Double Strum Uke

Tonight I went to my second ukulele class with Saichi Kawahara. It was a good class - we learned the double strum, written as 'rrraa ta ta ta tum.' You just play that super fast. It was definitely hard to keep that pattern going while learning new chord progressions and singing in Hawaiian. It's good to play with others because the teacher can't hear all your mistakes through the strumming of other students (although there were only two of us tonight). I realized that the first time you learn a song, it sticks to your head, whether you're singing it correctly or not. Tonight I sang Puamana the same way I sang it the first time - wrong. But I couldn't shake the way I carried some vowels longer than others (incorrectly) or when I took pauses when I shouldn't have.

We worked on the song in two new keys: the key of G and the key of F. That didn't help with the singing either. What was cool is that the teacher had each of us sing the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of a chord simultaneously (each of us took one). It was the first time I learned how to harmonize and it sounded pretty darn cool. I definitely need to develop my ear to do it because once I heard someone else's harmony I lost my own.

This week I'll be heading for a conference in Atlanta, George. (http://www.siop.org/). It should be fun connecting with other organizational psychologists and learning about new research in the field. I absolutely needed to bring a uke and my fellow uke classmate (Mark) let me borrow his 'travel soprano uke.' I'll be sure to snap some shots of it because it is just so small and cute.