Roz and Bob Papell share a moment during the Delray Beach Public Library ‘Ukulele Get-Together.’
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Paula Detwiller
“Don’t do anything the hard way,” instructs Tavit Smith, demonstrating the easy, two-fingered way to play a D7 chord.
“The ukulele is all about having fun. Nobody’s going to end up in Carnegie Hall here.”
Chuckles resonate throughout the room, blending with the plink, plinka-plink of 30 ukuleles.
Players have gathered at the Delray Beach Public Library for the first “Ukulele Get-Together” of 2014. The youngest are 6, 15 and 21. The rest are, shall we say, seasoned adults, including snowbirds from Ohio, Maine, Rhode Island, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
At the moment, all are focused on their strings. Smith leads the jam session as they break into song.
“Yes sir, that’s my baby … No sir, I don’t mean maybe …”
Plink, plinka-plink, plinka-plink …
Smith, of Delray Beach, is a self-described old hippie of 63 who’s played guitar since childhood but only recently “fell in love” with the ukulele. Wanting to share that love with like-minded others, Smith asked the Delray Beach Public Library to host a free public ukulele play-fest.
“I told Tavit, well, we can try it,” says library community relations director Bonnie Stelzer. “I thought we’d have maybe six or eight people. We never expected such a big response.”
As a result, the library has extended the workshop’s planned run. Sessions are now scheduled for 6–7:30 p.m. on Feb. 11 and 25; March 11 and 25; and April 8 and 22.
Local ukulele players are riding a wave of renewed interest in the Hawaiian-born instrument that began five or six years ago when the economy took a dive, says Steve Bolanda, sales manager at George’s Music in West Palm Beach.
“The ukulele is inexpensive, portable, easy to learn — and it’s a happy instrument,” he says. “It’s hard to play a sad song on a uke.”
Another reason for the ukulele’s resurgence, says Jim Marino at Chafin Music in Lake Worth — where sales of the instrument have doubled over the past couple of years — is that popular musicians like Michael McDonald, Bruno Mars and even Eddie Vedder (formerly of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam) have taken the uke for a spin.
“YouTube has created a lot of buzz about it,” Marino says.
As the library strummers finish a rousing Hank Williams Sr. classic —“Heeeey, good lookin’ … Whaaatcha got cookin’?” — Smith compliments his enthusiastic followers.
“Everybody bring a suitcase next week. We’ll take this thing international.”
Or maybe, he cracks later, “we’ll have ukulele flash mobs on Atlantic Avenue.”
For more information, contact Bonnie Stelzer at the Delray Beach Public Library, 266-9490, or visit Tavit Smith’s ukulele website at www.inbedbyten.weebly.com.
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