Six Degrees of Uke

So the reason I'm here is that I got a grant from the Fund for Teachers, which I got hooked up with through New Visions, the organization that helps fund my school. The grant is not only paying for me to learn how to build a uke from Mike Chock at Hana Lima 'Ia, but also to take lessons from Byron Yasui (pictured here playing an instrument Mike is building). Byron is the graduate chair of the music department of the University of Hawaii.

Let me tell you how small the ukulele community is: When I first decided I wanted to build a ukulele, I googled around a bit and found the Hana Lima school. I had no idea if Hana Lima was a reputable outfit or not, so I posted to the bulletin board at Jim Beloff's website, Flea Market Music. Many people responded positively about the Hana Lima school, and one guy named Geoff who had actually taken the course recommended it highly, so I contacted Hana Lima for more information in order to help me write my grant proposal. Asa Chock, Mike's son, wrote back telling me that if I was writing a grant proposal, I should contact one of their former students who was also a teacher and had also attended the school on a grant. His name was Geoff Davis. I figured the name Geoff was not common enough that this was a coincidence, so I went back to the Flea Market bulletin board to get in contact with Geoff. Geoff then sent me parts of his grant proposal and gave me plenty of other advice, including telling me that while he was here he took ukulele lessons from Byron Yasui. I thought that sounded like a good idea so I decided to do that too.

A few months later, after my grant proposal was accepted, I attended the New York Uke Fest. On my way there, I saw a woman carrying a ukulele and, figuring we were on our way to the same place, I struck up a conversation. We talked about lots of stuff, like the weather, ukuleles, and whatnot before my grant just happened to enter the conversation. As soon as I mentioned Hana Lima, this woman said I should talk to Geoff Davis. I told her that I had already contacted Geoff and that was why I was going to study with Byron. Then she says that she is flying Byron to Dallas the next week to perform at a show she has put together there. When I actually got to the NY Uke Fest, I took some workshops and met lots of strange ukulele folk, including none other than Jim Beloff.

Everyone who plays ukulele knows everyone else. Everyone who doesn't play the uke knows Tiny Tim.

Anyway, I was early to class at Hana Lima today and was still the last one there. People talk about "Hawaii Time," meaning that everything here moves slowly and no one really cares about being on time, but I guess my classmates don't subscribe to that philosophy. We worked feverishly again today and the various pieces we're working on are starting to look like ukuleles. It's pretty cool. I put a mother of pearl inlay around what will soon be the sound hole on my uke, which is a decorative step that I didn't think we would probably bother with in a class like this. Yesterday, I was talking to Mike after class, and he said that he always gets nervous when he is in the latter stages of building a uke. After putting so much work into an instrument, he gets worried that he might make a mistake and ruin it. I know that I'm only two days into a ten day class, but with that inlay my uke looks pretty, and now I'm starting to get nervous.

I hope I don't screw it up.

Byron very generously picked me up from Hana Lima and, after tinkering on an experimental sort of bass ukulele Mike is making, he drove me to his office. Byron is big on music theory, and I've never had any sort of formal training and certainly no instruction in theory, so I was half thinking he would probably say to me, "You know so little that I don't know where to begin. Maybe you need a dumber teacher."

But he didn't, and that was nice.

He started the lesson with a bit of "diagnostic" work, as he called it, to see where I am. First he had me play for him, so I played a few songs I've arranged myself, like "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "Walkin' After Midnight." He liked 'em. Then we moved on to some theory stuff. I've picked up a lot of music theory tidbits over the years, and we ended up going through most of his intro to music theory material in no time. He was actually impressed with how much I knew, which I never expected. I feel like I know squat. But his diagnostics got him honed in and by the end of class he was pushing me pretty good.

It was a good thing I had a hearty Hawaiian breakfast today, because from 8:30 to 4:00 was nothing but ukulele building and playing madness and I forgot to eat lunch.

[view today's photos]