My group is made up of about 50 regulars that meets twice a week, Monday afternoon and Thursday morning. Some come one day only, some come both days, as I do. It's very obvious to me that most only play their uke when we meet, never at home. I try to make it easy for them by recording each song at rehearsal and providing a web page with all the audio tracks, about 200. But most don't bother. The excuse given is they don't have time (but 99% are retired). I tell them that they shouldn't wait for a moment, they have to schedule it.
A few weeks ago before class, I was noodling on my bass uke (which I started playing only a few years ago) and a regular member comments that I'm really getting good, how come? I replied that I practice with my recordings almost everyday. She bowed her head sheepishly, walked away saying, "I don't, I guess that's why I don't get better."
I always like to quote the joke about a tourist in New York looking for Carnegie Hall, asking a passerby, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The reply is, "Practice, practice, practice."
This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 6 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 41)
• Donate to The
Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs.
www.theukc.org
• Member
The CC Strummers: YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers