Tis the Season!

Hey Seasonistas! I have a couple seasons under my belt and the experience has been awesome. I signed up to host a season in November and I knew the perfect theme but I figured out there is one problem. I think the theme is bigger than 8 days plus there has been signs almost everyday for 7 or 8 days about this very idea so I thought I would throw it out and see what happens.

My theme was entitled Healing Ukuleles and the rules around the season were very simple. Bring you and your Ukulele somewhere, to somebody that needs some healing. Could be a neighbor that you notice is down in the dumps, it could be a local nursing home or hospital or it could be an Alzheimer's or memory care unit or Assisted Living...wherever there are people that could benefit from you and your ukulele.

The videos, although they could prominently display you and your Uke, should be of your audience if it all possible. I think it would be absolutely amazing to capture those that you are playing for. I'm telling you, I have read some amazing stories over the past 7 or 8 days of the healing powers of the Ukulele. Stories of nearly catatonic people that have responded to a particular song. Imagine if it turns out to be your song that lifts a head or moves a lip that hasn't in years.

The signs started with the story from the fall edition of Ukulele magazine, page 58 that is about Uke2Heal and it just went from there. That led me to stories from all over the world including some from our very own Seasonistas. It has been incredible. My personal motivation in all this is my Father-in-law has Alzheimer's and is in a memory care unit of an assisted living facility. I am currently putting together a 10-20 song songbook that i can take there and just start playing and see what happens.

My own personal experience with this is something that I only learned of this week in a backdoor sort of way. When I was in the hospital for surgery on my leg I brought my little plastic outdoor ukulele with me. I would waste away the day and night just softly banging away on that thing. Nurses would tell me how much they love the Uke and why and had one nurse that actually played and would stop in to bang around on it. What I didn't know what that nurses and other hospital staff, as well as patients, would wheel up outside my door and finish off their charting, take a quick breather or just sit there and relax and listen to me play. I only wish I would have known because I would have hit the hallways and rooms to share my ukulele. I'm telling you, if my screeching can attract positive attention, there is a lot of opportunity for this group to bring healing all over the world.

So there it is. If you already do this or have done it...GREAT! It would be awesome to hear from you as encouragement to the rest of us - do SHARE!

BDU

I do think this is an inspirational idea BDU. However I am with you on the 7 day timing. I think this should be an open thread that goes on as long as there are those that would love to post. Why stop at one week? You could get this started right now by sharing a post of you and your father-in-law to kick it off.

The prize is within the service of love shared

HI, BD! I agree with Linda that this should be an open thread, not a Seasons challenge. It can be a place to tell stories, as well as post some videos, if appropriate. It's a great idea, one that fits well with the feelings we have and feelings we like to share when we play ukes.

I suggest starting a brand-new thread with "Uking to heal others"—or something like it—in the title. I also suggest not limiting it to Seasonistas...there are lots of interesting folks with good stories in the wider Forum.
Put your kind and thoughtful idea in the first post, and let it unfurl over time. It will be very inspiring.

GinnyT11 said:

HI, BD! I agree with Linda that this should be an open thread, not a Seasons challenge. It can be a place to tell stories, as well as post some videos, if appropriate. It's a great idea, one that fits well with the feelings we have and feelings we like to share when we play ukes.

I suggest starting a brand-new thread with "Uking to heal others"—or something like it—in the title. I also suggest not limiting it to Seasonistas...there are lots of interesting folks with good stories in the wider Forum.
Put your kind and thoughtful idea in the first post, and let it unfurl over time. It will be very inspiring.

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I will start a brand new thread. So I understand, I should move it out of Seasons and put it under contests or move it up even further????

If I were doing it, I'd start a new thread under the general category Uke Talk and ask eugene ukulele to delete this one. Without a clear description of what you want in the title, you won't get a lot of responses.

Please don't delete this thread. Some of us only ever look in the Seasons area ... this post will serve as our pointer to your new post, wherever it ends up. Please be sure to come back here and post a link to it once it's live.

If you had gone straight to posting a new thread somewhere outside the Seasons, and had not started here, I very likely would have missed it entirely.

This is a very inspiring idea, and I'm excited to participate! Please be sure to let us know here as well as out there in the wider UU world.

Thanks so much for starting this great thing!

There is a poster in the general population of the Forum called Nickie who will be very interested in this as a concept as I believe that she has been doing it for some while .....although I think that her bosses have stopped her ...(she seems to work in Health Care of some variety..not too sure of the details).

Best to put it in the general population I feel.

CJ

UkeCan1 2.0 said:

Please don't delete this thread. Some of us only ever look in the Seasons area ... this post will serve as our pointer to your new post, wherever it ends up. Please be sure to come back here and post a link to it once it's live.

If you had gone straight to posting a new thread somewhere outside the Seasons, and had not started here, I very likely would have missed it entirely.

This is a very inspiring idea, and I'm excited to participate! Please be sure to let us know here as well as out there in the wider UU world.

Thanks so much for starting this great thing!

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Then you should get out more LOL......though to be fair I always get into a bit of trouble with some outspoken comments I make .......could be me !!!

Yes, yes, yes! Very inspiring and great idea Big D I have been "Spreading the Aloha", which is the name my husband and I use as our stage name, ever since I found this little gem of an instrument. I have inspired many to pick up the uke and our Elementary School teacher caught the bug right after the school librarian did a few years ago. It was so funny, I was in her library and was sharing the uke for the kids and then I said "Even your teacher can play"! Well she looked at me like a deer in the headlights LOL. I took the uke and put it in her arms and ta-da in less than a minute she was playing "Horse With No Name".

From there she caught the bug and shared it with the music teacher and he was like "OMG I'd rather teach this than the recorder any day!" He applied for a grant and ta-da 25 ukes were born into DG Cooley Elementary. He taught during the day and I would help at an after school club on Thursday's. We have yet to start it up again this year, the club that is It will start soon.

Just yesterday we had our first (Don and I a uker I met at our club in Reston, VA) ukulele class at a senior center in Purcellville. Though only half of the people who signed up showed up. The ones who did had a blast and were amazed that in just a few minutes they were singing and playing "Are You Sleeping Brother John". A couple had trouble of course understanding anything more than just one finger but, hey it was only the first class. Helping with Don's endeavor will help me get a program started at the senior center just a block from my home in Berryville. I've wanted to for a long time but just didn't know how to start.

So, on another note lol, I long to teach the uke to my mother who suffers from serious depression. However, she is in California and I am in Virginia and for reasons I won't get into we can not move her here. She was out for a long visit recently and I got her playing (she has a uke in Cali that I sent her ages ago). She loved to participate in our "jams" and sing the echo in "Hawaiian Super Man". That song will never be the same for me now that she is not here to sing the echos. Oh, and she loved it when I played for her! If only I could get her to play over the phone!! She can't get on the internet or skype ):

Here we are playing a song. Yes, the uke has healing powers!!!!!!!!!! My mom usually just sits in her room and reads and reads or does nothing. Thank you Big D for starting this thread!

This just emphasises to me the difference between cultures of the UK (confirmed to still contain a certain Scottish Nation ...phew !!) and the US.....and not having a pop....I love the idea that you guys over the watery bit can do this....but, well for me anyhow the notion that you can plop yourself down and start
strumming ,picking and /or singing on a beach or in an ininfirmarararay (easy to start spelling ...bloody hard to stop) is fascinating ...do that over here and people will either look at you gone out , move away or tell you to pack it in .......or is it me and a total lack of confidence .

Vivre La Difference and keep at it you USAlites.......(apolologies .*sheesh another one* to The Ukelites)

CeeJay said:

This just emphasises to me the difference between cultures of the UK (confirmed to still contain a certain Scottish Nation ...phew !!) and the US.....and not having a pop....I love the idea that you guys over the watery bit can do this....but, well for me anyhow the notion that you can plop yourself down and start
strumming ,picking and /or singing on a beach or in an ininfirmarararay (easy to start spelling ...bloody hard to stop) is fascinating ...do that over here and people will either look at you gone out , move away or tell you to pack it in .......or is it me and a total lack of confidence .

Vivre La Difference and keep at it you USAlites.......(apolologies .*sheesh another one* to The Ukelites)

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I dunno ... is it really that different? I mean, if I pluck out a ukulele and start playing in some public place, I do expect to get some odd looks. I just do it anyway. Any place I'm waiting ... getting car repairs, doctor's office, etc. I just do it. I'm pretty sure I have never in my life seen anybody else do it, so it's surely not a common thing ... here any more than there.

So, yeah, Ceej ... it does sound like everything you said about it is all internal conversation ... inside your own head ... because you've not actually tried it yet, right? So maybe the difference is less cultural and more what's between different people's ears. Try it, and see what happens ... and then report back if you notice any actual (external, among other people than yourself) cultural differences.

I'm also very eager to hear your report on what overcoming this particular concern does for you.

(By the way, I'm pretty sure most people over here share your internal dialogue, so I'd bet that's not cultural either. My evidence that this is so: If it weren't, wouldn't everybody be whipping out ukuleles all over the place?)

You are barking , there is no way I would pull out any of my instruments and play anywhere uninvited ...or without some sort of permission ...and that is my whole point ...we just don't do that over here ...!!!! It just aint what we do.....we organise.....ask permission and then conceptualise and make sure that we are not too self concious and then have a stab......you guys just seem to go for it......

I know that there is a wonderful saying which Master Thornton may have introduced me to ..."it is better to ask forgiveness than ask permission and be denied" ......I have applied it to a few situations and am currently out on bail ,so thanks for that ...but not musically...s** ...you have to be good .......or else you are either a "posing prat" or "complete rubbish"....this is the English way....ain't we repressed .....???

CeeJay said:

this is the English way....ain't we repressed .....???

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don't say it like it's a bad thing, ceejay!

doing things the quiet english way...

there's worse ways to go around in the world

CeeJay said:

You are barking , there is no way I would pull out any of my instruments and play anywhere uninvited ...or without some sort of permission ...and that is my whole point ...we just don't do that over here ...!!!! It just aint what we do.....we organise.....ask permission and then conceptualise and make sure that we are not too self concious and then have a stab......you guys just seem to go for it......

I know that there is a wonderful saying which Master Thornton may have introduced me to ..."it is better to ask forgiveness than ask permission and be denied" ......I have applied it to a few situations and am currently out on bail ,so thanks for that ...but not musically...s** ...you have to be good .......or else you are either a "posing prat" or "complete rubbish"....this is the English way....ain't we repressed .....???

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But that's just my point ... WE don't do that either. Except for a few of us wackos who do. I have gone an entire lifetime without ever seeing anyone pull out a ukulele (or any instrument) and play in a doctor's office or car repair place. It simply is not done.

Probably because most non-wackos have conversations in their heads very much like the ones you are sharing with us.

And yet ... *I* have done it myself, and nothing terrible happened. I would be willing to bet the same would be so if you did it there.

And, until you actually try it ... it's all just hypothetical, isn't it?

And, if you feel you need to ask permission ... well, try that then ... I would bet money (dollars or pounds, or Euros) that they will say, sure go ahead.

I so want to see you try this!

And I would love to hear from any British people who've tried it, or are willing to try it as an experiment ... and also from what I would guess are the majority of Americans here who are thinking the same thing you are.

bird's eye view of my ukelele said:

don't say it like it's a bad thing, ceejay!
doing things the quiet english way...
there's worse ways to go around in the world

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Says the woman who doesn't play publicly even here amongst (online) friends.
Would love to see you try this experiment too, Lynda!

bird's eye view of my ukelele said:

don't say it like it's a bad thing, ceejay!

doing things the quiet english way...

there's worse ways to go around in the world

Click to expand...

You are spot on dear lady.

CeeJay said:

You are barking , there is no way I would pull out any of my instruments and play anywhere uninvited ...or without some sort of permission ...and that is my whole point ...we just don't do that over here ...!!!! It just aint what we do.....we organise.....ask permission and then conceptualise and make sure that we are not too self concious and then have a stab......you guys just seem to go for it......

I know that there is a wonderful saying which Master Thornton may have introduced me to ..."it is better to ask forgiveness than ask permission and be denied" ......I have applied it to a few situations and am currently out on bail ,so thanks for that ...but not musically...s** ...you have to be good .......or else you are either a "posing prat" or "complete rubbish"....this is the English way....ain't we repressed .....???

Click to expand...

IDK CJ, Im with you on this. I think its the lack of confidence in me but I wouldn't just pull a uke out in public and start banging away. Heck, I won't even play in my back yard for fear of someone popping his head over and saying "Hey, Shutty!"

UkeCan1 said:

Says the woman who doesn't play publicly even here amongst (online) friends.
Would love to see you try this experiment too, Lynda!

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we are not all the same

i think that is a very good thing

Wendy I think asking us types that just wouldn't do that is like asking a fish to fly. Not gonna happen. I would however sing and play were invited to do so but to just whip it out is odd and not my style either. There is nothing wrong with that method. Different folks. I commend BDU for having the nerve to play in his hospital room. I think thats great. Its just not something that I would do without a big dose of drugs

Yeah ..Hang on...Yes ..Look I am not criticising here , I am making an observation and stating a truth.

We (Brits) I believe do not generally do this spur of the moment type of thing of whipping out an instrument and have at it . I may be over ruled....

I think that it is great if you you do . And if the original poster does this then more power to his arm for doing it and pulling it off. That is fantastic .

That is all I am stating .....I do not wish to change this, I do not wish to challenge myself to a psycho - headology game of "lets try this" .

I can do that when I screw up when performing with the little uke group I am in...people have different views to listening to music than we have to playing ...mostly they don't want to listen to what we play !! LOL..we need a fixer ..."hey ,you ...listenening to dis music be or I will have to rip your ears off "..kind of fixer....nah ..anyhoo I digress.......Love the idea ,all strength to those with the skills and the bottle....love the thread....

CeeJay,
Thanks for mentioning me, I am honored. Yes, I played for my hospice patients and families for about 3 years. However, as things have been getting weirder every week in the medical field, hospice included, I am no longer allowed to do it,as it is "out of the scope of nursing practice", and "I am not trained to deal with the outcomes" (such as anxious or combatative people falling asleep, and families who stop crying and start singing and laughing). Almost nobody around here can beleive it and it still saddens me. I still play at memorials for those who want it, and occasionally find time to visit friends who may be in a hospital or ALF, and play for them. I usually wind up with an audience that fills the room and flows out into the hall. Not that I'm that good, it just surprises people and pleases them that someone cares. Recently a group 0f 6 of us played for a dear member in hospice, and the tears and laughter flowed and filled the whole wing of that hospice house. He passed the next day....his best friend said he was smiling.
I wouldn't film this though, I'm afraid of HIPPA, and with good reason. I'm planning to do the school Harps for Healing soon, so I can be certified as a music clinician. I'd love to have a uke2heal chapter here.