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Date: 8/9/2018
AGAWAM – Musician and songwriter Julie Stepanek hosted her second ukulele workshop at the Agawam Public Library on Aug. 6.
Around 20 adults and teens filed into the library’s Community Room at 6:30 p.m. to learn more about the string instrument – many of which had no prior experience at all. Stepanek provided 24 ukuleles, ranging in size and color, while a few participants brought their own.
“It’s great insofar as people can come without having a ukulele and see if they like it before choosing to buy one,” said Stepanek. “It’s much easier to play than other string instruments. A guitar has six strings and a ukulele has four. A ukulele also has nylon or plastic strings, so you don’t have to build up the callouses you need for the guitar. The size is also easier because they are smaller.”
This is the second workshop the Shutesbury resident has hosted at the library – her first workshop was in July and only involved children. At the Aug. 6 workshop, Stepanek taught the adults and teens how to tune, read chord diagrams and play one or two chord songs.
No experience or knowledge is necessary to participate in one of her workshops, she explained.
“I love doing what I do – I love teaching groups of people because the ukulele is a very communal instrument. People love to play together,” she said. “People want music in their life – it makes you happy to play and it makes you happy to sing. The ukulele is one of the instruments that people aren’t intimidated by.”
The workshop was part of the Agawam Public Library’s summer reading program. It was free for all attendees and sponsored by the Agawam Cultural Council.
Stepanek had originally been a guitar player for a decade before she received a ukulele as a gift in 2007. She eventually started teaching ukulele at her local library – and it has spiraled ever since.
“I came to do this kind of work because I worked in libraries – mostly kids programs. So, there were lots of story times and music times and I always had the ukulele,” she said. “So, the libraries started thinking of me as the person with a ukulele and started hiring me to teach. I came to the ukulele via my love of libraries as much as my love of music.”
The ukulele enthusiast added that she loves playing the instrument because it has a “very sweet sound.”
The four-string instrument is a member of the lute family of instruments. It originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian adaptation of the Portuguese machete, and gained popularity in the rest of the country during the early 20th century.
While the ukulele has always been a celebrated instrument, especially among adults, it has had a recent growth in popularity among the younger crowd.
Stepanek attributes this to the alternative hip-hop band Twenty One Pilots, in which the lead singer performs a ukulele cover of Elvis Presley’s “Cant Help Falling In Love.”
“With kids, it’s becoming more popular. There has always been a big group of adults who want to play – I don’t have any problems with adults filling my programs. With teens, it’s hard,” she said. “I think Twenty One Pilots has something to do with it, when they see people like that play it, they want to come in and do it.”
Stepanek’s next workshop is scheduled for Aug. 11 at the Bloomfield Public Library in Connecticut at 2 p.m.
For more information about her upcoming workshops, visit her website at https://www.calamine.com/home.html.