Kids at Heart10/27/2025 When playing solo background music gigs, it's fun to go through a variety of mental games to expand your musical knowledge under pressure and test your people-reading skills:
But my favorite farmer’s market game is always: ”How long can I hold this baby’s attention?” (It’s so cute to see them crane their tiny neck around the side of the stroller to stay focused on the music as long as possible while their parents try to push them on to the next vendor.) Also, my very official, real-time-audience-reaction research confirms that “Part of Your World” has no age limit :) We’re all still kids at heart! With gratitude, Ashley P.S. Unfortunately my set got rained out at BOTH the Ogden Park Prowl two weeks ago and the Yellow Leaf Art Festival yesterday, but please join me Nov. 20th for a very special FULL BAND SHOW at the Manship Theatre's Hartley/Vey Studio! Click here for details and to purchase tickets today. 
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You Want Me to Sing WHAT???10/6/2025 That was my response when Andrew, the owner of RockClass101.com (an ukulele tutorial website that I teach for), asked if I'd ever tried singing Metallica. I thought he was joking. He was not. In spite of the name "RockClass101," most of the songs I do for the site's ukulele tutorials are jazz, folk, holiday songs, etc. Songs that are in my wheelhouse or at least NEAR it. lol I am not a rock singer. I do not aspire to be a rock singer. It takes very different vocal technique and, usually, a different voice type to do rock vocals justice. But, after Andrew sent me the song, "Nothing Else Matters"--one of Metalica's few ballads--I decided to go out on a limb. "I'll give it a try," I told him. Thankfully, my voice surprised me in new ways with this song (and I had a great female vocal cover version to work from as a model, which helped, a lot too). So if you are itching to learn how to play Metallica on the ukulele (arranged and performed by the incredibly talented Evan J De Silva), or if you're just curious to hear how it turned out with the full band, here's the video! With gratitude, Ashley The Humidity Was Fierce10/2/2025 As I looked at my reflection in my bathroom mirror, an uncommon thought came to mind: "The humidity must be really low today because my hair is actually holding a curl and doesn't look frizzy for a change!" I had made a rare effort to wear my long hair down--as a new mom, I usually pull it hastily into a claw clip and well out of 1-year-old Ethan's ever-expanding, tiny (but strong) grasp... Finally ready for my gig, I hopped in the car and, two hours later, stepped out onto the damp lawn of the adorably tiny Lacombe Library. It took me 3.56 minutes to walk from my car to the stage set up in the library's "front yard" for our Fat City Swing Band community concert. And somewhere within those 3.56 minutes, the thick Louisiana humidity descended on my loose locks like an invisible army, flattening the curls and frizzing each strand to a level of saturation only our soupy southern air can achieve. I was not at all surprised by this, but the SPEED at which Mother Nature accomplished her task was impressive. "There goes my attempt at looking presentable," I laughed to myself. "Where's a claw clip when I need one???" On the flip side, humidity is EXCELLENT for helping to keep the vocal chords hydrated, so my voice felt great (as a gigging musician who plays in lots of different settings, you quickly learn to pick your battles with Mother Nature.) Thankfully, the crowd wasn't deterred by the humidity, and bug spray kept the mosquitoes at bay once the sun set. All in all, the band sounded fantastic, and it was a fun night of Great American Songbook standards free for the public, thanks to the Friends of Slidell Library! Here's a little clip from the concert. I hope to see you at an upcoming show this fall! (Click here for the full list!) With gratitude, Ashley  AuthorAshley Orlando is a jazz vocalist/ukulele artist and joyologist on a mission to help 1 million women find their voice through music, inspiring stories, and communication skills. Archives
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