Report on Course I in autumn 2023

I arrived at today's ukulele course in central Budapest loaded with an outrageous amount of gear and found a perfect parking space—as if this were karmically programmed for me, because 99% of the time I am incredibly lucky when looking for parking . I brought almost all my ukuleles (I definitely left one behind; I know because it was “on strike” —it was not at home), plus an amplifier, laptop and other equipment, and it took at least four or five trips to carry everything up to the room. By then the first few participants had arrived and we started setting up the room together (thanks for the help! ), putting up the music stands, and suddenly it was already 9:00 and time to begin.

After a short introduction we learned the basics, played lots of chords, and practised steady strumming and chord changes. To give everyone's fingers a chance to rest, the course also included some “spoken” sections in which I talked about active listening, regular practice and other important topics. We learned the basic chords, and in the afternoon used them to accompany a few songs. Dear Participants, it was wonderful to see your enthusiasm and I was very happy that you paid such persistent attention throughout the day. I would like to remind you here as well that there is absolutely nothing wrong if something does not work straight away. The purpose of Course I is to give you the initial push and a great deal of information so that after the course you can set off more easily on the wonderful journey of learning the ukulele.

It was an honour for me that András Sváby television presenter also attended the course. Not only did he strum diligently throughout , he also documented the eventso below you can see both his pictures and the photos I took. I hope András's participation was a pleasant surprise for everyone; his friendliness and openness certainly contributed to the good atmosphere.

At the end of the course, thanks to D'Addario—one of the world's largest manufacturers of strings and accessories—we raffled off a few ukulele accessories. Huge thanks to D'Addario!

Thank you for helping with packing up and carrying everything downstairs at the very end of the course !!!

We will meet again in a few days at Course II, and then at Course III .

Enjoy our photos: