Ukulele in Weston

Ukelele strikes a major chord among all ages

Norman Nichols plays his part at Weston’s Council on Aging class.

By Steve MaasGLOBE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Outside on this particular Tuesday afternoon, the temperature was stuck in the 20s. But inside, it was a different story.

“Summer camp for old people,” said Arthur Goldstein, before quickly correcting himself. “Older people.”

It was the weekly ukulele class in the Weston Council on Aging’s quarters on Alphabet Lane, where up to 15 or so enthusiastic pluckers polished renditions of songs ranging from “Amazing Grace” to “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.”

power of the ukulele

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/01/though-it-be-little-the-rise-of-the-ukulele/384453/ 

The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Ukulele

The little instrument has gone from being an exotic new trend to the embodiment of kitsch since it arrived on Hawaii 125 years ago, but is currently enjoying a revival.

Marion Jacobson Jan 25 2015, 8:30 AM ET

Wikimedia

With its chunk-a-chunk sound, whispery nylon strings, and diminutive body, the ukulele is having a moment. Or maybe even a decade. Zooey Deschanel strums one while crooning sweetly with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Tony Blair disrupts Labour Party conventions with one. When Eddie Vedder impulse-bought one on a trip to Hawaii, he was compelled to record a whole album of Ukulele Songs. (It won a Grammy, of course.) And then a Hawaiian ukulele prodigy played a Beatles cover in Central Park, and the video went viral—but more on that later.