Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1479538
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 21 - 27, 2022 UCW 15 Fayetteville Ukulele Club holds upcoming workshop by LAURA BROWNE EVENT After the stresses and busyness brought on by the week, leader of the Fayetteville Ukulele Club Mary Hill said she and her group mem- bers find relief as they strum their ukuleles, an instrument Hill calls "cheerful." "is is a time when we just sit down and nothing else matters, we just play the music, we just sing and all of the stresses melt away," Hill said. Now members of the club and the community can learn more about this musical form of stress relief in an upcoming workshop hosted by ukulele player David Remiger, also known as Ukester Brown. e Ukester Brown Workshop will be held at e Sweet Palette in downtown Fayetteville on Sept. 25 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. e main focus of the workshop will be learning more about efficient chord building and how players can make the transitions between chords easier. Registration for the event will cost $10, with ukuleles available to rent for $5. e workshop will also feature door prizes and a raffle for a ukulele. Sweet treats will also be available at e Sweet Palette, Hill said. "Of course there's cupcakes, be- cause the Sweet Palette has the best cupcakes in town," Hill said. Following the workshop, Ukester Brown will hold a small concert followed by a jam session, free to all those in the Sweet Palette. Hill, a mostly self-taught ukulele player herself, also considers herself a self taught leader, forming the group, which will celebrated it's third anniversary on Sept. 17, out of her own desire to play with others. "When you play with other people, you get better, you learn be- cause people have different styles, and I wanted that so bad so I just decided, evidently no one else was going to do it, so I should do it," Hill said. e club's first meeting exceeded Hill's expectations, with eight people showing up to participate. e group continued to grow and meetings continued through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic via Zoom. e group meets each ursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to play togeth- er at e Sweet Palette. e music helped bring partici- pants together, helping to fill the hole left behind by the pandemic, Hill said, allowing them to share music together. According to Hill, many group members were strangers prior to meeting through the club. As they joined they also bonded through their love of making music. "ese people did not know each other," Hill said. "ey come togeth- er and play every week and they're friends. So I put these people to- gether and they became friends so I think that's really cool." e Ukulele remains an attractive instrument for many, Hill said, for its portable size, and for how easy it is to learn. Despite its accessibility, Hill em- phasized that the ukulele is not an instrument to overlook. "I don't want to discount it by say- ing it's easy to learn and things like that," Hill said. "It is easy to learn and to get to a certain level, but you can play complicated pieces on it as well and it can hang in there with guitars and things like that. It can definitely be whatever you want it to be." ose registering for the Ukester Brown Workshop can send an email to 1happyukulele@gmail.com, not- ing if they need to rent a ukulele. Bring the family, bring chairs, and relax to some great music. FREE EVENT Parking available at 5pm, $10 per vehicle, any size. Food & Beverage sales starting at 5pm. No outside containers or coolers. No pets, Only service animals. Join us for Rock'n On The River concert series. September 30th, 2022 rocknontheriver@gmail.com DARK HORSE COUNTRY 6:00 pm 6:00 pm 1122 Person St, Fayetteville, NC 28312 ABACAB 8:00 pm GENESIS & PHIL COLLINS TRIBUTE LAURA BROWNE, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. (910) 484-6200