FAWM : NewUkeNewYork (@newukenewyork)

NewUkeNewYork

@newukenewyork

Songs

178

Joined

2023

New York City
www.NewUkeNewYork.com

Hi, I'm Brooklyn-based ukulele player and teacher Jenny Selig (she/her) and I joined my first round of FAWM in February 2023 and then did my first 50/90! With a background in poetry, theater, and performance, I have been sharing ukulele-based songwriting on social media and in-person since 2018. #fuc #ukulele

All my original songs end up here: http://tinyurl.com/seligsongs

My favorite made-up genres to write in:
💀 Americanasati - Americana infused with philosophical meditations on mortality and dread. (Americana + Maranasati)
🐿 MidEmFoke - Midwestern Emotional Folk uke

--

October 2 50/90 final stats:
The count is 177 on my profile but 8 are duplicate entries by musicians/singers interpreting my lyrics, so I wrote:
* 169 songs total
* I’ve done video demos for 55 of these (1 was a cowrite on the melody)
* I also did 1 10x10 and 1 Exquisite Corpse
* I posted 3 video demo collabs in which I wrote music around someone else’s lyrics
* My lyrics were interpreted by another musician 10 times
* Which means I have 109 lyrics-only drafts remaining, most of which I will eventually finish and demo (maybe all!)
* Total collabs: 14 posted (and 1 still in-progress)

A note on collaborations: I had so much fun hearing what others are coming up with on some of my lyrics-only drafts, and am honored anyone would take the time! I might also create my own solo, acoustic versions of any of those songs later, and the melody might be different, which doesn’t mean I didn’t like the music someone else created around them.

Songs

Pesky Weeds (Demo by Jenny added 7/9) by @kahlo2013 +1 more 12w #folk #needs_music #collaborations_welcome

Soundboard

@paul_pedersen 3d

That's kind of you to extend thanks to songwriting partners who worked with the words you provided. I think I only got to do one of yours, but I appreciate your willingness to let me give my choice of lyrics a shot. As a lyric writer, I am very slow, but, given a good set of lyrics from someone like you, I can devise the music very quickly. I am indebted to the lyricists of FAWM because, of the 32 songs I posted, 29 made use of lyrics from people who found their strength in the words. In short, without the lyricists of FAWM, I would have precious little to present.

@newukenewyork 3d

Thank you to everyone who collaborated with me in my first 50/90! What a thrill! @kahlo2013 @esqjr3 @barbara @mahtowin @sheslin @paul_pedersen @sdcpaman @allaboutgeorge @florianhoffmann @metalfoot @tunecat @jtsteam @jlampson !! Hope I didn't miss anyone. Can't wait to see what happens in February (and I'll be around here until they kick us out).

Thank you, too, to all who left thoughtful and encouraging comments, who watched/listened to/read my drafts, and to the folks who kept the Slack channel going when the Forum got quiet (and vice versa). Hugest thanks to those who built and run this site -- I'm new here, so I didn't experience it "before" and I'm sure it was magical, but this is so well designed it makes it even more rewarding and fun to participate. xoxo thanks for the welcome to FAWM and 50/90.

@kahlo2013 4d

Hi Jenny! I just sent you via your email the 10 sec clip for the exquisite corpse… hoping you can send me a short song (about 1 min) that I can add and post! I would love to post by Saturday afternoon as it is the last day and I am hoping people have a listen to it. Your style of uke and vocals will be a perfect addition!!! If you are unable to do it let me know so I am not waiting for it. Thanks a million!!!!!!

@greengrassgirl 1w

Hi, Jenny, That's an impressive list of songs you have here. My fingers are tired from scrolling and scrolling to finally get to your Soundboard! 😀 I came here to thank you for your comments on Memories Are Everywhere, my collab with @ohdeer and @moptop. It was an easy working relationship and we are all pleased with how it turned out. Thanks for letting us know you enjoyed it.

Oh! You also commented on City of Angels, another 3-way collab, this time with @joeym and @Natalie. That was another one that just came together so well and we are all happy with it. So glad you liked it. I have never driven through Nebraska on a starry summer night, but that's how I imagined it. I'm glad it resonated with you.

@nancycunning 1w

I loved that you mentioned the Grannies at your church singalong in the context of the Dangerous getting old song. I was thinking of you earlier this week in talking over with a friend ways our church could reenergize in the post Covid world. I thought about making space for people in transition: new parents, new partners, new retirees, etc, and making space for making music, and thought that people would love a sing along or play along like the ones you lead. I'd love to get together sometime in Manhattan or Brooklyn and talk music and church stuff, if you'd be up for it.

@barbara 5w

Have you ever written a soundboard comment and then navigated away before you submitted it and then it’s gone? That just happened.
I came here to say that no one has spoken for ‘Mystic Hour’ and I would be truly delighted for you to put your touch on it! I’ve gone ahead and added a note on the song page that you are currently working with it. I’m fine with any kind of modifications you might want to make, including changing the title if you like. I hope you have a great time. I’m so looking forward to hearing what you come up with!

@brisk 7w

Of course you may have very specific issues with season 3 that aren’t going to simply dissolve with a rewatch, but for me it offers such a sincere attempt to continue the story, while also offering a commentary on the difficulty and dangers of doing so. The first watch isn’t going to be optimal because you will have hopes and expectations it is very hard to meet. They have gone for a rewatch and you can start to address it as it is.

@kiffa 8w

Thank you Jenny, for your comment on my 'sequel song' skirmish entry, "I Could Not". As far as that original song from 1992 goes, that touch of 'sadness' you detected in the vocals... when I stated dating the girl that song was written for, she had lost her older brother in a car accident only a couple of months prior. Her whole world was turned upside-down, and in retrospect, it was probably a crazy, ill-advised time for her to enter into a relationship. So, either you're hearing some of that situation in my voice, or it was just a lackluster vocal performance lol. Both are possible.

Still no demo for the sequel. I'll let you know if that changes, but I'm feeling a little underwhelmed by the way I'm hearing it in my head, and am trying to come up with an arrangement that I like more. Thanks again!

@improvyssey 9w

Thank you for your comment on "Rushing Into Everything"! The ukulele was one of my first instruments (after the piano); I have been playing it for about thirty years. I've developed my own style and can only "make it sound easy" because I'm very familiar with the instrument. I do have some major limitations; I tend to play in only a few keys, and I stick mostly to the lowest octave. But I enjoy picking out melodies.

@improvyssey 10w

Yes, the headache is only one stage of the migraine. The four stages are prodrome, aura, attack, and postdrome. Some people get all four stages, but many don't, and even if you're prone to getting all four, you may not get them all every time. I tend to get three of the stages for sure, and I probably also get aura, but it mostly manifests as difficulty speaking rather than as visual disturbances. Every once in a long while, I skip the attack stage. I have friends who almost never get the headache, though they get all the other stages. Migraines are deeply weird.

@sheslin 11w

Hey Jenny - saw your post in the forum how to get your lyrics noticed and thought I would reach out. I had never done a co-write before I joined FAWM, and now it is one of my favorite parts of FAWM. I can write my own lyrics and music, but I love writing to other people's lyrics (and sometimes music) because I get a song I would have never created on my own. I never change a single word without approval from the writer, and usually it is just for flow. I also always send a rough draft and ask for feedback from the writer. I have done 4 collabs so far this 50/90 (the 5th was finished after FAWM) and have a few in the works. Creating music is easier for me than creating lyrics. If you ever have lyrics that you don't feel like working with musically toss them my way! I really like what you have created so far - and welcome to FAWM!!

@tcelliott 11w

re: voice. A long time ago I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't have a "blues voice" (I started learning the guitar by playing along to blues and a few blues-rock albums) and then I discovered Robert Cray. Such a pure voice. No gravel, no miles and seemingly, on first listen, no character. But the more I listened the more I heard it. There's something to the clear tones he had that was enticing. He ain't no Howlin' Wolf, but he's better than that in one sense, he's uniquely himself. Here's to using what we have the best we can.

@tunecat 11w

Thanks for your response - isnt it strange everyone just assumes we are ‘good at performing’ when in fact loads of us have been on a long road towards even being able to show what we do to others. ( either visually or just letting people hear stuff in my case) very grateful to FAWM and this community for actually getting through to my subconscious that I can be able to let it all hang out and therefore make incremental steps towards … well whatever it is we are doing. Feeling able to play in front of people seems such an important thing.

@berni1954 11w

Putting my English Teacher hat on. The tense you asked about in that song "Featherweight" about flying as a super power is called "the second conditional"

There are four conditionals using "if"

"If you heat water to 100º C, it will turn into steam." (Zero conditional. Happens every time)

"If it is sunny, we will go to the beach." (1st Conditional. Based on real probabilities)

"If I had a super power I would...." (2nd conditional. Speculative)

"If Hitler had won the war, we'd all be speaking German now" (3rd Conditional. Speculating on alternative events in the past, used a lot for regrets: "If I only I had done X then Y wouldn't have happened").

@brisk 12w

Thanks for the listen on my grand piano song! I have to admit to using a rhyme website to find message/wreckage - I knew I wanted wreckage but I could only find really obscure rhymes for it - until I found an example with message/wreckage from a Motörhead song! Thanks Lemmy!

Oh, and I should also say - welcome to 50/90! You smashed FAWM, so I'm really glad to see you here. Just don't burn out leaving a trillion comments - it is doable for a month, but unless you have the constitution of an African elephant, three months with that kind of comment rate will leave you a gibbering wreck...

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