How to create an uke community from scratch? UPDATE!
This is my story that I want to share.
To start from beginning you might want to read THIS post I did when I first started to play ukulele.
from there to here...
As I learned, I soon realized, that I need a better uke. I looked through internet, I searched the webs of local music stores. I cold not decide, because I had never seen, with my own two little eyes, a real ukulele in my life.
I think that if you see something wrong, you should not complain about it. You should ask yourself what can you do to make it better.
So I went home and put my brain into work.
I had three problems
1. Nobody I knew played (or even knew someone else who)ukulele. Most people even didnt know what the ukulele is.
2.There is possible to order ukuleles from local stores but you cant see the ukuleles before you order. That makes it pretty hard to choose an instrument .
3. There is no information about ukulele in Est.
To improve that situation I made a little homepage to popularize ukulele, I have ordered some ukuleles
plastic, ply, solid, acoustic, electro-acoustic, even one Eleuke, recently I recived first Mainland Mangos...
My friends think I´m crazy to get into something like that. but I believe in it so strongly, can´t help myself.
So far I have sold 5ukuleles (thats 5 PEOPLE!) it might seam very little to you, but to me... I know 4 people, who are starting to play ukulele! that is great for me
Now Im thinking how should I go forwards. I really would like to create a community here. I have made a page in Facebook but I fear that it does not cut it, because there is so much crap in facebook. Maybe a forum? or I gather the e-mails and when time is right Ill send some e-mails. Any ideas?
I thought that when christmas is over, I start to play with my 11 y. son and his friends and maybe guide them a bit (Im such a neewbie myself but it must be better for them and me than doing it alone, right?!).
Any suggestions? what do I do now?
PS. I still play my Leolani because I cant decide what uke do I want. Mainland I think... but Im not sure. I cant let go of old.. we have so many memories together
UPDATE 3months
Time for a update!
So far I have done:
Gave my dad and little sister ukuleles for Christmas.
1.Managed to beg myself ( actually i did´nt have to beg, they where happy to take me) into local folk music group that has 2 double basses, flute, 4-6 accordions, guitar, AND NOW A UKULELE! Its been great, I am learning so much from these people. At first I tried to play really quietly so nobody could hear if I mess up, but now I am more confident. Its hard because they play from sheet music and I need a great deal of practicing but I can manage. Its great fun!
2. From the start of this month we have our very own uke club! There is 4 of us right now and I need to think if we can keep going next month because the rent is too high for me to pay alone ( I cant ask from other three in multiple reasons) maybe we just must move to our sauna. I don´t know yet. lets see. But we are definetly playing together once a week and that´s a great- great- great thing!
3. I just came back from local secondary school where I was part of a music class I took 6 ukuleles with me and talked a bit about the ukulele and then we played Frere Jacques together. God! the kids (4grade) where so great! they could not wait until I checked the tuning of each ukulele. They wanted to try them sooo badly And they played perfectly! I left one ukulele for teacher to try out ( she was exited too).
well... its not much but its a start, right?
I am very happy to have all of you supporting me. I could not do it without your faith in me. and a friendly kick every once in a while is the best!
Take care!
Thanks
Mari
UPDATE 1st year
Well hello!!!
oh yes! I am very much still spreading the love of ukulele!
So a year has passed (quite fast I must say) and its time for update!
I have had most wonderful time!
DID:
ukeclub is now about 10 headed- and that is the amount of people who come regulary.
Articles- wrote many of them, one even apparently so nice that people gave me money for it, heheee.
In summer i attended biggest folk festival- people could see and play ukes sold them there too- it was so great to see how people reacted! I did´nt sit for a moment, there was always someone who I could talk about ukuleles with. Made many people happy! Turns out, almost everyone loves ukuleles, you just need to give them a chance to get to know ukulele!
Paul Moore from Ukuleles For Peace and Juha Väänänen from FUN- brought them to a nice music festival to perform. It all ended too soon and we do it again next year. 24 hours is too little time for jamming and performing! Oh it was great!
Had couple of open uke jams in summer- mostly only my uke club came.
This Monday we had a great Ukeparty/ workshop with Juha Väänänen from Finland Ukulele Network aka. FUN. it took place in a pub and everyone could come. Mostly my uke club came. But there where people who just came and then later started to interact with us asking questions.
Oh, one guy was a bit drunk and made a comment to me about rest of us not playing as good as Juha... then he asked how long have we played.. I showed him people and told him... 3monhts, 1year, 1month, first time, 1,5years, 6 months.. that shut him up good carry on, good work! he was really impressed I think.
We had a strum of 16 people together on that night!
Oh and we had a short and serious talk with guy from centre of Tallinn and he is thinking of making another uke club there! so we are growing!
Juha from Finland Ukulele Network has been a great help during all this time.
My little web-shop UkuPood is growing too, its been up and running from nov. last year and we have a stock now, first orders I made was- 1MK-SN, 1MK-Dolphin red, 1.... well now I can stock more than 1 of each ukulele. Mainlands are coming today and Kala should get here this week too. So we are ready for Christmas.
Also, I made shop a bit more user friendly, so you can just click click click and buy your uke. Also the shop part of my homepage is now in English too. There is still a gigant amount of work to do in english part about translating the texts, i hope I can fix that soon.
Lets think, what else... nothing I guess. Im just so glad that when I start to talk about ukuleles, people dont think I am crazy, well they do sometimes when I get all wired up and preachy, hihiii (that happens often) but most of them have already heard about ukulele and they know what it is! And that, my friends, is freaking cool! I could not be more happy
Thank you, I couldnt of done it without your help and encouragement. This victory of uke is all ours, you can congradulate yourself! Good work universe of ukulele!
Happy holidays to all and merry ukulele!
Mari
oh, PS. there are some pictures on my facebook page about the growth of our community
This is my story that I want to share.
To start from beginning you might want to read THIS post I did when I first started to play ukulele.
from there to here...
As I learned, I soon realized, that I need a better uke. I looked through internet, I searched the webs of local music stores. I cold not decide, because I had never seen, with my own two little eyes, a real ukulele in my life.
I think that if you see something wrong, you should not complain about it. You should ask yourself what can you do to make it better.
So I went home and put my brain into work.
I had three problems
1. Nobody I knew played (or even knew someone else who)ukulele. Most people even didnt know what the ukulele is.
2.There is possible to order ukuleles from local stores but you cant see the ukuleles before you order. That makes it pretty hard to choose an instrument .
3. There is no information about ukulele in Est.
To improve that situation I made a little homepage to popularize ukulele, I have ordered some ukuleles
plastic, ply, solid, acoustic, electro-acoustic, even one Eleuke, recently I recived first Mainland Mangos...
My friends think I´m crazy to get into something like that. but I believe in it so strongly, can´t help myself.
So far I have sold 5ukuleles (thats 5 PEOPLE!) it might seam very little to you, but to me... I know 4 people, who are starting to play ukulele! that is great for me
Now Im thinking how should I go forwards. I really would like to create a community here. I have made a page in Facebook but I fear that it does not cut it, because there is so much crap in facebook. Maybe a forum? or I gather the e-mails and when time is right Ill send some e-mails. Any ideas?
I thought that when christmas is over, I start to play with my 11 y. son and his friends and maybe guide them a bit (Im such a neewbie myself but it must be better for them and me than doing it alone, right?!).
Any suggestions? what do I do now?
PS. I still play my Leolani because I cant decide what uke do I want. Mainland I think... but Im not sure. I cant let go of old.. we have so many memories together
UPDATE 3months
Time for a update!
So far I have done:
Gave my dad and little sister ukuleles for Christmas.
1.Managed to beg myself ( actually i did´nt have to beg, they where happy to take me) into local folk music group that has 2 double basses, flute, 4-6 accordions, guitar, AND NOW A UKULELE! Its been great, I am learning so much from these people. At first I tried to play really quietly so nobody could hear if I mess up, but now I am more confident. Its hard because they play from sheet music and I need a great deal of practicing but I can manage. Its great fun!
2. From the start of this month we have our very own uke club! There is 4 of us right now and I need to think if we can keep going next month because the rent is too high for me to pay alone ( I cant ask from other three in multiple reasons) maybe we just must move to our sauna. I don´t know yet. lets see. But we are definetly playing together once a week and that´s a great- great- great thing!
3. I just came back from local secondary school where I was part of a music class I took 6 ukuleles with me and talked a bit about the ukulele and then we played Frere Jacques together. God! the kids (4grade) where so great! they could not wait until I checked the tuning of each ukulele. They wanted to try them sooo badly And they played perfectly! I left one ukulele for teacher to try out ( she was exited too).
well... its not much but its a start, right?
I am very happy to have all of you supporting me. I could not do it without your faith in me. and a friendly kick every once in a while is the best!
Take care!
Thanks
Mari
UPDATE 1st year
Well hello!!!
oh yes! I am very much still spreading the love of ukulele!
So a year has passed (quite fast I must say) and its time for update!
I have had most wonderful time!
DID:
ukeclub is now about 10 headed- and that is the amount of people who come regulary.
Articles- wrote many of them, one even apparently so nice that people gave me money for it, heheee.
In summer i attended biggest folk festival- people could see and play ukes sold them there too- it was so great to see how people reacted! I did´nt sit for a moment, there was always someone who I could talk about ukuleles with. Made many people happy! Turns out, almost everyone loves ukuleles, you just need to give them a chance to get to know ukulele!
Paul Moore from Ukuleles For Peace and Juha Väänänen from FUN- brought them to a nice music festival to perform. It all ended too soon and we do it again next year. 24 hours is too little time for jamming and performing! Oh it was great!
Had couple of open uke jams in summer- mostly only my uke club came.
This Monday we had a great Ukeparty/ workshop with Juha Väänänen from Finland Ukulele Network aka. FUN. it took place in a pub and everyone could come. Mostly my uke club came. But there where people who just came and then later started to interact with us asking questions.
Oh, one guy was a bit drunk and made a comment to me about rest of us not playing as good as Juha... then he asked how long have we played.. I showed him people and told him... 3monhts, 1year, 1month, first time, 1,5years, 6 months.. that shut him up good carry on, good work! he was really impressed I think.
We had a strum of 16 people together on that night!
Oh and we had a short and serious talk with guy from centre of Tallinn and he is thinking of making another uke club there! so we are growing!
Juha from Finland Ukulele Network has been a great help during all this time.
My little web-shop UkuPood is growing too, its been up and running from nov. last year and we have a stock now, first orders I made was- 1MK-SN, 1MK-Dolphin red, 1.... well now I can stock more than 1 of each ukulele. Mainlands are coming today and Kala should get here this week too. So we are ready for Christmas.
Also, I made shop a bit more user friendly, so you can just click click click and buy your uke. Also the shop part of my homepage is now in English too. There is still a gigant amount of work to do in english part about translating the texts, i hope I can fix that soon.
Lets think, what else... nothing I guess. Im just so glad that when I start to talk about ukuleles, people dont think I am crazy, well they do sometimes when I get all wired up and preachy, hihiii (that happens often) but most of them have already heard about ukulele and they know what it is! And that, my friends, is freaking cool! I could not be more happy
Thank you, I couldnt of done it without your help and encouragement. This victory of uke is all ours, you can congradulate yourself! Good work universe of ukulele!
Happy holidays to all and merry ukulele!
Mari
oh, PS. there are some pictures on my facebook page about the growth of our community
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