If you have never played ukulele with 200 ukulele players,
then you are really missing out! (At least in my opinion!) This past weekend,
Carolyn and I attended Ukulele camp officially called Mighty Uke Day which, of
course, lasted for more than a day! These ukulele camps or festivals turn into
reunions for uke players as well as playing for hours and hours!
We are fortunate to live in an area where we can attend
many uke festivals since Michigan is a great uke capital of the country. With
our bags packed early on Friday, we hit the road on a sunny day to get to camp
to register early. As we arrived in Lansing there were so many old friends and
new friends to connect with for these short few days. Nametags, lunch, check in
to our hotel and back for our first workshop.
Carolyn and I have been teachers forever, and so we know
how to be good students…well pretty good students. We took our seats, tuned our
ukes and waited for the lovely workshop to begin. However, it seemed as if everyone
came out of hiding (finally!) as a hundred players came to that particular
workshop. We kept moving our chairs closer and closer together. Finally,
everyone was seated, and it sounded as if we were all in a huge band with all
the tuning and the ukes in place. The first workshop was hard, by the way! We
stumbled through it, taking notes, practicing and then at the end of the first
workshop knew that we had already had a great brain workout!
By late afternoon, we could barely zip our uke bags back up
as we scurried to dinner to get back in time for the night concert. It is
completely amazing to me how fabulously talented are the folks in the uke world.
As I told Adam, I will never, ever be that kind of player, but listening to the
concert is overwhelming. How can one small ukulele make all of those sounds?
Rock band. Classical. Country western. Jazz. Blues. All of those genres were
expertly played on the ukulele to a huge crowd of happy listeners.
You would think the evening would be over at 10:30, but oh
no. Following the concert, we all headed back to the hotel and filled the lobby
with a uke jam until well past midnight. I think the Marriott will never be the
same; although they did greet each guest with a small ukulele token attached to
our keys! The jam was again so crowded as player after player came into the
lobby. The songs were put up on a big screen and we just played our hearts out
until one-by-one folks called it a night!
The next day was no exception as we were transported back
into our musical world. Again, workshops, networking and a late-night jam
session.
By Sunday morning we were packing the car to head home.
With a notebook full of notes and a tired uke, we made our way back as the
conversation was as colorful as the music we played all weekend. Carolyn is
much more a musician than I am, yet I love playing and thinking I am a
musician! (I guess we can think we can do anything, and why not?) Research
shows that we need “structural and functional brain reorganization beyond the
developmental maturation period as an intrinsic property of the human central
nervous system.” (Professor Bogdan Draganski, consultant in neurology at the
University Hospital in Switzerland.) In layman terms, learning and playing
music helps with an aging brain, and let’s face it, everyone has an aging
brain! Ukuleles are so reasonable to purchase. They are not expensive, unless
you want them to be, and you can have a great time no matter how much you pay.
You don’t know how to play? Oh well, you are in luck, our ukulele group, The
Steuben Strummers meets the second Monday of every month at the Angola Carnegie
Library. Don’t be shy! We welcome you into our group. As I always say bike
riding on long trails and playing the uke are definitely Zen moments for me!
Arriving home, I unpacked until Aaron and Rachel stopped by
with a dozen pastel roses and an invitation to dinner. Of course, I would never
turn that down! I did hear from my other boys and the grandchildren as well, so
the weekend ended with a flourish of love.
Music and love…anything better?
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