UCH: ʻUkulele Fun with Dr. Trey
A fun time was had by all at the March gathering of the ʻUkulele Club of Hawaiʻi! Windward Mall’s Center Court set up was near capacity by 5:40 pm as ʻukulele enthusiasts grabbed song sheets, prize tickets and a great spot to get in some play time and learning. There were a lot of new faces in the crowd – LOVE it!
We were blessed to have guest instructor Dr. Trey Terada on hand to teach. As a classically trained musician, he always makes sure to challenge the members to push their skills just a little further. He started with fingering exercises to increase strength and agility, taught some simple tablature and two fun songs written by Hawaiʻi artists.
As always, we warmed up with our UCH theme song, John Cruz’s Island Style.
2019 Theme: Hawaiʻi Songwriters
The first song was Koali, a mele pana (place song) for a beloved area on the island of Maui. We got to learn a little tab for the intro and sing through the song.
The second song was written by Trey himself, called Water Bottle. I have a feeling he wrote this to remind his kids to keep water bottles of the stairs – could he have had a slip up?? LOL And while the words are quirky and fun, Trey did use the song to teach a lot of technique: effective string plucking, timing in the measure (using rests and eight notes), the strum style for a reggae beat and more!
The third song was a bonus. Although not written by a Hawaiʻi songwriter, it was performed by two talented young Hawaiʻi ladies, Tegan and Kaylen. In the three years since their stage debut at UCH (in 2016) the ladies have matured and their voices have found a sweet blend. They shared with us the song Ima Kimi Omowu with Trey teaching an arpeggio technique with the chords.
The ladies then blessed us with an acoustic performance of Britney Spears’ Toxic with Tegan holding the foundation on her Islander mini guitar and Kaylen taking lead solos on her Kanile`a K-3 Concert `ukulele.
Prizes were then given out, Hawaiʻi Aloha was played/sung and we called it a night!
Next monthly gathering: Tuesday 2 April 2019 at Windward Mall
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About ʻUkulele Club of Hawaiʻi
In 2007, husband and wife teams Joe & Kristen Souza (of Kanileʻa ʻUkulele) and Bruddah Sam & Lina Girl Langi (Local Kine Grindz / KCCN-KINE Radio) launched an informal gathering of loved ones and friends who all had one thing in common: love for the ʻukulele. They brought in associates in the music industry to teach songs and lead jam sessions, people like Kenneth Makuakāne, Kamuela Kimokeo and Roy Sakuma. And so the ʻUkulele Club of Hawaiʻi was born.
In those early days, members paid a small fee to cover the cost of the space. Now, with the sponsorship and aloha of Kanileʻa ʻUkulele, members can now gather, free of charge, at Windward Mall center court the first Tuesday of every month. It is open and free to the public…just bring a uke and a smile – we got the rest!
~Lina Langi
