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Illustration by Drew Shannon
It seemed like a good idea – two grandchildren had a ukulele and if I bought one, maybe we could do a little concert at our annual Christmas family gathering. So, off I went to our local music shop to buy a ukulele. There were lots of choices. I settled for a lovely baritone ukulele.
I worked on Jingle Bells and sent the lyrics and chords to my grandchildren, Julian, age 10, and Audrey, age 7. Expectations ran high! The day of the family concert arrived with Julian toting a small keyboard and Audrey carrying a ukulele. Julian knew the first verse of the song but Audrey hadn’t learned any chords, though she made up for it with vigorous strumming. We made it through the first verse and about half the chorus before my bandmates lost interest.
But I hadn’t. I’d once listened to a local ukulele group play at a fundraiser not far from my home. I did an online search and discovered the Niagara-on-the-Lake Ukesters gathered on Sunday afternoon via Zoom. The song library along with each week’s playlist was on their website. I downloaded it all and started to practice.
The ukulele is such a humble, simple instrument. It’s hard to pick one up without smiling. With four nylon strings, it’s infinitely easier to play than a guitar and unlike the years required to play a piano or cello, the ukulele player can be singing and strumming in short order.
Over the years, the ukulele has had varying popularity, but never has it been more popular than during the pandemic. Sales have skyrocketed. People forced to stay home in isolation looked for something to do and an interest in music led them to the affordable ukulele. One can spend a lot of money on a ukulele, but it’s difficult. Consequently, many ukulele players have several.
After a couple of weeks of chord searches, strumming practice and song rehearsals, I signed up to take part in a Sunday concert. Sitting in front of my computer I saw over 40 Ukesters, all holding onto some version of a ukulele. Alan Ash is their leader, a gentle, encouraging musician, who welcomed everyone, made a few announcements and then handed the “mic” to a different player to lead each song.
In addition to the 12 or 13 songs on the week’s playlist, there were also five solos, chosen by players who had found some music they liked and wanted to share. I marvelled at everyone’s courage, apparent capability to switch chords rapidly and the mostly awful singing.
However, I began to realize that this was a lovely group of people who probably sing in the shower, who had found each other with the entrée of an easy-to-learn instrument and the encouragement of their music director.
The weeks progressed, as did my playing capability; I learned that the Niagara Ukesters, who used to gather at the community centre, had been gathering via Zoom for almost two years. And because anyone in the world with a computer and an internet connection could jump in, we had weekly visitors from the Maritimes, several cities in the United States and one regular from Australia.
Online meetups gave me and so many others a whole new way of getting together to play and sing. I did more searching and found the Toronto Ukes, the Bytown Ukulele Group (Ottawa) and groups from Nottingham, England, to Melbourne, Australia. Curiosity and a tendency to wake up early found me signing into MUC, the Melbourne Australia Ukulele Community at 4 a.m. I sipped coffee as they all slipped into the cocktail hour and we launched into a series of songs. During a break, I found myself in a chat room with five other players who looked quite curious as I answered their questions. They found my accent as peculiar and impenetrable as I did theirs. But together we belted out the songs.
There are an amazing number of professional ukulele players online from the teachings of Bernadette Etcheverry, Cynthia Lin, Les Chats Ukulele and countless others on Instagram, to the worldwide performances of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. However, the majority of ukulele players are your neighbours, quite happy to sing off-key while driving their car. Ukulele groups bring them together for the collegial opportunity of sharing songs and learning new chords.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake Ukesters have just returned to their live Sunday concerts at the community centre. It’s wonderful to finally meet these people in person, and while performing in person is a little more intimidating, the volume of 40 ukuleles playing together is uplifting.
And since there is still demand from those who can only join online, the club is working on simultaneously providing an internet link, bringing in the far-flung ukulele players.
Now, if I can just get my grandchildren to practice, maybe this Christmas we’ll finish Jingle Bells.
Douglas Geddie lives in St. Catharines, Ont.
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