Day 26: I have had a lesson.

This is what it’s all been leading up to, hasn’t it?  I had my first ukulele lesson last night.  Much like falling in love it was everything I hoped it would be and a complete and total surprise.

The music school is in a trendy neighborhood, or maybe it’s post-trendy – I don’t keep up with these things very well.  On the street it is only a door with a sign and sandwich board.  You enter the door and descend down the stairs a good 20 feet into the basement of an old retail building.  I had been here before when I bought my ukulele, but the music school occupies the other half or more of the basement.  They have soundproofed the rooms and everything was well lit and clean.  I got checked in and given the standard flyer on what happens if a class is canceled or a teacher is sick, and then I was sent back to the “green” room.  I need to pay attention next time, I wasn’t aware of anything particularly green about the room.  The instructor was already there, he seems to be a nice man about 10-15 years older than me.

I was very nervous.  This is so  new to me and I’m not always  good at change or new things.  I figured my discomfort meant I was doing the right thing.  I showed him my ukulele and he strummed it a bit and declared it a good beginner’s uke.  I had tuned it before coming to class and he didn’t make any adjustments.  As he tuned the other uke’s as they arrived I think I must have done it right.  Go me!

There are 7 people in our class, all adults and all but one with little or no musical training.  This really put me at ease as I naturally had assumed that everybody else would know a lot about music and the ukulele would be their 6th or 8th instrument.  Nope, all rank beginners.  whew.  John (the instructor) had a handout with lots of information, definition sheets and diagrams, songs and scales to practice.  He lost me for a minute when he asked us to write each note on each string at each fret.  I saw his lips moving but my brain just wouldn’t understand his words.  I kept paying attention and sure enough in a moment the lightbulb went off and “ping” I understood what he was asking for.  I love that feeling, that beautiful “I got it” moment.

We all got to try some chords and strumming along with a basic song and before I knew it the class was over.  The pacing was a bit fast, but there is so much to learn and I don’t want to waste a moment so I wouldn’t want it any other way.  I walked away with some assignments and practice for next week, along with the stern admonition that it is better to practice 15 minutes at a time, several times throughout the day, than grinding through an hour just because.  Will do.

This morning I couldn’t wait and I busted out the handout and tried my hand at “I’ll Fly Away”.  I played it reasonably well, good enough that my partner could recognize it while getting out of the shower.  I can’t wait to get home and practice tonight.

Now for something completely different.  On the topic of feeling like the dumbest person in the room I came across this episode of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson where he interviewed Stephen Fry.  At the 1:30 mark Stephen starts talking about just this topic.  I like the way he describes it, and am comforted to know that everybody gets that feeling.