That video was lovely. Kimo Hussey has such a warm persona. It comes through in his playing and in the way he talks.
I just started learning to play ukulele in January. One thing that holds me back from sharing ukulele with others is being intimidated because I am still such a beginner.
It reminds me of learning a language. Often, the people who are most successful aren't afraid to leap in and stumble through a phrase and maybe fill in with some hand gestures to get their point across. The point is - they just start talking - even if it's in a simplistic, childlike way. They keep going and are eventually able to carry on a great conversation. Maybe they are happy getting to that level and don't need to become fluent.
My favorite nights with my ukulele are when my boyfriend and I relax at home and pick a song and just play. It doesn't matter if we play a wrong chord now and then because we won't give each other a hard time (well, most of the time anyway
). It is just for fun!
In ukulele, it's easy to get intimidated by the master players. Rather like how you might be afraid to parlez vous a little on a visit to Paris because you don't speak French fluently. You think to yourself, I will never sound like that, and get stuck. How do you get past that mindset in ukulele?
Maybe there's a way you guys can share the passion anyone can have for music even when they are still learning.
One idea would be to teach a single song in a few different ways. What if you guys made video lessons, with accompanying worksheets that people could try at home or share with their uke group? Maybe you include chords with a simple strumming pattern, a harder variation on the chords or more complex strumming, and then another version with picking. Basically teaching people to jam, but in a structured way. People could all play along at their own level and realize they are making real music together, no matter which level they are playing at. That's what makes you passionate!
This idea was inspired by my own experiences at a uke group, trying to learn on my own,
and by a thread Freeda started here on UU.
You also mentioned your passion for video and photography. HMS always has the most beautiful videos. I'd love a tutorial on how you light, shoot, record the sound and put these videos together. Maybe you could even try to teach a way to do it using more inexpensive tools most of us have like a smartphone or a tablet.
Ok, enough rambling.
