Cayde Kessel, 7, strums a ukulele with his father, Ethan, watching over him at the Brookfield Public Library.
Paulette Darko has spent about 10 minutes helping 15 people tune ukuleles, and she has taught them how to play the C chord, one of the easiest chords to play because it requires pushing down only one string on the four-string instrument.
With a slide projected on the wall, she shows the strum pattern and words to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
“Now, we’re gonna sing,” she tells the class.
“This is gonna be out of tune,” Bruce Silvernail calls out, referring to the singing.
“That’s OK,” Darko responded, “because the first rule of playing the ukulele is, ‘Have fun.’”
The first session of a three-class series on learning to play the ukulele at the Brookfield Branch Library had plenty of mistakes, but most of the people seemed to be enjoying it.
“It’s great,” agreed Silvernail, of Boardman. “It’s fun.”
Paulette Darko
Darko, also known as Uke Kool Lady, has played the ukulele for years, and has performed publicly at the Hubbard and Sharon farmer’s markets, Brookfield Jingle and Mingle, and Brookfield and Hubbard library events, and with the group Hubbard Ukulele. Darko will hold a ukulele jam session at 1 p.m. June 6 at the Brookfield library, 7032 Grove St.
“I thought she was very good,” Cheryl Redmond of Brookfield said of the March 7 program.
Redmond had never played the instrument before.
“I’m getting ready to retire and I’m starting to look for other interests and reinvent myself,” she said.
Noting that she saw a lot of people shaking their hands and arms to try and keep them from cramping, Redmond said, “I had a little trouble, it hurts a little at first, but I think I’ll get used to it.”
Cheryl Redmond plays a G7 chord.
Silvernail said the first lesson went “pretty good. I have a little bit of arthritis in my fingers so I’m having a little trouble with the fingering. I probably should have gotten a larger ukulele for my fat fingers. She gave me some tips on how to work with my fingers.”
There are four sizes of ukulele.
“I’ve had a ukulele for a while and never learned to play it,” Silvernail said. “My daughter lives in Hawaii, and I bought this out at Aloha Stadium from a vendor there.”
John DiGiacobbe, Brookfield, who attended with his wife and grown son, had never played ukulele before.
“I just thought it’d be fun.” he said. “I always wanted to learn something like that.”
For the first time, “I did all right until we started doing singing and trying to keep along,” DiGiacobbe said. “It’s hard enough trying to figure out the chords.”
Darko said she started teaching the ukulele because, “I love to share the joy of ukulele. No matter what you play, it never sounds sad.”
She taught the class of six men and nine women – 10 of whom were brand new to the instrument – strum technique, tempo, positioning of the instrument on your body, and what to look for in buying a ukulele.
Darko introduced four chords – C, G7, A minor and F – and showed how they are played in folk songs such as “You Are my Sunshine,” “Skip to My Lou” and “Red River Valley,” and explained that these same chords are used in more poppy fare, including “Heart and Soul,” “Stand by Me” and “A Teenager in Love.”
It takes practice to get the chord fingering down, but it doesn’t take intense concentration for hours at a time. Darko suggested keeping your ukulele close by while watching television and practicing on the commercials.
“Don’t be worried,” she said. “It’ll be fine.”
The Brookfield library loans out ukuleles to adults, just as it does books and videos. Ukuleles, which come with an electronic tuner and playing manual, can be checked out for three weeks, said Branch Manager Amanda Murphy.
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Darko will hold another jam session at 11 a.m. Aug. 8 and lead a three-session workshop on playing the uke at 1 p.m. July 11, 18 and 25.
