Not bragging here...I’ve had formal lessons on instruments since elementary school through my doctoral program in music. I have always LOVED rehearsals, and have never really enjoyed any part of practicing. I also had enough natural talent that an ounce of practice would result in success in music far beyond my peers. It was rare that I came across anything that required more than a minimal amount of practice. Even for my final collegiate recitals, I would practice as much as I needed to, and no more. That said, I do know how to practice effectively—which again can reduce the amount of time that you need to practice—but I will say that I did no more practice than I had to. Also...all of my instruments required a specific location or other instruments—piano required me to sit at a piano, tuba required me to pull out the horn and to sit in a particular room, and even voice required a piano as well. Practice wasn’t very flexible.
I’ve said this before, but I went into ukulele as a way to deal with a gap in our educational year between concerts. Music is required in our school, and I get all of the kids who aren’t in band or orchestra, whether they want to be in choir or not. I decided to try ukulele in 2015 (fundraiser for very cheap Mahalo instruments) and two things happened. First, I fell in love with the instrument myself. I didn’t expect to, but it (pun not originally intended, but I like it anyway) struck a chord in me. Second, I attended a local ukulele jam. I’m not going to say that the jam was musicially rewarding in the same way that “formal” music ensembles had been (I can still remember those spine-tingling moments of awe which are so rare these days). But what I saw was people—many who had left music after elementary school or middle school—picking up an instrument and singing—and building community with each other. That, my friends, is what music education is supposed to be about. I wanted that for my students—to give them the core skills to be able to make that choice even if they leave music for forty years.
And the challenges of my job had been robbing my love of music. The ukulele brought it back, and made music interesting again for me.
What I didn’t expect was that the ukulele would be something that I ALWAYS want to play. Not only do I play it all day long at school (we now sing all of our songs to ukulele accompaniments—and why not, as students can join me in a concert—and why is a ukulele any worse an accompaniment as a guitar or piano for choirs?) but I pick one up all the time at home, and I work on techniques (I’ve been slowly trying to master the Formby splint stroke), or I play songs, or I watch videos and try to learn new things. And I don’t mind any of it—and this has been going on for two years, so it isn’t a mistake. I even bought a sopranissimo recently so that I could fit it in a bag that Spirit Airlines allows us to take on the plane.
I think the portability of the ukulele helps, as I am not tied to a specific room, or a specific lesson book, and as a music teacher, I can assess my own skills and know where I am lacking and I also know where to go to find help. YouTube doesn’t hurt, either (I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if we had YouTube when I was a kid, and I wonder what my boys will be able to do that I cannot as they are growing up with the tool).
That’s probably too much of an answer for this topic, but I really am thinking about it—and with the ukulele I don’t need a reason, place, or time to practice. All I need is a ukulele and my iPad (my iPad has my music AND the Internet, of course).
