BRATTLEBORO — Back in January, Ben Carr was thinking about the success that his friend and colleague Jamie MacDonald had had with the monthly jazz jam he had started.
The Saxtons River musician, who teaches ukulele lessons at the Open Music Collective, a space in the Cotton Mill for lessons, rehearsals, and workshops for musicians in the Brattleboro area, floated the idea for a similar group - this one comprised entirely of ukulele players.
MacDonald, the collective's artistic director, responded enthusiastically to the idea.
“His comments to me were enough push for me to start this group, which I had been thinking about doing for a while,” Carr says.
And with that, a new society was born.
Since then, the Southern Vermont 'Ukulele Society has met on the last Sunday of every month.
Carr, who also performs with regional acts, including Mo Ambesa, Sunny Lowdown, and BroadBand, was a little nervous about that first meeting. He had tried to start a ukulele ensemble back in the fall, but there simply wasn't enough interest.
To start the current society, he approached many of his current and former ukulele students at the Open Music Collective, rounded up some acquaintances, sent flyers to the collective's mailing list, and posted notices at local music shops.
He was pleasantly surprised when six musicians showed up for the group's first practice with their ukuleles.
“I thought I'd be lucky if I had one!” Carr says.
These days, between four and 10 members meet every two weeks, mixing improvisation with reading music arranged for “ukuleles in a big-band way,” says Carr, who has assembled songs that the musicians can quickly pick up, such as old folk tunes.
The mission statement of the society is “to create an environment that allows everyone to explore the sounds and playing styles of the instrument,” which the members achieve in a few different ways.
Increasing the players' technical skill is certainly one way, and sight-reading and playing new pieces at each meeting helps to achieve that goal.
As the group has become more cohesive, they have begun to open themselves up to live performances. Carr has recently arranged for the group to perform during the annual Strolling of the Heifers in early June, so the group is rehearsing for that performance.
Though the members of the society come from many different places, they come together through their interest in this unique and quirky instrument, which evolved from stringed instruments brought to Hawaii in the 1800s by Portuguese sugar cane workers.
According to the website of the 'Ukelele Guild of Hawaii, “in late August, 1879, the Hawaiian Gazette reported that 'Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts.' The writer also commented on the 'very sweet music' played 'on strange instruments which are a kind of cross between a guitar and banjo.'”
The instrument was introduced to U.S. audiences in 1915 and was popular in the first part of the twentieth century.
A 2009 story in the Los Angeles Times pinpoints the instrument's resurgence to Paul McCartney's 2002 tribute performance to his fellow Beatles alumnus George Harrison, a ukulele aficionado.
The average member of the Southern Vermont 'Ukulele Society, says Carr, is simply a person who likes to smile and enjoy life.
“I've done a lot of solo gigs playing the uke, and I realize that people walking past me just seem to smile,” he says. “Other people say, 'How can you not smile when you see or hear someone playing the uke?'”
“It's something that just brings joy,” Carr says.
And how does an entire ensemble of these instruments sound?
“It sounds happy,” he says, laughing.