I love a ukulele … at home or canoeing, I’m strumming along – Fields and Hall/1930.
In 1879, a Portuguese immigrant introduced Hawaiians to a small guitar-like instrument they quickly adopted and renamed “oo-ku-lay-lay.”
By 1900, its popularity had spread across the U.S. Elvis played one in the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii. Beatle George Harrison said: “Everyone should play a uke. It’s so simple.”
They looked like toys to me.
A sequence of serendipitous events would change my mind. The first was a year ago.
I’d planned a visit with my sister in Parksville. Former ARMS president Geoff Clayton lives there now. He’s an active senior, and an invaluable resource on salmon and rivers.
Geoff has a passion for motorcycles – he, and wife, Aline, ride. Lately, Geoff’s taken up the ukulele.
“Bring your guitar,” he suggested. “We’ll jam.”
Geoff’s four-string uke is half the size of my guitar, easier to learn.
“Maybe, I should get one,” I thought.
I didn’t. Fast forward to a month ago. I’d gone to the Pitt Meadows Senior Centre for Maureen Shagoal’s advice with a computer program. She’s a computer-savvy, retired lab technician who’ll help anyone who asks. You put a dollar in a jar.
If you think senior centres are the places where your grandparents snoozed in rocking chairs, Maureen will set you straight.
“We must change the idea they’re for old people,” she says. “They’re community gathering places. At 60 or 70, we aren’t old any more. Most are bright, alert people who are knowledgeable, and could be holding down a job. People should be coming to us for our wisdom, but we’re underused.”
“Tell me more,” I said.
“This is just me speaking,” she began. “We need to keep eyes on anyone who lives alone. The biggest problem is the men. They don’t come in, but they’re not exercising, eating right. And that costs the health system. So, we need to find ways to get them in here.
“Ideas?” I asked.
“If we can’t get a pool in Pitt Meadows maybe we could have a hot tub and wading pool for seniors. We need Fraser Heath to think of senior centres as extensions of the health system. For example, when people leave hospitals, Fraser Health could direct patients needing help to services and programs through the centres.”
It wasn’t Maureen’s volunteer day when I dropped by for help, but John Barnes was there.
“I’m busy now,” he said, “but come back in 45 minutes.”
You can buy lunch here – homemade soup and sandwich for about $3. The local RCMP will occasionally. I got tea and sat down to wait for John in the main activity room. About 30 chairs had been placed around the perimeter.
It wasn’t long before Lillian Bilodeau walked over, smiled, and invited me to join the ukulele class she started two years ago and co-leads with a friend, Don Klein.
As seniors filled in, one handed me a spare instrument.
“You can share my song sheets,” said the woman next to me.
Fingering for the cords was different from guitar. I grasped it well enough to blend in through Your Cheatin’ Heart, by Hank Williams, June Carter’s Ring of Fire, tunes by Dylan, the Beatles, John Denver, a variety of great music that spanned decades. About 20 minutes in, I noticed Lillian’s upturned thumb and nod of approval.
I was grooving when John tapped me on the shoulder.
“Just a minute,” said Lillian.
She plopped a binder of songs in my hand along with the spare uke she kept for people who wandered in.
“If you walk into Pitt Meadows Seniors Centre, somebody will say ‘hi’,” Maureen told me once.
It’s part of the culture.
“Don’t buy a uke right away,” Lillian advised. “Try some out. Take this one home. Practice. See you next week.”
The next day, I was auditioning ukuleles; listening for the right sound, the right feel. Because I hadn’t found it a week later, I borrowed Lillian’s spare again. I was hooked on the instrument and playing with 40 people having a good time together on Wednesday afternoons.
Lillian says she’s seen the popularity of ukes snowball. Two years ago – in the Grapevine – she and four friends offered to run a beginners group. She expected five responses, but 37 registered.
“Seniors are amazed they can play an instrument. They love it.”
This year Lillian and Don added a group at the Maple Ridge Seniors Centre. It meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
On June 5, Ridge Meadows Seniors Society executive director Maria Perretta announced it won a Municipal Advisory Committee on Accessibility and Inclusiveness award for efforts to “remove the social, physical, and psychological barriers that prevent people from fully participating in all aspects of community life.”
Last week, I called Lillian to say I’d bought a ukulele, and would see her at practice.
Jack Emberly is a retired teacher, local author and environmentalist.
