Ukulele Camp!

 

I check my list: sheets, blanket, pillow, towel, washcloth, ukulele, music. It looks like I I have everything I need. I load it into my wagon and wait for Carolyn to pick me up. She arrives and we load all of my gear into the back of her van including my wagon. Everything she needs is already packed. I hop into the front seat and off we go. Oh, not to just any event, oh no, we are headed off to ukulele camp or to be more specific, Midwest Ukulele and Harmonica Camp. I missed camp last year so I am eager to go this year.

It is a short drive to Toledo University. I love that the camp moves around to different locations. We get out out map to find our way to our dorm where we will not only sleep, but where all our classes will be held. We are not the only ones arriving, although It looks as if I am the only one pulling my wagon. “Smart idea,” someone calls out. I smile. Between my wagon and Carolyn’s cart (we are very prepared for camp!) we head up to the registration table. Just like college, I think, as we are issued our meal ticket and our keys to our suite. There is an elevator, thank goodness, with all of our stuff. I tried to think back to my dorm days so many years ago, I don’t think we had an elevator. I guess we just hauled all of our stuff up the staircase. I am grateful for the elevator and the door closes. We find our room and our other two roomies come in as well. They love our means of unloading and borrow our cart and wagon!

We make our beds and put things away on the shelves. Going to ukulele camp with a great friend is about as good as it gets! We check our schedule over and over and mark the classes we want to take. Jazz, blues, finger-picking, strumming, song-writing…how can we choose? With classes circle, and our ukes strapped on our backs, we head down to the classes.

The workshop instructors are brilliant uke players. As we walk through the halls to our workshop rooms, the sound of ukes tuning up fills the hallway. I mean, have you ever heard 200 ukulele players tuning up? Carolyn and I had planned to take all different workshops so we could share the information, but we start out together. We settle into our chairs and join the others as we tune up our ukes.

I am so ready for these classes.   What amazes me most of all abou these professional teachers is how beautiful and effortlessly they play their ukes. They make them sing in ways that I cannot. I want to play like them, I really do, but I know the amount of work that goes into this. Maybe it would take me a full year to learn a song or two. No different from storytelling, although I have been doing that for so many years.

The instructors talk about so many concepts. I listen and try my hardest to understand the Circle of Five, or other terms. Carolyn knows it all already, and whispers to me, “I will explain it to you later.” How lucky am I to have such a good friend?

We take classes, we eat in the cafeteria. We both think about our granddaughters heading off to college this fall. We take photos of us sitting on our beds and send them to  girls!

The evenings are the best. We all gather in the community room as our teachers perform for us. They are extraordinary. The music community is close and they invite other members to play with them. We sit on the edge of our seats and watch the beautiful sky out the giant windows turn from dusk to dark with cotton candy clouds. We clap, we laugh, we sing, we applaud. We are an appreciative audience. Following the concert, we all just hang around with our ukes strapped across our backs as we begin our night jam session. Now it is our turn to play with them until midnight.  When it is over at the midnight hour, we head back to our rooms and chat with our suite mates. No one wants to go to bed as there is so much to talk about.

Camp isn’t just for kids.  Go ahead, pack your bags, and go to camp!