Ukulele Time!

On Saturday evening, I played in the Raunds Ukulele Group. We were the 'guest artists' at the Raunds Community Choir Christmas Concert. OK, so the Britain's Got Talent judges might not have put us through to the next round, but we had such a laugh. It's just not possible to be miserable when you're playing a ukulele. This was the first time I had performed on a musical instrument since I was at school. They still talk of my glockenspiel virtuosity in the halls of Picknalls County Primary.

It seems to me there are two ways of teaching music.

1. to pass exams - this was the way I was taught to play the piano, as a result of which while I can still do a passable rendition of Chopin's Raindrop Prelude, I can't do much else
2. to instill the joy of playing - surely the better way.

My modest ukulele strumming has allowed me to find an outlet for my musical inclinations, but with no pressure to achieve greatness. We turn up on a Thursday evening, pick a song, play it, stumble over the chords, laugh and have another go. Then we pick another song and repeat the whole, glorious process.

Even on Saturday, when we were 'performing', the overriding motivation was to have fun and to share the joy of this quirky little instrument with the audience. Sure enough, as soon as we appeared, people started to smile. As we played, they joined in with the songs and tapped their feet. They clapped: hell, they even cheered!

Now, that's what I call music.