Welcome to Ukulelear

Back in 2005 I brought a Roy Smeck ukulele to school. Kids were intrigued and wanted to try to play it themselves. The sound was pretty cool with just a few simple chords. Within a few weeks kids had bought their own Mahalo ukes and started to really enjoy playing.

Since that first ukulele group the Cal-Mum Uke club has had about forty students join-up every year. It has been a joy to teach in a school that is filled with the plinkety-plunk of the uke music.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Gearing Up

Summer is here and time for me to start thinking about how to manage
next year's uke club. I was stretched a bit thin last year and felt
like I hadn't been able to give 100% to the kids in the club.

We are in a very small town with a pretty active downtown - two
antique shops, cafe, library, and a coffee shop. I'm hoping that the
coffee shop could play a role in getting kids to have fun playing
their ukuleles. I'm going to see if we can set one night a month aside
for an open mic. It would be great for the kids and the coffee shop.

I also received an email from Jim D'Ville telling me that he was
coming to see our club in October. That is really a special event.
It's great timing for the kids because they will have only had their
ukes for a couple weeks prior to Jim's visit. Their minds will be open
to the great information Jim can share. I am so excited about this
that it has really motivated me to start preparing early for next
year's group.

I'm thinking that we have to get t-shirts with our club logo like we
have had in the past - nothing like a shirt to make one feel they are
part of something special (I always feel special in a club t-shirt).
I'm trying to come up with a slogan for our club. If you happen to
read this post and know of a good one that you could share, please let
me know. Right now I'm thinking I might use a play-on-words like
"Where Uke Can Be You" maybe. That one may be used already, I'll have
to Google it to see.

I'm off to read playukulelebyear.blogspot.com

Photo by allanimitchell flickr
Awarded Nikon Flickr Best Photo 5/1310