the beaut uke!

I realised with a jolt this week that I need a new creative outlet in my life. So I found myself trawling the internet in bed with coffee this morning, looking for a choir to join. Instead, I found the Ukestra website around 9am.




At 10.30am I was introduced to Mark here, who passionately de-mystified the ukelele to around 15 hopefuls who had arrived at the beginners workshop.


A 4-stringed instrument, the uke is not a complex instrument and within a few minutes, Mark had the whole group playing and singing along to songs such as:

• All I Want is You (U2)
• Runaround Sue
• Jambalaya 
• Deep in the Heart of Texas

My fingers were totally raw, people. But I could not stop, as I was enjoying myself way too much.


Mark, an extrovert and perfect fit for his role, describes himself as a 'community musician'. The aim of his work is to:

Bring people together socially 

to enjoy music together 

And the uke is a brilliant instrument to do just that.

Turns out there are lots of groups that meet through the week - both daytime groups and evening ones - from Nelson Bay to Maitland, who meet over the uke on a weekly basis.  


I am already planning to attend one of these and am looking forward to meeting new people and learning songs and singing along. In fact, I can't wait for the next gig!

Incidentally, girls, the strings of a ukelele are G C E A which stands for "Girls Can Eat Anything". If only that were true.