Bring Back the Ukulele

It was the first instrument I learned to play. Not by heart but because the subject required the class to. I got hold of the ukulele when I was in grade 5. We had to learn it as part of the course of study, which meant “to be good at it or else you’ll get a red mark”. But yours truly who happens to be a lefty, sure had difficulties mastering each chord since our teacher taught us the right-handed way, and, yes, chord or songbooks anywhere are designed for righties. In most cases, the righties, the so-called majority sets the tone for the world. For how long will lefties have to endure this?

For a few months, I thought I had already mastered the ukulele. The culmination event of everything that we had learned happened to be part of our Christmas program. We performed probably a Christmas song, I guess (forgot it). What was so vivid was that I was caught up with stage fright. During the performance, I twisted some chords, was so lost. To make it up with the mess, I had to fake half of my performance to sound still in synch with the rest until the very end.

After that, I told myself that I would never get to master the ukulele or any string instrument. I am born lefty, who’s destined for other things, and this is not just for me. On the contrary, great lefties abound in the music scene. There’s Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, and Babyface.

While they can do it, the real question is why can’t I? I would sometimes blame my being a left-handed as the real culprit why I couldn’t master any string instrument. I tried the guitar but to no avail. Or didn’t I just have the heart for it? Or more likely lost the heart for it given the circumstances?

Don’t get me wrong. I love music. I am constantly in awe seeing people playing strings. I appreciate music. But I guess I just need to rest my case. Let it be my first and my last.

Photo source credit: Guardian.co.uk

You might ask, why a post on ukuleles? Well, I was just inspired by a video I saw earlier today on Youtube. Ha ha! The kid below is awesome!