Over a hundred people gathered on the first Sunday in February to listen, learn, and play the smallest member of the guitar family at the first ever celebration of “World Ukulele Day” in Bonita Springs.
The event featured free concerts by local and national artists, and lessons for attendees of all ages and experience levels.
Emily Stehle has been teaching beginners to play the ukulele at free public library workshops for several years. During her lessons at World Ukulele Day, she emphasized to beginners how versatile the instrument can be.
“The g7 seems like a really difficult chord, but it's actually one of the nicest chords that you can play, because there's so many songs that use it. With three chords, you can play hundreds of songs, and then you learn three more chords, and you'll be able to sing practically every chord, every song.”
After an afternoon of free lessons, all ukulele players - including those who had just learned how to play - were invited to jam out at the Riverside Park Bandshell.
Bobbie Schuester was one of the players joining in the jam. She leads HUGS Naples, or the Happy Ukelele Group of Seniors. She says that the instrument can be a great way for seniors to find joy through music.
“Those of us in our demographic, our age groups, have a little bit of arthritis, but there’s chord alternatives that can be more comfortable than a standard fingering for a chord, so it's very player friendly in that regard. It's a great way to bond socially, wonderful for our mental memory and dexterity. I call the class ukulele aerobics, because we're exercising our brains and our fingers.”
All donations collected at the concert went to benefit The Right Chord for Veterans, a nonprofit that disperses money to veteran causes.
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