My Group Only Has One Member....

mendel

mendel

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I'm sad. I've tried to find other Uke players in my area in order to put some type of get together thingy on the calendar. Alas, my efforts have been for naught.

The UU was my last hope. I put together a group for South Florida Ukers called "soflUken" with the hope that there might be someone on the board here that is local. I guess not.

Oh well.....I Guess my family has to move to a more Uke friendly area. I don;t want to live in a place where I am surrounded by those 6 string playing freaks anyway....lol....

In all seriousness, those of you that have built communities around you, how did you do it? I am a high school teacher, and I have a ton of students that would be interested, but they don't have the money to buy instruments. What opportunities are there out there? Perhaps there is an organization that collects old entry level Ukes and lends them out or something... Any ideas?

Mendel
 
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My group also has only one member.. the current plan is to fix up an ukulele that has just been hanging on the wall of a friend of mine for years. She indicated that she wishes to start using it. So new Aquilas arrived in the mail yesterday, will bring the strings & nut files to the site in question Real Soon Now.
 
Hmmm....

I wish I knew anyone that even owned a Uke besides me in this area. The music stores stink.... Im hopeful that I can find some inexpensive Makalas to keep in the classroom locked in a closet until Uke Club or something.
 
>>>I wish I knew anyone that even owned a Uke besides me in this area.<<<<

Same thing here in Long Island, NY. So many people are so image-conscious around here that they wouldn't dare be seen playing a uke -- or even WITH someone playing a uke. For me, UU is my only opportunity to share this experience.
 
mendel said:
I'm sad. I've tried to find other Uke players in my area in order to put some type of get together thingy on the calendar. Alas, my efforts have been for naught.
Click to expand...

Do your local music stores have bulletin boards? Around here they do. Record stores used to have them too, back when there were record stores.

-Pete
 
ditto. posted on craiglist to find other ukers, got 0 response. I just bought a cheapie to give to a friend's kid who has shown interest, maybe I should adopt a few and grow my own group. Can't believe you can't find other ukers in S FL. there's millions of people down there. You can find ANYTHING down there [which is why I moved from there] I still visit pretty often, my family still lives there. pm me your # and we'll get together next time I'm down.
 
I did Craigslist.org, I posted a notice in Guitar Center, and Sam Ash even kept my fliers. This was before I sold ukuleles. Then when I sold them I felt like I had to tell my friend at Sam Ash that I was still doing a jam and I hope he did not mind advertising it still now that I sold ukes and he said it was not a problem. Nice guys over there!

Also, the local newspaper. I put it on-line under events!
 
Tampa Bay Ukulele Society has a HUGE group... if you ever want a day trip too, go see them! Tell JT (aka JT_Ukes) that Mim sent ya!
 
Uke Republic said:
Like Miss Mim said Tampa bay ukulele society has a huge group. There is another group on the SE Coast too http://www.facebook.com/pages/UKULELE-FASN8TION/130630803631580?v=info
There is also a group around Hollywood http://www.pacificrhythmsfl.com/about_us.html
Maybe some of these are close?
Click to expand...

The one in Hollywood is closest, but I signed up for their website and there dont seem to be many people. Regardless, it is osmething, and I should make my way out there. It is only about an hour or so in traffic.
 
I feel your pain, Mendel! Couple of months ago I did not know any ukulele players in my country. I was not sure if they even existed. So I decided to change that. Long story short:
I called my sonś friend (who´s parents gave him ukulele for Christmas) this Monday and asked him over to play with me :D jes, I know how weird that sounds ( my own son Martin is not very into ukuleles) He came gladly and soon Martin joined us. We played 3hours! it was so great, boys learn so much faster than I do!!! So today we had another meeting. I really hope, I can make it interesting for them. We made up a great game for chord practice. I would say the chords that must be played and who took a wrong chord had to do a squawk crouch but instead of squawk we would say and play the chord that was messed up actually when I first thought of that I thought what a cool drinking game (Dont understand wrong, i dont drink much) it would be. But I am glad that before I sayd anything I understood that I was with children
Now I am planning to teach some teachers how to make shoe box ukulele, if that works I plan going to local boy scouts club and teach them too. I think its wery important for people ( especialy kids) to understand that IF there is a will, there always is a way!
Maybe you, Mendel, could make some ukuleles with the kids who want to play :) I am sure that if the parents see how strongly their young feel about the instrument they will find the money sooner or later!
Do not give up! Fight for your right to play!
 
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I send a lot of Uke Leashes to Florida, so I consider it a Uke Friendly state. Don't give up. It took me a while to find the groups in Los Angeles, and new ones are forming all the time. If you have a school, you could have a number of loaner ukes, for people to sign out. Once they find they like it, they will buy their own and free up the uke for another new player. You could have a fund raiser, but it might help if you had a few players already. I would get 3 or 4 of the Makala Dolphin Ukes in different colors, with cases. Once people are seen carrying the ukes around school, it might generate more interest.

–Lori
 
Mendel.. I would join your group in a heartbeat if I didn't live so far away... Keep up the good work and great attitude and I am sure that you will find some players soon..... I think its TCK that brings extra ukes to school and teaches the students to play.. or they teach each other.. I know it's discouraging but it will come in time!!
 
Mendel, Don't give up. I am a member of the Tampa Bay Ukulele Society too. This isn't just a coincidence, there are a lot of us. If I lived closer, I might could help you out. We do have a member that drives up from Sarasota sometimes...
 
Where in south Florida do you live? There was an ukulele festival in Fort Lauderdale this past August. South Florida's a big place, but if you live anywhere near Fort Lauderdale, you could try contacting the festival organizers about helping you with advertising for people interested in joining a group. You can also try posting something on meetup.com for your area. (Here's the meetup page for the Florida Ukulele Network in Hollywood. http://ukulele.meetup.com/cities/us/fl/fort_lauderdale/, and here's a list of people in the Fort Lauderdale area who are waiting for a meetup ukulele group to form. http://ukulele.meetup.com/members/us/fl/fort_lauderdale/) Another idea is to pick a place -- a music store, restaurant, or park -- where you'll get visibility, hold a one-time ukulele jam there, and see if a group forms out of the people who show up. Good luck!
 
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We haven't been getting together much lately, but there are some tremendous uke players in the Helsinki area. If you're near enough to hop one of the fast cruise ships, you're welcome to join us here! - www.ukulele.fi

marihhen said:
I feel your pain, Mendel! Couple of months ago I did not know any ukulele players in my country. I was not sure if they even existed. So I decided to change that. Long story short:
I called my sonś friend (who´s parents gave him ukulele for Christmas) this Monday and asked him over to play with me :D jes, I know how weird that sounds ( my own son Martin is not very into ukuleles) He came gladly and soon Martin joined us. We played 3hours! it was so great, boys learn so much faster than I do!!! So today we had another meeting. I really hope, I can make it interesting for them. We made up a great game for chord practice. I would say the chords that must be played and who took a wrong chord had to do a squawk crouch but instead of squawk we would say and play the chord that was messed up actually when I first thought of that I thought what a cool drinking game (Dont understand wrong, i dont drink much) it would be. But I am glad that before I sayd anything I understood that I was with children
Now I am planning to teach some teachers how to make shoe box ukulele, if that works I plan going to local boy scouts club and teach them too. I think its wery important for people ( especialy kids) to understand that IF there is a will, there always is a way!
Maybe you, Mendel, could make some ukuleles with the kids who want to play :) I am sure that if the parents see how strongly their young feel about the instrument they will find the money sooner or later!
Do not give up! Fight for your right to play!
Click to expand...
 
I know how you feel, man. I am the only uke player here that I know of. I know a guitarist who has expressed an interest in jamming with me (me on uke, he on guitar), but we haven't been able to schedule it yet. There IS a guy who's an ER doctor in a town about 20 miles from me, who lives in another town about 50 miles from me... he's from Hawaii, knows people I know, is friends with me on Facebook, but we haven't met in person yet. He told me he has about 15 ukes, a few of them vintage, but mostly customs. I know he has at least two Talsmas and, I believe, a Glyph. But being a doctor, he's pretty busy. I REALLY want to get together with him! He says he's not much of a player and wants me to give him tips on finger-picking. I want to see his Talsmas! And his other customs too!
 
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