The uke as a life coping tool...

flea_bitten

flea_bitten

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Today was one of THOSE days. The kind which starts out with having a wisdom tooth pulled and then actually managing to go down hill from there...

While all this bad stuff was happening I deliberately thought about my uke instead: looking forward to getting home, hunkering down and shutting the rest of it out for a bit and realised the ukulele is a pretty good place to go when life isn't being much fun.

I think I need to give the clawhammer practice a miss though. :D
But that's OK cos ukes have many moods and this one calls for a bit of gentle bluesy noodling.
 
I guess it can only get better for you from here..... Hope things look better after a bit of uking!
 
I fully acknowledge the role of ukulele in my life for its antidepressant properties.
 
There's a heckuver lot to be said for a bit of noodling here and there, that's for sure.
 
I'd be a less happy person without my uke family.
 
Sambient said:
I fully acknowledge the role of ukulele in my life for its antidepressant properties.
Click to expand...

This. If I'm having a crap day, I'll just pickup one of my ukes and play for a couple of hours. It's meditative, like daydreaming, or as Coveywood describes: it's therapeutic. You relax a lot and begin to realise that your problems aren't that dire. James Hill said that there's a music education in each ukulele, and that's true, but I think there's more in there as well :)
 
My ukes are like a good pet. Thay are always there for me when I need them most. Unconditional love.
 
This is no joke, music can cure people. Read Oliver Sack's MUSICOPHILIA if you don't believe me.
 
Sorry about your sucky day. The uke is a fantastic way to get your mind off of things! Anything that distracts you from the harsh realities life can bring do it for me, be it music, art, or watching something mindless on TV. I recently suffered a stroke, without really knowing it at the time. It was days after that all the scans revealed the scope of it. It could have easily been lights out, but I was "lucky" and all I have to show for it is some weird visual glitches in the periphery. A couple months later I had a hole in heart closed to prevent another one, but they say it could still happen again anyway. So I just carry on like nothin' happened, except that there's a sense of urgency attached to the mundane things I used to take for granted. Now, just the simple act of shooting hoops with my 8 yr old takes on a joy that was never there the same way, and the uke suddenly took on a whole new meaning to me as well. Even the bad notes sound good! Not to downplay your misery, but as long as you're drawing in air and can think of ukes, life is good! Like Igor said in Young Frankenstein, "Could be worse... Could be raining."
 
ukecantdothat - that was quite a wake-up-call you got there. It's good to hear that you were listening. I reckon if we don't listen life keeps serving up more of them until we do.

I got mine a few years back. My kid sister needed a kidney so I stepped up to the plate for what turned out to be a tough trip to a lousy destination. Some things can't be gotten over. In the wake of it I reassessed my life, handed the keys of the business I had built to my husband and went back to art school. Now I'm struggling to make it as an artist but refuse to give in because the wake up call is still ringing in my ears.

What surprised me yesterday was that adding the ukulele into my life had given me more than a relaxing hobby and a boost to my self-esteem but somewhere to go when things got tough. When people talk about music being a healer they're right but it can also be preventative medicine when its warding off depression and stress. The uke is extra special because it's small and kind of cuddly - can't imagine curling up in a comfortable chair with a euphonium or a piano...
 
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I remember when we had that bad snow storm. Large parts of the city were wihout electric power. I was without power for 3 days! No tv, no lights and no interwebz. My ukulele was helpful in me not losing my sanity.
Ernest
 
My ukulele is what keeps me sane whenever midterms and finals roll around...
 
shwee said:
My ukulele is what keeps me sane whenever midterms and finals roll around...
Click to expand...

Hear, hear!

If those adverts were still relevant these days, I'd go with |U|K|U|L|E|L|E|: My anti-drug

I've noticed that the uke is the only instrument I can play that lulls me into a sort of meditative trance (well, okay, with the exception of my Kiowa flute, but that's partly because I run out of oxygen halfway through playing it).

Hope the rest of your week turns out better!
 
my ukulele playing while therapeutic for me, has the opposite effect for my lovely wife!
 
My ukulele is like one of my best friends.

Ku'uipo, as she's named, never leaves my side. She's always there for me at the end of a rough day, and she was there for me after two rough break ups with two different girls (and lots of other times where I was left heartbroken). It keeps me calm during those rough times in my life, and it gets me on a high when I'm feeling good already.

I firmly believe that the ukulele has some sort of healing/therapeutic power within it.
 
I've always thought of playing music as a form of meditation. It's like an escape where I can leave behind the cares of the world for a little while, instead of fretting over my plight or trying to numb my mind in front of the boob tube.

Big_e said:
I remember when we had that bad snow storm. Large parts of the city were wihout electric power. I was without power for 3 days! No tv, no lights and no interwebz. My ukulele was helpful in me not losing my sanity.
Click to expand...
Our house is 100 years old, so you can guess the electrical grid in the hood is pretty ancient, too. Knock on wood, but we've never had an outage that long here, although we're no strangers to outages that can last several hours.

I play mainly classical on guitar and uke and rely on reading sheets. I recommend everyone have at least one battery powered clip-on book light (and, of course, extra batteries on hand) and then you can just clip it on your music stand and you're golden.

If you don't need it to read sheets/tabs, then you can always use it to -- duh, read a book! :p

I also have a battery powered am/fm radio/flashlight. When the power's out, you'll want to be able to tune into a news station to know what's going on.
 
I fully agree when's I've had a bad day with the cons at work I need to come home and play the uke my partner even recognises now that it is beneficial to the family to let me work my anger out of my system!
 
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