I’m looking at more music to arrange for ukulele and have been researching Adrian Le Roy, Gregoire Brayssing, Guillaume Morlaye, Simon Gorlier, and John Dowland. I may start with some easy/intermediate pieces by Dowland (the first one being Tarleton’s Resurrection) but will tackle other composers if there is interest.
NOTE: Dowland Favorites on the Ukulele was published on April 24, 2020.
Just finished a book of Yuletide or Christmas music (it will be available for purchase this fall). I had a lot of fun researching the origins of these pieces and some older versions don’t sound at all like our modern renditions so I included both versions and you can see for yourself. Each piece can be played as an instrumental solo or sung (a separate booklet has all the words that you can share with your friends as they sing along with you). Included in the book is a brief history of each piece with an explanation of its origins and development.
NOTE: The book was published on October 7, 2019.
Am working on completing the next book, which is a departure from what I’ve been doing. It’s a book of ballads and songs (ancient of course) where the melody is written out, chords and words given and then some directions on how to put it all together with a selection of suggested strumming/picking patterns. Almost done …
Working on arranging more music for ukulele written by Bach. There are 18 pieces here by JS himself and some of his sons (JCF, WF, and CPE) ranging from beginner (equivalent to grade 2 guitar/piano) to advanced (grade 8 guitar/piano).
Performing a Gigue on the tenor ukulele and Pavan IV on the baritone ukulele at a recital hosted by Brad Mahon at Mount Royal University. Photos courtesy of Brad Mahon.
I am working on a book of Baroque pieces right now. Here’s an illustration of a score from that period (it’s not the one that I am arranging — it’s an illustration of a score from that time period) by Weiss. And here’s a sample of a Menuet by Weiss that I am including in the book using modern musical notation and tablature.
Almande “La mon amy la” is a piece by Adrian Le Roy and is included in his 1551 book “Premier livre de tabulature de guiterre”. Here’s what the music looked like in his book and the modern arrangement in “The Renaissance Ukulele”.
