A while back I wrote a column on how the ukulele had made inroads in music far beyond the perceived novelty image of its history — the intimate four-stringed instrument was being used with surprising success playing everything from Bach to rock and more and was still evolving well beyond its Hawaiian roots. No music genre was beyond it and online and local instruction was booming with teachers and clubs flooding the music world with choices and a huge following.
You want strumming technique and pop, check out Cynthia Lin based in San Francisco. Nostalgia and the Great American Songbook — check out Ukester Brown online from Minnesota. And the choices go on with new personalities and teaching styles popping up everywhere to serve all tastes and player levels.
None of this would have been possible if not for actor/musician Cliff Edwards. Too often overlooked as a light comic film actor, Edwards almost invented pop singing hits in the 1920s covering major composers well before the likes of Bing Crosby or Sinatra let alone The Beatles or Rolling Stones. He played the uke flawlessly and had impeccable diction and intonation and was possibly the inventor of scat singing. His plaintive and profound tenor is today best known for his role as Jiminy Cricket in the Disney masterpiece,”Pinocchio.” There is a direct line between Edwards as musician and the astounding modern ukulele master, Jake Shimabukuro who does it all.
Then there is humor. It helps if you can include laughs.This is done to its maximum with the British group “Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain” as seen on YouTube. All master players, they combine superb virtuoso playing with cutting satire and timing at times reminiscent of the antics of those Monty Python guys.
As for humor and uke playing, we have it in abundance locally with Society of Traverse Region Ukulele Musicians known as STRUM.
Co-leaders Bryan Boettcher and Mike Libby are superb players and besides leading and recruiting all ages and player levels for STRUM, they perform regularly as a comic duo around the city. A good sampling of their comic timing and kinetic humor was recently seen by a delighted audience at the recent TC PorchFest in the Central Neighborhood. Boettcher is also remembered for his stellar performance in the terrific OTP production of “Spamalot” in which he also played the ukulele.
Both Boettcher and Libby deserve much credit for stimulating ukulele players in the region and constantly encouraging more players. This has even spread to the TC Senior Center where a small class of ukulele players has morphed into huge attendance for senior players of various skill levels and is slated to be an outstanding venue for many years. Started and led by Sara Bousfield, player and retired wellness coordinator who knows how the uke can relieve stress, it meets regularly at the center and is often joined by local masters Mike Libby and also Tom Allard, well known for his virtuoso playing and knowledge of classics from the Great American Songbook.
All of this has come together in an amalgam of lively art led by what remains an unassuming small string instrument that musicians everywhere have come to love.
That makes for a bit of magic for those who seek it.