Sycamore Ranch Ukulele Campout, June 7-9, Marysville, CA
LOCATION
We will be in the group campground at beautiful Sycamore Ranch located 15 minutes outside of Marysville, CA. The campground is at the confluence of Dry Creek and Yuba River. Each site has water and power. There are indoor restrooms, coin-op showers, and an RV dump station.
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 7th
1:00PM - Camp sites open
1:00-4:00PM - Music with friends, hiking, relaxing, napping
4:00PM - Happy Hour Welcome (soft/hard beverages provided)
5:30PM - Friday Dinner (included with admission)
6:30PM-8:00PM - Evening play-along focusing on 3-4 chord standards
8:00PM-10:00PM - General play-along
Saturday, June 8th
6:00AM - Coffee available!
8:00AM - Saturday Breakfast (included with admission)
9:00AM-10:00AM - Ukulele Workshop: Songwriting
10:00AM-Noon - Music with friends, writing a song(?), hiking, relaxing, napping
Noon-1:00PM - Lunch (included with admission)
1:00-3:00PM - Music with friends, hiking, relaxing, napping
3:00-4:00PM - Modulation Workshop
5:00PM - Potluck wine-time with nibbles
5:30PM - Saturday Dinner (included with admission)
6:30PM-8:00PM - Open Mic
8:00PM-10:00 - Play-along
Sunday, June 9th
6:00AM - Coffee available!
8:00AM - Eggs, Toast, Sausage, Veggie sausage (included)
9:00AM-10:00AM - Happy songs goodbye strum
11:00AM - Aloha until next year
EVENT DESCRIPTIONS
Don't let the busy schedule fool you! The Ukulele Campout is built around relaxing, spontaneous music playing, and enjoying the company of our uke community.
Music with Friends: There is plenty of unstructured time and you can always use that time to make music! We will have a screen, projector, and access to thousands of songs. Bring your own club's music books or your favorite electronic device. We will play together with a leader(s), in small groups, or on your own as the muse moves you. We will sprinkle in themed play-along sets throughout the festival during these times. If you would like to use the projector to lead a set of 10 or so songs please bring them on your own USB thumb drive or email them to me ahead of time.
Happy Hour: Uke Jams will provide beverages to say, "Welcome!" Feel free to bring cocktail nibbles to share.
Friday Dinner: Chinese Chicken (and meatless) salad, potstickers, egg rolls.
Evening Play-along: We'll play simple, well known songs to encourage people to play without music. Relaxed, no pressure. Song PDFs will be sent out in advance for those who prefer.
General Play-along: We will play from the 1100+ song Uke Jams collection. This songbook will be available for download ahead of the event, and all songs will be projected on a screen.
Breakfasts: Coffee, Tea, and water will be available throughout the morning, starting at 6AM.
Saturday Breakfast: Bagels, schmear, and fruit.
Workshop: Songwriting: One songwriting style is to noodle around with different chord progressions and see what melodies or lyrics might pop up. We'll explore standard chord progressions and guidelines for developing your own chord progressions.
Saturday Lunch: Pasta salad and chips
Modulation Workshop: Many songs will shift their key up one-half or one whole step near the end of the song. IE: They change pitch or they modulate. We will discuss what this means and practice it using simple three and four chord songs. Workshop is suitable for any instrument, any tuning.
Potluck wine time: Bring a beverage and nibble to share.
Open Mic: Everyone is encouraged to perform one of the favorite songs for the group. Group-performances or skits encouraged. We want everyone to use this intimate, welcoming setting to participate.
Sunday Breakfast: Eggs, Sausage (meat and meatless), and toast.
WHAT IS PROVIDED
NEW THIS YEAR: We will have a 20x20 foot mesh-walled pavillion to use in the evening hours - or any time - when the mosquitoes come out. We have had one year of modest mosquitoes and one year of overwhelming mosquitoes. They are mainly a problem around dusk, but this year we will have a place to retreat and play music undisturbed!! You may want to bring your choice of repellent wipes just in case.
PLEASE bring your own plate, bowl, mug, glass, silverware, napkin, etc. We will have disposables for those who need them, but we want to have as small a footprint as possible.
Coffea, tea, and water will be available throughout the event.
You are always welcome to put out snacks and drinks to share. You will notice that there are no desserts on the menu! We have one lunch and two dinners. Please feel free to bring something to share at one of those meals.
Ice and coolers will be available
If you have dietary restrictions other than lacto-ovo vegetarian please let us know.
WHAT TO BRING
Music stand and instrument(s). Non-ukes permitted
Any device you might use to display your PDFs.
Any ukulele songbooks you would like to play from.
Anything you would like to drink other than coffee, tea, and water
Adult beverages as desired
Snacks, veggies, fruit, wine, beer to share are always welcome.
Your ukulele attitude!
TICKETS
$100 per campsite and one person for Fri-Sun. Additional people per campsite $40 each.
Payment will be via Check, Paypal, or Venmo.
Contact "leonard @ ukejams.com" to reserve your spot and get detailed payment information!
THURSDAY
Uke Jams will be camping out Thursday night as well to get things ready and would love to have any and all join us for an extra day of musical companionship. Let us know if you would like a spot on Thursday so we can arrange the reservation. You will only be charged the actual cost of the reservation. You will be on your own for food/drink until Friday Happy Hour.