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<\/a>The view as we strummed.<\/p><\/div>\n
The sun sparkles on the aquamarine bay just beyond you. Palm trees arc over a manicured lawn as small boats, kayaks and paddleboarders skim across the bay.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re sitting at a wooden table, iced tea at hand, surrounded by friendly people. And they\u2019re all playing ukulele!<\/p>\n
Yep, that\u2019s what happens every Thursday morning at 9:30 at Akule Supply<\/a> <\/strong>(I know, funny name for a restaurant, huh?) when Alan Hale\u2019s (that last name\u2019s pronounced English style, not Hawaiian) group gets together in the Kona area of Hawai\u2019i Island.<\/p>\n And, lucky me, I got to join them this week.<\/p>\n There are a fair amount of ukulele gatherings in the area\u2014and I wish I could have also attended Jack Knight\u2019s Mele Ohana group<\/strong><\/a> which meets at 6 pm on Wednesdays at the Regency Hualalai, but our schedule didn\u2019t allow it.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGlad I didn\u2019t miss the Thursday morning kanikapila.<\/p>\n As I noted last time I played with this group, everyone<\/strong> had a tablet loaded with music. I did not see a single book or notebook of \u201creal\u201d paper songs on any of the tables. The tablets (the majority seemed to be iPads) were propped up, vertical orientation, on the tables. The iOS app of choice was forScore; Alan maintains a Dropbox site with a wide variety of songbooks from groups as well as songsheets used by the Kona group. New songs are automatically downloaded by each member when they\u2019re on wifi and everything\u2019s available then, even when they\u2019re strumming offline.<\/p>\n I sure wish I could do this with my own Ukuleles of Paradise\u2014not only would it be easier on everyone than carrying all those books with them, but it was also so darned fast when a song was named: folks typed in the first few letters of the name and the song popped up immediately. The way I see it, that leaves more time for playing more ukulele songs! But the technology definitely took a back seat to the welcoming spirit, laughter and fun playing that continued for the next two hours. Songs ranged from 60s tunes and contemporary melodies to Hawaiian (some sung entirely in the Hawaiian language\u2014and I didn\u2019t note a single strummer stumbling over all those vowels; it\u2019s practice, I guess\u2026). A few players broke from the ranks of strummers and shared a hula as the group played along. Sigh\u2026<\/p>\n The group\u2019s final song of the morning remains what it was last time I visited: \u201cI Believe in Music.\u201d<\/p>\n As I packed up my ukulele, I looked around at the smiles and the conversations that continued. Not only music, it\u2019s pretty evident that this group also believes in aloha and sharing the joy of ukulele.<\/p>\n<\/a>Alan, the group\u2019s very-able leader, wore his Moore Bettah Ukulele t-shirt in honor of my new ukulele and introduced me, pointing folks to my website. I was the only \u201cguest\u201d there that day, but I understand the gathering of 40 that I experienced swells to at least double that mid-winter when the snowbirds arrive with their ukuleles.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n