Instructor Marcia Standiford and novice Will Carroll strum along in a group session at Madison Central Library. Hear recordings of the session at isthmus.com.
Andrew Wilke is a champion for the humble ukulele.
“The ukulele is an underdog. It doesn’t have the ego of guitar or theory of piano,” says Wilke, who teaches beginner lessons out of his east side home. “The ukulele feels like a sociable instrument. When you play, you want to play with other people.”
Wilke’s theory is irrefutably proven by the dozens of people — many of them wearing Hawaiian shirts — mingling in a large room at Madison Central Library. They’ve come out for the beginner ukulele workshop sponsored by the Madison Area Ukulele Initiative, or MAUI. The event is part of the library’s first, week-long “How-to Fest.”
Fifty MAUI members are on hand to help 80 people who want to try ukulele for the first time.
Waiting for the newcomers to arrive, MAUI founder Dan Johnson jokes with several other veteran “uke” players. “You only need to know how to do two things — what to do with the left hand and what to do with the right!”
As novices file into the room, a MAUI member greets them, hands them a ukulele and leads them to a spot to sit down in a small group. Soon, they’re all tuning and strumming.
Lumei Huang is working with teacher Judy Christie. Huang is here with her husband, a MAUI member, but doesn’t want to learn from him. “He taught me a few times at home but I got frustrated,” Huang says.
Once everyone has settled into a seat, Wilke begins the group lesson. After a quick introduction to the ukulele, he teaches five chords, starting with F major.
Going through each chord, MAUI members turn to check in with their students. Johnson gives beginners Stephanie Grobe and John Bell pointers on strumming. “Practice the turn of the wrist, the flick of the finger,” Johnson says.
After teaching the C chord Wilke shouts out over the crowd, “Strum your ukulele as loud as you can!”
Brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants in the late 19th century, the ukulele first became popular on the mainland after it appeared at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. The instrument experienced another wave of popularity in the 1950s as soldiers returned home from World War II by way of Hawaii.
Its popularity continues to grow, boosted in part by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo‘ole, the late Native Hawaiian musician whose medley, “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” was featured in several films and TV shows.
As the lesson comes to an end, the group performance begins. With the words and chords of the first song, “Polly Wolly Doodle,” projected on screen, Wilke encourages the beginners to play along. “The hard part is changing chords fast enough to keep up with the song,” Wilke tells them. “Choose one chord and play it when it comes up.” MAUI veterans keep the song afloat when the novices struggle to keep up.
At the end of the song Wilke throws his arm in the air and yells “Yes!” Next up is “Up in Wisconsin,” a riff on “La Cucaracha,” and then Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya,” which includes a kazoo verse. Grobe later says this was her favorite song of the afternoon because “it was the one I could actually play.”
The momentum picks up for Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” as the players gain confidence. Listen to the recording below:
“Isn’t the ukulele great?” Wilke asks the group at the end of the song. “You can walk into a room and an hour later you are playing ‘Johnny B. Goode’ with 130 people.”
As the ukulele players begin to pack up to leave, Wilke offers marching orders. “Go forth and tell people about ukuleles! And keep strumming.”
Ukulele clubs worldwide: 3,000
Strings on a “uke”: four
Three common sizes of ukuleles: 21 inches (soprano,) 23 inches (concert,) 26 inches (tenor)
People on MAUI’s email list: 620
Year MAUI started: 2009
Views of Israel “IZ”
Kamakawiwo‘ole’s YouTube video of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (as of Dec. 1): More than 363.8 million
14th Annual MAUI Xmas Carol Sing Along: 6:30-8:15 p.m., Dec. 14 at Lakeside Street Coffee House, 402 W. Lakeside St.
