A happy instrument

I suppose the ukulele is an easy instrument to learn compared to something like the diabolical bassoon, for example.  Although any instrument takes lots of practice and dedication, so it helps if you like the sound it makes, and it doesn't drive those around you crazy.

I love my ukulele and it's a happy instrument that makes people smile, even if you're not as good as Tiny Tim (yet.)  A badly played violin or trumpet is torture to one and all, and of course I don't have the ear for such refined instruments, not to mention, enough years left in my life to learn to play them.

Yesterday my new music stand arrived in the mail from Musician's Friend, a wonderful Internet company if you happen to need anything at all musical. Now I feel like a real musician when I practice, instead of hunching over the coffee table trying to see the music through my "progressive" lenses, which was giving me a stomach ache.

I'm painstakingly learning to translate music notes on the staff to plinks on my uke.  Yes! I am learning to read music! It gave me a thrill this week to pick out a few notes of Ode to Joy, on page 3 of Ukulele Method Book 1.  This opened my eyes in other ways, too, thinking about how Beethoven built these simple notes (EEFGGFED, etc) into one of the greatest works of music ever written. And still, even a rank beginner can pick them out easily enough.

Click below (it will start in a few seconds) for a beautiful presentation and arrangement by Michael Lynch of Ode to Joy, played on the humble ukulele.  It brought tears to my eyes.