Virginia Ukapalooza Winter 2025 PopUp

Virginia Ukapalooza Winter 2025 PopUp featuring:

The Midnight Ukulele Society -- leading a uke jam

The Birdwatchers -- teaching a workshop and performing a concert

The workshop is entitled “Rhythmic Strumming” and is designed to get you out of your “aloha strum” comfort zone and work on timing and rhythm! Plan on learning chord alternates, essential rhythms, new fun strumming patterns, and more. We will discuss the importance of bar(re) chords and their utility in facilitating chucks and rhythmic breaks, metronomes/repetition/rehearsal, swing vs straight, and various time signatures. This is an interactive workshop, so bring your uke and be ready to learn!

All festival activities are for all skill levels (beginner through advanced).

Event will be in the Dogwood Salon at the Cultural Arts Center: https://www.artsglenallen.com/

Please bring your ukulele and a music stand. No amps, please.

Jam songs will be emailed as a pdf for attendees to use on their own electronic device or to print at home. Or just pair up with a member of The Midnight Ukulele Society and share along!

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The Birdwatchers are a unique acoustic trio who specialize in an equally particular instrument: the ukulele. Kim Bjerga, Clark Holmes, and Andy Nufer have carved out a niche for themselves in their local music scene, and for good reason. Their tight, three-part harmonies, combined with interestingly composed arrangements are refreshingly diverse, both in musicianship and content. With various ukulele ranges (tenor, baritone, and bass ukulele, as well as guitar), the three have managed to produce a wide, varied sound, and with an equally varied set list, The Birdwatchers are bridging musical gaps for all ages and ears.

https://thebirdwatchersband.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@TheBirdwatchers

https://www.facebook.com/thebirdwatchers.band

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The Midnight Ukulele Society is a Richmond based uke group of teachers and members of the community that sing and play pop/rock hits that everyone knows -- on ukulele, bass, and light percussion. They play a variety of shows around the Richmond area, and several of its members are on the planning committee for the Virginia Ukapalooza Festival and run the Virginia Ukapalooza 501(c)(3) non profit.

https://midnightukulelesociety.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@themidnightukulelesociety5209

https://www.facebook.com/midnightukulelesociety

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This event is run by Virginia Ukapalooza, a 501(c)(3) non profit that runs the premier annual ukulele festival, and uses proceeds from the festival to buy ukuleles for Central VA schools, and to teach freee uke classes at those schools. To learn more about their outreach program: https://virginiaukapalooza.org/outreach/

Host or Publisher River City Ukulele Society, Inc.