aljanny
Well-known member
I took a (involuntary) break from ukulele for a week or two - my finals were getting crazy, and I didn't have time for sleeping, much less playing ukulele. That, and my tuner was missing (I still can't tune by ear...), so my poor uke was getting more and more out of tune. Whenever I did try to play for a minute or two, it made me frustrated and unhappy because of the awful sound.
So, I started playing less and less, and thinking of my ukulele less and less...
But! Yesterday, I found my tuner by chance (under a pile of stuff I had been using for packing, as I have to move out of my apartment in two weeks...), and so, the ukulele was finally tuned. And, gosh, what a difference it made! I played for a long time after that; I was so happy and content! I had forgotten, in my frustration over life and the bad tuning, how much the act of playing ukulele makes me happy and calm - it's almost akin to meditation for me, sometimes.
So, my roommate came into the room at one point and told me that she'd noticed I hadn't been playing, and that she was glad I was playing again. She paused for a second (trying to decide if she'd offend me), and then told me that there was this weird tension that I'd been generating unconsciously during the time I hadn't been playing, and that it had eased and disappeared as soon as I started playing again.
I wasn't offended, I was more intrigued... I know that the ukulele makes me happy when I play it, but I hadn't realized that other people could recognize it on that level, too, that it was that drastic and subconscious.
Now, my roommate is more perceptive than most people I know, so I don't think too many other people noticed - it's not like I was /grumpier/ than usual, I didn't snap at anyone, and I still had really happy/cheerful times during those two weeks, it just apparently had a weird undercurrent to it.
Anyone have a similar experience?
I'd be interested to see a psychological study on ukulele as stress relief/etc...
So, I started playing less and less, and thinking of my ukulele less and less...
But! Yesterday, I found my tuner by chance (under a pile of stuff I had been using for packing, as I have to move out of my apartment in two weeks...), and so, the ukulele was finally tuned. And, gosh, what a difference it made! I played for a long time after that; I was so happy and content! I had forgotten, in my frustration over life and the bad tuning, how much the act of playing ukulele makes me happy and calm - it's almost akin to meditation for me, sometimes.
So, my roommate came into the room at one point and told me that she'd noticed I hadn't been playing, and that she was glad I was playing again. She paused for a second (trying to decide if she'd offend me), and then told me that there was this weird tension that I'd been generating unconsciously during the time I hadn't been playing, and that it had eased and disappeared as soon as I started playing again.
I wasn't offended, I was more intrigued... I know that the ukulele makes me happy when I play it, but I hadn't realized that other people could recognize it on that level, too, that it was that drastic and subconscious.
Now, my roommate is more perceptive than most people I know, so I don't think too many other people noticed - it's not like I was /grumpier/ than usual, I didn't snap at anyone, and I still had really happy/cheerful times during those two weeks, it just apparently had a weird undercurrent to it.
Anyone have a similar experience?
I'd be interested to see a psychological study on ukulele as stress relief/etc...
