I’m a lucky ukulele player. Or at least, that’s how I look at it.
Sure, I could be luckier if I could actually play an E chord in the first position (yuck!), but other than that, I’m pretty darn fortunate. I’ve been lucky enough to attend 27 ukulele festivals and events in the last several years. And lucky to have so many friends who consider this little four-string instrument as nifty as I do. And to have a family who puts up with my playing (lack of E chord and all).
But as I was getting ready to attend the 2013 Reno/Sparks/Tahoe Ukulele Festival, I realized that my luckiness was something I wanted to share. See, against all odds, I’m now the very happy owner of one of ukuleledom’s most sought-after modern instruments: an ukulele dreamed, designed, crafted and brought to life by Chuck Moore of Moore Bettah Ukuleles.
Nope, I don’t “deserve” it. But, yep, I love this custom tenor even better than a vacation to my favorite Hawaiian island. That much. Really. Glancing through all the “I wish I had a Moore Bettah ukulele” posts on UkuleleUnderground, I suddenly got it: I’m lucky enough to own (and have insurance for!) an instrument some ukulele enthusiasts have only seen online or heard about. Why not offer to “share” my very special MooreBettah with anyone who wanted at the upcoming Reno festival?
I knew folks’d be careful with it (none of those silver rodeo-style dinner plate belt buckles when playing this one, please) and I also knew it’d really be a joy to watch other folks sniff (oh, yes, it even smells wonderful), ogle, strum and test this instrument.
Heck, I was hoping someone with really great playing ability and mana would pour some of their skill into its koa grain so it’d come out again for me. Maybe someone could even play an E chord on it… So a week before Reno, I posted on the UkuleleUnderground forum that I’d have my MooreBettah tenor with me and was willing to share. Folks approached me throughout the weekend event.
And I shared. At a Saturday morning (egads! 8 am???) meetup of Ukulele Underground forum folks, my tenor made the rounds from a pre-teen who’d just started playing a week before to some folks who could coax every bit of sound and beauty out of its strings. Some people were reluctant to hold it, preferring just to look. But I persuaded many of them to cradle my baby in their arms and play anything, even a simple I-IV-V progression.
And you know what? I think I got even more out of sharing this instrument than the folks who played it. Certainly not because I like to boast—as I said, I’m just a lucky girl. But it’s just plain fun to see folks discover the possibilities of having a really nice instrument. You can just see it in their face as they softly strum or pick the notes out and they dream, just a bit. Watching those quiet smiles was a joy.
Mom was right; sharing is a good thing.