot of the music from the 1960s-70s, but I am increasingly attracted to that of the between-wars years. It's always been an area of historical interest for me; now it's a musical interest.
My biggest problem is getting the old song sheets and song books to work from. There are many around - for sale on eBay and in second-hand stores, and many, many more reside in attics and basements - but I don't have the disposable income to spend on them that I had a few months ago (before I sold my store).
The vast majority of these song sheets are for tunes that no one knows today. And not just the younger generation - literally thousands of songs were published in that format, and yet only a few dozen are remembered as "classic" songs or performance "standards." I have hundreds that have been lost - not even the Internet has the tunes so I can learn them. I've written about my interst in archiving vintage music in a previous post.
So here's my request: if you have any old music sheets or song books in your attic or basement, can you give or lend them to me? In return for a collection of sheet music, I will give you a DVD with your song sheets in PDF, along with the rest of my music collection.
If you want them back - there is a small collectors' market for them, albeit penny-ante stuff (I just bought 76 song sheets from the 1920s to the 1940s on eBay for about $30 plus shipping and on average pay $0.50-$1 apiece for lots of them) - I'll be happy to return them. Just please let me scan them. I will return them to you within 10 days.
My big concern is saving these songs in some digital format that can be shared, and keep them from being lost and totally forgotten.
My interest in vintage music has led me to many interesting sites. I have bookmarked a few places where thousands of old 78s have been ripped to MP3 format. This has provided me with sources for the actual songs, which helps me to learn them. But without the sheet music, I often struggle to come up with the chords. I have many songs on paper that simply aren't available in any audio format.
If you don't want them back, then allow me to donate them to a music library. Several libraries are now posting digital music. I plan to donate my collection to one - perhaps even our own (if they want to digitize it - that's for another post ).
Please - if you have any old song sheets or song books, contact me. I'd really like to scan them, even copy them for other uke enthusiasts to learn. I might even be able to buy them, if you're willing to make a deal for the sake of posterity.
PS. While my interest is mainly in pieces arranged for the ukulele, I am also interested in pieces with guitar or banjo chords.
