Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
That stereotype of a librarian quietly shushing patrons is right out the window early on Thursday afternoons at the Sweet Home Library, when a group of up to nine ukulele players gather to practice, trade songs and sing.
A handful of patrons are typically seated in the “Teen Room” using the library’s wi-fi service, while the players come together to make music. On the third Thursdays, the group travels to Wiley Creek Community to entertain residents with a variety of songs that can range across traditional numbers to 1960s rock ’n’ roll.
The Sweet Home Ukulele Group began with Jean Ott-Osborn.
She said “the renaissance of the ukulele throughout the world was a fascination and inspiration.” She made it the topic of a program she gave in 2016 to the local Philanthropic Educational Organization. She is a member of the PEO, a national organization of women dedicated to raising money to help female college students with tuition.
She showed a video demonstrating the worldwide interest in the ukulele and the ease of learning to play the instrument.
Ott-Osborn had played the ukulele for several years during the winter as a novice with a group of friends in Hawaii.
As part of the PEO program, Ott-Osborn recruited fellow PEO members Susan Thompson and Mary Brendle to learn some simple chords and to lead a singalong with the members.
“The program piqued the interest of members Ann Rose, Diane Gerson and Eva Jurney to the point that they suggested forming a local ukulele group,” Ott-Osborn said.
“So a ukulele group was formed in 2016, and about eight PEO members started getting together weekly to learn techniques and to jam.”
“Several of us thought it would be fun to learn to play and meet once a week to play together,” said PEO member Diane Gerson. “We met at my house until the group became too large, and Rose (Peda) offered to let us play at the library.”
Sweet Home Public Library Director Rose Peda had attended the original PEO program, Ott-Osborn said, and “became fascinated and then purchased ukuleles for the library so interested persons in the community could check out and learn to play the ukes. Rose then encouraged interested Sweet Home citizens to come to the library weekly for kanikapila, a sharing and jamming session, at which time, the original PEO uke group melded into the library group.”
“Some of the original group still play, but others moved on to other interests while new players have joined in,” Gerson said.
“The library hosted an ukulele one-day program that I eagerly attended because I had been teaching myself through Internet tutorials for about a year,” said Debra Roberts. “While attending the library program, I met two ladies, Ann Rose and Jean Ott-Osborn, through Diane Gerson, a mutual friend (and member of the Library Board).”
Susan Angland is among those who joined up later. Her history as a musician was short. She had plinked around with the guitar about 30 years ago.
“I’ve only been playing for about four years,” Angland said. When she was in the Kiwanis Club, she attended a training where a band of children and adults played.
“I thought, ‘If they can do it, I can do it,’” Angland said. She bought a $60 instrument and started learning to play, using YouTube videos.
The decision was easy for her.
“I like to sing,” Angland said. “I had some way to accompany myself. It feels good. It’s kind of a way of meditating. It’s soothing.”
She saw information in The New Era about the new ukulele group at the library, she said, and “I just started showing up. What I was playing, I felt isolated. It’s fun to play but not so much to do it alone.”
She thought it would be enjoyable to learn things and trade songs with other ukulele players. People in the group often learn something online, and they bring it to the group to teach the others.
Roberts found the same thing.
“Even though I found the Internet tutorials to be a fabulous way to learn, playing and learning with a group was so much more fun,” she said.
She thought she may have reached the point where playing alone was boring.
“Like all the other times I’ve tried to learn to make music, I would have eventually stopped. The laughter, the challenges, the fellowship, those are the things I love to share with our awesome group.”
Roberts found out, after playing ukulele for almost two years, that her maternal great grandmother had run away and joined an all-women ukulele band and toured the country with it in the 1930s and 1940s.
“How fun is that to discover?” she asked.
Jody Paris plays a “uke guitar” with the group, she said. “It is a guitar the size of a ukulele, with different chord shapes, slightly different sound.”
Paris has played guitar off and on since junior high, but she has only dabbled in the ukulele. She played guitar with friends in Eugene for a few years, several of whom took up the ukulele and started a ladies’ uke group that eventually started playing local restaurants and breweries for fun.
“It’s a nice hobby,” Paris said. “I can relax. As a mom, music is something that doesn’t get undone behind me.”
She has been playing with the library group for about two months, she said. She enjoys the community and the confidence it helps build. She had “been looking for people to play with since we moved here (six years ago).”
For her the music is a family thing.
Two of her three children have ukuleles, Paris said. One played in a school club at Walterville Elementary School, and the other has been teaching himself. He may join the community group this summer.
Her daughter took part in the guitar club at Sweet Home Junior High, Paris said.
“I would love to see more music education and clubs available for youth in the area.”
Shelley Barlow of Lebanon is one of the newest members of the group.
“One of my friends lives in Sweet Home,” Barlow said, and she soon brought her ukulele to Sweet Home to play in the group.
Before the ukulele, her only previous experience was piano lessons as a child. She ended up skipping those because it was summer time. She got into the ukulele as a way to connect with a granddaughter.
“I had actually purchased a ukulele for myself and granddaughter,” Barlow said. They share a birthday, so “I treated myself so we’d have something in common a year and a half ago.”
Since then, she’s purchased an ukulele for all but one grandchild. He is already a multi-instrumentalist.
She’s still early in learning the ukulele, Barlow said. She doesn’t have callouses on her fingertips yet.
But it’s not a difficult instrument to learn, and it’s fun, she said. Playing in a group challenges her as she’s learning new songs, and she can share that with her grandchildren.
“When they come to my house, we have all kinds of drummy things, whistly things,” Barlow said. She doesn’t have a TV, and if she can get them off their phones, they have a good time making music.
Angland said it was her idea for the group to begin playing at Wiley Creek.
“It’s just nice to have someone listen to you and enjoy it,” Angland said.
Angland said the group is open to others, generally about the same level of accomplishment, but the group is working on ways to bring new musicians up to the same level as the group.
The group can help beginners to a certain degree, and Roberts plans to begin offering lessons to children at the library this summer.
The group is specifically seeking musicians who can play any instruments that complement the ukulele, Angland said.
The group meets at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays except for the third Thursday.