Ukelele: Get ready, set, go!

This is Andrew teaching Hannah chords on the ukelele a few years ago. He is a gifted musician and a fabulous teacher. I think this picture is when the seed was planted that playing a ukelele would be something new and fun to learn for myself!

For a couple of years, all I've done is talk about wanting to learn how to play this little stringed thing. And I've talked about how cool it'd be for me, an Irish wooden flute player, to be able to play an instrument and chew gum at the same time. Seriously! And to be able to smile and laugh, while playing, when the fiddlers in my all-women contradance band crack a funny joke during a tune at a dance. And to be able to play on some Old Time tunes when the fiddlers "get down with the tune, "Old Joe", for example, rather than just sit there, looking around most of the time, maybe shaking the egg or a playing the tambourine for a time or two through the tune, and then back to sitting. And looking again. I wanna be playing with 'em!

So last Saturday, I finally picked up the cute thing and went online and looked at a dozen youtube ukelele videos. I asked Jim to help me with some of the chords.

And that's my new thing for the spring, to learn (finally!) to play the ukelele. My goal is 15 minutes a day. Period. No excuses. It's only 15 minutes. Discipline and showing up no matter what is hard. Some days really hard. And, it's the only way I know to make it happen. It's the only way I've ever made progress on anything. On the hard days I remind myself that once I take the instrument in my hands, I'm on easy street. The challenge is in the time involved that it takes me to let go of everything I think I need to do, and turn to the instrument. This is usually about 30 seconds. I just have to push forward and listen to the voice that says, "C'mon on now", instead of the other voice that wants to resist. When I resist that voice, I can move into where I knew I wanted to be all along.

I am so excited. I know that 2010 is gonna be the year I turn into a "uke" player, instead of just talkin' and talkin' about being one. Yee hah, gonna walk the talk instead of just talkin' it.

Is there an instrument you've been wanting to play for awhile? Forever? I invite you to step forward, through that door, too. Respond to that voice that calls you and see another part of yourself you always knew was there, waiting outside that door, but you hadn't invited in yet.