Ukule-Along: Summer's Twangiest All-Play

Musicians of various skill levels come together to strum, at the Music Center.

When you were back in elementary school, and you were sitting on the little stage in your gym, waving at your family, and all of a sudden 50 recorders were joined together playing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," did you ever think you'd grow up to play again in a big group, a group where everyone is wielding the same instrument? 

Probably not. Music groups tend to boast a diverse array of music-making devices, from guitars to drums.

There are exceptions, however. TubaChristmas is a popular December tuba-carol-jam-a-thon, one that shows up in multiple cities, and Ukule-Along? Well, you can guess what every musician is strumming.

Did we say "strumming" right there? Indeed we did, which was a big giveaway: The Music Center's annual Ukule-Along is the all-ukulele summer strum-off. Uke-loving musicians gather over three Saturdays and play with "hundreds of other ukulele lovers."

That's right. Hundreds. Of. Ukuleles. All at once.

The dates are July 5, Aug. 2, and Sept. 13. Yep, those are all Saturdays, and the uke-a-rama goes down in the mornings. Morning to early afternoon.

Best register soon, though: It closes on the last day of June. Fee is 10 bucks. Be an amateur musician and be over 18. And if you're a beginner or "rusty" no worries -- you can arrive early and bone up.

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Seriously, is there a more delightfully vintage, black-and-white, romantic-song instrument than the ukulele? Don't be jealous, accordion, you qualify, too. But the idea of many, many ukes soothing with their strummy ways, all at once, puts us in a summer's-fine kind of mood, indeed.

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