Uke Can Play
You may have noticed a distinct lack of craft on the blog of late and a rather exponential increase in the writing of poetry. I do have rather a habit of diving headfirst into a new passion, sorely neglecting the old along the way. If I haven't been crafting, what have I been doing with all my not writing poems time?
Well, that's a question with an interesting answer. And possibly one you may not expect although I guess the photos will have given you a clue and the title is a bit of a giveaway.
At the last Wild By Nature Village Camp I heard Kiri Bear singing and playing the ukulele. And she was playing songs I loved - Spandau Ballet and Scissor Sisters to mention a couple. She sounded wonderful. I was envious. I've wanted to be able to play a musical instrument for a long time now. And sit around camp fires entertaining folks.
I already play one instrument - voice. Although I'm a beginner. For the last couple of years I've been learning singing with my daughters. It's one of my favourite parts of the week. As is practicing in the car on all our long drives around Melbourne.
Right after camp I found a book at a sale for $1. Seriously, who charges that kind of money these days? The book was called How to Play Ukulele: A Complete Guide For Beginners by Dan "Cool Hand Uke" Scanlam. It was just what I needed. I believe you can learn everything you need from books and there is a book on every topic you could ever imagine (and then some).
Luckily there were already ukes in the house. Including the gorgeous one you can see in the photos. The Lovely G plays guitar and bass and I bought him a ukulele a couple of years back for his birthday. At the same time I bought his uke I also got some basic ukes for the girls so they could play along too.
When I mentioned learning the ukulele to my friend Meli she offered to come over and teach me a song. Turns out she's pretty talented. Not only is she an incredible artist, she's also a talented singer and musician. The same evening my friend's daughter taught me a cool finger picking tune called the Nausicaa Theme Song. Since then, I've been picking up songs from everyone. If you play uke, you're my new best friend!
So I'm still using my hands and my mind to create only now I'm creating music instead of objects. What are you creating? And yes, mess is fine.