A decade ago, I watched ukulele vocalist Victoria Vox do an entire year of ukulele covers, releasing one each week for a straight 52 weeks. She gave herself a few rules …

1. Learn the song the week of (no pre-preparing)
2. Must be performed live
3. Must be memorized

… and said, “this is my own personal challenge.”

She followed through and it made a big impression on me. I’ve wanted to do something similar ever since. What’s stopped me? Fear and busyness. Sometimes I think busyness can be something we use so we don’t have to face our fears … at least I think it is true for me.

I have worked up such a fear of memorization (no problem with melody and lyrics, but sometimes forget where chords fall when I’m getting lost in a song … this has happened in front of an audience and it is so mortifying). I really want to get over it. I talk about using S.M.A.R.T. goals in my Ukulele Bootcamp (part of the free preview), so, I’m going to ‘walk the walk’ and issue myself a S.M.A.R.T. challenge.

• Specific: Record a memorized song each week.
• Measurable: Songs are either memorized or they aren’t.
• Achievable: I’ve accumulated good tools, I believe I can do it.
• Relevant: I want to build a set list of songs I can perform without visual aids and I want to get over the fear that’s holding me back.
• Time-based: One song each Friday for a year.

I’m not going to give myself any kind of ‘no prep’ rule like Victoria did, that feels like too much pressure for me at present. Here is my personal challenge:

1. Work on the song with a cue card to aid in memorizing.
2. Video the memorized song without aids during the week.
3. Release the video each Friday on my Uke & Me YouTube, Facebook & Patreon channels.

I’ve made a list of songs that I want to memorize through the end of the 2021, kicking off with a 5-song Halloween set, with the first release on Friday, October 1st.

• Thrice Tosse These Oaken Ashes by Thomas Campion (English renaissance songwriter)
• Blood on the Saddle by Tex Ritter
• Oh, Better Far to Live & Die (The Pirate King Tune) by Gilbert & Sullivan
• Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Haunted Mansion) by Buddy Baker and X. Atencio.
• Love Potion No. 9 by The Searchers

If you’re interested in joining me in a similar personal challenge, feel free to comment and update with your progress on the posts each week.

Post filed under All UkulelePlay! Blog Posts.