Report from the First Ukulele Course of the 2020s

I do not think people who teach courses usually write experience reports about their own classes, but somehow it has become a habit of mine. A course is a big experience for me too (and I hope for the participants as well ). I meet lots of new people whom it is a pleasure to teach and with whom it is a pleasure to make music and sing, and it simply feels good to write it all down . On Saturday, January 11, 2020, we gathered in Pódium Hall and got down to playing. The course was intended for people who already knew a few basic chords and wanted to move forward from there.

Dear Participants, please allow me to write this blog post as if I were speaking directly to you. I was especially happy that many of you had begun your ukulele journey at the November course. For me, that is absolutely positive confirmation that we started down the right path last autumn .

I tried to load your brains with lots and lots and lots of information so that you would have plenty to draw on in the future. I also brought along some guest instruments to make our group music-making more varied; I hope I managed to surprise you. I suspect the music-theory section was a little less popular, but you will encounter all of those ideas gradually during your future ukulele studies, and the enormous mosaic made up of music and music theory will slowly come together piece by piece.

Thank you to my good friend Gyuri for coming along, which meant Keskeny Megálló ukulele duo was represented at the course too. You know, despite the name of our little group, anyone is welcome to join us at the "stop"! And that is exactly what you did: seventeen ukuleles played together on When the Saints and Heartbreak Hotel.

We also sent a message from the course to the wider world, because we had a Facebook Live broadcast:

Dear Participants, thank you once again for coming. I hope you headed home after a full day of ukulele playing richer in both knowledge and experiences .