One of my life long dreams has been to learn to play a musical instrument. It’s # 253 on my list.
To this point in my life I have not been very successful at being musical. In the 4th grade, whether we wanted to or not, we learned to play the recorder. I didn’t catch on as fast as most of the 4th graders so I faked it about I 60 percent of the time.
In 7th grade I played the flute, but I was even worse. Looking back, I probably only played the flute 20 percent of the time.
Somewhere along the line I also took Piano lessons. I can’t remember why I wasn’t successful at that, but if I had a guess it would be that I never practiced.
My last real experiment with music came from when I auditioned for the high school Choir in 12th grade. I thought I was a pretty good singer, but after my audition instead of placing me with my age group, they put me with the lowest level singing group in the school I opted to take ceramics instead.
Obviously, I have a pretty BAD history of learning to play music, but that was all a long, long time ago and I’m a more grown-up more capable person now, so I when I got a chance to enroll in Ukulele Boot Camp for free through one of the bloggers forums I subscribe to, I said yes.
The ukulele is a Hawaiian instrument. I happen to LOVE Hawaii more than life itself and I’ve always LOVED the way it sounds. It’s more like a harp than a guitar.
From the photos I saw on the UkulelePlay.com website, I was expecting us to be in a class of 20 or more, but when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find we were in a class of only 5 held at historic American Fork City Hall. We were given loaner Ukulele’s to play during the three hour class.
The instructor, Ryan Taylor did a great job introducing himself, and his favorite instrument. He’s an accomplished life long musician who sings as well as he plays the, ukulele, tuba, piano and probably a hundred other instruments.
He was very prepared with a presentation appropriate for all ages. In our class was an older gentleman who recently returned from a mission to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Oahu, me and Alyssa along with another mother and daughter who was probably 8 or 9 years old.
Together we listened, watched and played our new instruments. He showed us some really awesome Youtube videos that were really inspiring. I have to share two of them. This first one is the perfect blend of cute and amazing.
This next video was created by one of the world’s best and most famous Uke players.
The Boot camp class was three hours long. For the first hour Alyssa was memorized. She’s been wanting to take guitar lessons and this tiny guitar was just her thing. The second hour was a little wrestles for her. Two straight hours of anything is a long time for a kid. The third hour was just painful for her and she wanted to go home. 
I however ate it up. I could have stayed all day. For the first time in my life I was really catching on to playing music with out faking.
By the end of class I could sort of play Amazing Grace while I sang. By the end of the day I could do a pretty good rendition of it and by the end of the weekend I could do it almost with out looking at the music.
I’m super excited to continue on and I’m looking forward to Uke Fest this June. I’m also planning to take a weekly Ukulele lesson this fall.
I’m so glad I said yes to this invitation. Playing the Ukulele is so much fun and makes such pretty music. I know it’s going to be a great addition to our home. Just ask Steve and my kids. I know they’ve been enjoying my non-stop incessant playing.
If you’re looking for an instrument, voice or Uke lessons, I highly recommend Ryan Taylor. He’s one of those gifted musicians who loves and lives to teach music.
