Why You Should Take the 'Ukulele Seriously

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Jim T.

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This Saturday, May 9 at 2 p.m. at the L.A. Public Library's Central Library (630 W. Fifth St., LA 90071) I will attempt to speak persuasively on "Why You Should Take the 'Ukulele Seriously." Some history, some little-known facts, a lot of images (many not included in "The 'Ukulele: A History," which I co-authored with the late, great John King), and a fair amount of passion about a subject we all take seriously.
 
Hi Jim T.

What is the apostrophe in front of the U for ? And when you say the Ukelele should be taken seriously , what does that actually mean ?

As a Brit living about umpteen thousand miles away from the "home" of the instrument and also yet on another Island , which has taken the Ukelele to it's heart and developed it into a style and significance pertinent to our culture and as an individual (me)unable to attend the L.A. Library I am curious as to what defines "serious".

I do not mean for this to be seen as anything other than a serious and interested question.

Thank You.


PS

If this post appears twice it is because something went wrong and it did not appear in one "window" and did in another but Janeray40s didn't ...odd !
Like me then !!
 
CeeJay said:
Hi Jim T.

What is the apostrophe in front of the U for ? And when you say the Ukelele should be taken seriously , what does that actually mean ?

CeeJay:

The apostrophe is an okina, or glottal stop, that is part of the Hawaiian spelling of the word. (Whether that's correct or pretentious, or how the word should be pronounced, has been the subject of several lengthy threads.)

For the last century, for a variety of reasons, the 'ukulele has been regarded as a joke -- as the Boston Globe once wrote, it "ranks in most people's minds somewhere between asteroid dust and space junk." The the modern era in the U.S., that has a lot to do with Tiny Tim; in the U.K., one could argue that it' image was influenced by the popularity of George Formby. The UOGB plays off this perception brilliantly; I'm hoping to make an argument that the instrument has an interesting and compelling history that is not what most people think; that it is a musical instrument like any other, capable of producing almost any genre of music imaginable; and that it's deserving of respect. It's also an opportunity show off fun stuff, like unpublished photos of Jose do Espirito Santo (one of the original Honolulu 'ukulele makers) or some of the first comic strips making fun of the 'ukulele from 1916-17.
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Thank you for your prompt and full reply Jim.

I detect a view that perhaps George Formby's music and playing is not regarded as a "serious" manifestation of the ukeleles potential . But I may be , and hope that I am wrong .

I would say this about George Formby . And the following is all from my own feelings, perceptions and observations over a long time associated with this little todger called a Uke.

The complex strokes and strumming styles coupled with the tricky chords and timings of Formby's music make his art
a very serious one indeed .

Most detractors from Formby's work can usually only quote "Cleaning Windows " "Leaning On A Lamp Post" and "Me Little Stick Of Blackpool Rock"

Dig deeper and find songs such as "It's In the Air " "Lancashire Toreador" " Fanlight Fanny" ( yes ,I know,I can feel the arguement accelerating away ...bloody awful titles) and the complexity of the chord ,rhythm and lyric relationship drive most normal players to just give up. I will admit that many time the style and content of lyrics let him down ,but the playing was in a class of it's own.

It seems current to disregard the likes of Smeck (whom I have been introduced to via this forum )and Formby in favour of Shimabukuro , Hill, Ohta San and John King. All great players in their own rights and spheres of style and genre.

However , this is where perhaps the world of Ukers becomes divided . When I listen to these guys play , my feelings are, well , it's great but I think it would sound better , richer fuller played on a guitar !!

Their playing is brilliant , but it is not , to me ukelele , to me, as Phil Doleman says "the ukelele is a plinky little instrument" and as such I take that very seriously indeed. At this point ...I must add that I am a Soprano and Banjo Uke foremost, various styles but best strummed . I also dabble with Concert and Tenor . I like messing with electro acoustic ukes and I love the look on peoples face when I bang out a Blues or a Rock 'n' Roll favourite (actually ,to be fair the way I play it's usually a look of eager anticipation,for it to be over !!). I am aware and appreciate the development and advancement of the uke . But I do have to say that without the likes of Smeck , Formby , Randall (a British player who unfortunately made his name impersonating Formby when he was brilliant in his own right) and others of that style and genre the uke would have probably died somewhere in the 60s and & 70s...well in fact it did commercially..it was only silly buggers like me who as kids took it up and carried it on as a tradition and some got good (not me alas) and developed into acts like UOGB etc that kept it going in the UK....because of Formby and Smeck and barky little Sopranos . Which allowed the likes of JK to move it forward and stretch it and bring on the campanellas and the fingerpicking and the other styles.

So there.

Seriously, would like to read a transcript of your speech or see a vid...

Cheers

Chris.

PS This is pretty serious for a Bourbon fuelled 3 AM screed , so be gentle ...
 
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I so HATE the talk that Tiny Tim ruined the ukulele in some way or contributed to its not being taken seriously. Men with the balls to act how they wanted to and dress how they wanted to helped show me as a growing child to Hell with what other people think just be yourself. If anything Tiny Tim brought attention to an instrument that was a tourist doodad that you brought home to remember your vacation to an island. Hell without Tim I might not have seen a ukulele in the 70's other than the one my grandmother brought home from the Bahamas. It was bought for me but taken as a serious instrument so I was never allowed to play it.

The richer/ fuller on a guitar thing CJ's mentioned funny I posted a picture of my Warlock with Bill Lawrence pickups asking why the hell am I trying to play metal on a ukulele? Because its fun! The Warlock was never fun its pure seriousness in a larger format. I do want a Warlock inspired ukulele and have been slowly building up parts but thats a story for another thread.

Please stop ragging on Tiny Tim.

~peace~
 
Besides Tiny Tim, I think the only other exposure to the ukulele was college kids from the 20's for most people. When I read the title, I first thought of Brittni Paiva, The UOGB, and of course IZ. I would think that an insturment that gives the ability to make music that is accessable price wise and relatively easy to obtain a degree of proficienty should be taken seriously. I guess you feel like you need to make an argument, kind of a shame you feel you need to.
 
plunker said:
Besides Tiny Tim, I think the only other exposure to the ukulele was college kids from the 20's for most people. When I read the title, I first thought of Brittni Paiva, The UOGB, and of course IZ. I would think that an insturment that gives the ability to make music that is accessable price wise and relatively easy to obtain a degree of proficienty should be taken seriously. I guess you feel like you need to make an argument, kind of a shame you feel you need to.
Click to expand...

It is an unavoidable fact that the dozen or so times that I have told the unwashed masses of my interest in, and practice of playing the ukulele that I have been ridiculed outright to my face, or behind my back with snickers and jiggering, and tasteless jokes at my expense.

Justification is provoked by such hostility and ignorance.

Sadly, I've kept my ukulele a closely guarded secret to be shared with a select few (outside of UU) who have proven themselves not to be jerks, and thus worthy of my sharing it with them.

Folks that dont play ANY instrument will put you down (even if only to inflate themselves), and other musicians that do, well, they are simply dead to me.
 
I would love to hear this. As I am in LA (Louisiana), and not L.A. I won't be able to attend on such short notice. But this is going to be something anyone who loves the Ukulele would love to hear, as Jim knows our favorite instrument so well.

Any chance this gets recorded? And if so, where might it be heard?
 
Booli said:
It is an unavoidable fact that the dozen or so times that I have told the unwashed masses of my interest in, and practice of playing the ukulele that I have been ridiculed outright to my face, or behind my back with snickers and jiggering, and tasteless jokes at my expense.

Justification is provoked by such hostility and ignorance.

Sadly, I've kept my ukulele a closely guarded secret to be shared with a select few (outside of UU) who have proven themselves not to be jerks, and thus worthy of my sharing it with them.

Folks that dont play ANY instrument will put you down (even if only to inflate themselves), and other musicians that do, well, they are simply dead to me.
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That is really too bad. Aside from other ukulele players and musicians that I know, if the topic does come up, I get a Tiny Tim remark once in a while, but that is just people trying to be funny, and while they aren't, they think they are being clever, so I just usually let it go and move on. Other musicians are generally very supportive to me about playing the uke.
 
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plunker said:
Besides Tiny Tim, I think the only other exposure to the ukulele was college kids from the 20's for most people. When I read the title, I first thought of Brittni Paiva, The UOGB, and of course IZ. I would think that an insturment that gives the ability to make music that is accessable price wise and relatively easy to obtain a degree of proficienty should be taken seriously. I guess you feel like you need to make an argument, kind of a shame you feel you need to.
Click to expand...

I'm also a big Tiny Tim fan. I think he helped to re-popularize the uke in the late 1960s. He was a musical archivist who played music from the early 1900s. The fact that he was eccentric and some may say effeminate is irrelevant to me. If anyone out there has a copy of his biography by Harry Stein , and wants to sell it at a reasonable price, I'd be interested. Just PM me.
 
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I get annoyed too when so-called music lovers dismiss the ukulele without a more credible reason than "It's a toy!"

But are some proponents of the uke doing the instrument a disservice when they seem to promote only its "fun" qualities and selling only cheap toy ukes at festivals devoted to the instrument?

I just attended one such festival held in Singapore. While I loved the beach vibe and headline performers such as Sungha Jung and Daniel Ho, I think the fest should have promoted the top skills that can be attained as much as it did the accessibility of the instrument.

There will be people who will leave the festival thinking the uke merely a fun toy.
 
From things I've read here and there, I think Tiny Tim actually took the ukulele very seriously (as well as Tin Pan Alley as a whole). He may not have been a virtuoso player, and his singing might have been a bit over the top, but his love of the instrument and the material is pretty well documented and he was said to have encyclopedic knowledge of that era of songwriting. I've got nothing against the guy - I couldn't listen to him sing for more than a song or two, but I don't think he gave the uke a bad name at all. If the general public took it that way, well... that's another story.
 
Andy Chen said:
But are some proponents of the uke doing the instrument a disservice when they seem to promote only its "fun" qualities and selling only cheap toy ukes at festivals devoted to the instrument?
Click to expand...

I think they are, as are all of the journalists out there who throw in the "you can learn to play it in fifteen minutes!" lie whenever they write a piece on the ukulele. It's all well and good to be all-inclusive, but there's a big difference between the local senior citizens' uke club and, say, Ohta-San, and I do wish that at uke events and in the press the more serious aspects of playing ukulele were addressed more.
 
Fred Ukestone said:
I'm also a big Tiny Tim fan. I think he helped to re-popularize the uke in the late 1960s. He was a musical archivist who played music from the early 1900s. The fact that he was eccentric and some may say effeminate is irrelevant to me.
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Everyone: thanks for the thoughtful comments. More grist for the mill -- I'm going to try to see if I can't work some of these ideas into my talk. For good or ill, most people could not see beyond Tiny Tim's odd looks and eccentric mannerisms. He provoked strong reactions, pro and con, from the start -- Life magazine called his debut LP "dazzling" while the Chicago Tribune dismissed him as "fraudulent."

Similarly, many people didn't look beyond Formby's double entendres or saw him less as a musician and more as a very popular movie comedian who has the top UK box office attraction in the late '30s and early '40s. Both men are inescapably associated with the 'ukulele by the general public, which is why, for example, the UOGB refuses to play any Formby tunes. The point of my talk to make an attempt to move beyond this one-dimensional view and give the 'ukulele its due.
 
I'll be there. Gladly my friends are intrigued by the idea that I play ukulele, especially when I tell them that I'm a member of a group 90 strong and meet twice a week (yep, a local seniors group), and we have fun AND take it seriously. Year before last, my friend who throws an annual New Year's Eve party asked me to bring my uke and we had a nice 45 minute sing-a-long with about twenty people.

Actually, the only time I felt slighted was when my cousin was visiting from Toronto, while sitting in my living room with my sister-in-law, I started to play Iz's "Rainbow" and the both of them laughed at me. You know I'll never play with them around again.
 
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At a bundle of gigs we've played I've heard people say "so, where's the ukulele?": either some of the people we play for have vision problems, they're blind drunk (...possible), or, as I suspect, they have a very limited idea of what a ukulele is capable of. I don't think it's just that they expect ukuleles to be Formby-style: I think they'd be equally, probably more amazed were they to listen to up and coming players like the wonderful Michael Adcock (who makes excellent use of Formby strums, and who can hold an audience spellbound at the tender age of 16); lots of people in the UK just don't expect to enjoy listening to ukuleles :( We've even been told we should cut the word ukulele from our posters as it might put people off :eek: So, I can see the reason for this talk, and would be very interested to hear a recording...
 
We've even been told we should cut the word ukulele from our posters as it might put people off :eek: So, I can see the reason for this talk, and would be very interested to hear a recording
UOGB came to play in our area, Palm Beach County. Nosebleed tickets were in the $ 200 range. Are things that different in different parts of the globe?
 
In USA before Tiny Tim (a music archivist with huge knowledge of pre-electrical-recording popular music who consulted on many film soundtracks) was Arthur Godfrey, immensely popular on early television here. Slightly before my time, yes, so I wasn't really influenced pro or con re: 'ukelele. But a generation of Americans saw their favorite TV personality constantly singing and playing 'uke. To yet earlier generations, 'ukes were commonplace; many songbooks of popular and traditional music included 'uke chords.

And now? Yesterday, while my wife was shopping, I sat on a bench at an outdoors mall near Sacramento and fingerpicked my Kala KA-6 in the sunshine. Passersby nodded; some stopped to chat; some asked, "Is that a... ??" and others stated, "Nice uke". I do not get such attention if I'm playing harmonica while waiting for shopping expeditions to end.
 
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