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Another MUC is in the history books! And a wonderful time was had by all! This year the venue was the University of Toledo. The campus was pretty nice and the facilities well suited for learning the ukulele and harmonica. The format was pretty similar to previous years, the biggest notable difference was the slightly shorter class sizes. Capped right at an hour, many instructors were a bit frustrated at the shorter time frame. Starting off at noon on Friday and going until 2 on Sunday afternoon, it included eight workshops, two concerts, two strums and open mic opportunities Saturday at lunch and dinner. And room and board in the dorm next door was available, making for a convenient commute! For videos of some of the concert acts, visit Midwest Ukulele & Harmonica Camp’s Youtube Channel.
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| After the concerts, there were strum alongs and impromptu jam sessions. Andy Wilson, Reuben Stump, Casey MacGill, Karen, Sandy Weltman, Chrissy Ukulele, Melissa Sigh all took us through a musical odyssey as they played and sang lots of tunes. |  |
| As expected, the concert finale on Saturday night was a great time! All the instructors and most of the support staff on stage. |
Left to Right- Kirk Jones, Reuben Stump, Stan Werbin, John Payne, Amber Rozel, Christina Hogarth (Chrissy Ukulele), Bryan Tolentino, Herb Ohta, Jr., Eve Goldberg, Victoria Kolasinski (Viggy), Casey MacGill, Sandy Weltman, Andy Wilson, Melissa Sigh, Ben Hassenger, and Ray Cygrymus. |
The Workshops I TookVictoria ‘Viggy’ Kolasinski was a new instructor that I picked up at the airport. Unfortunately, this was the day the computer systems for most airlines crashed, causing delays for her arrival and slowing down the exit flights for a number of folks leaving. Her class Strum and Drum showed how to add percussion. It was well laid out and provided ample opportunity to get comfortable with the new techniques. |
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Ray Cygrymus Getting Spicy with Embellishments was an eye opener! He demonstrated simple things that can really change a piece of music, and showing how they are the things that allow us to recognize a song from just a few notes. He is also the pedal king, his pedal board boasting at least a dozen that he used to great effect.
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| The focus of the class I took with Eve Goldberg was the Carter Family-Style Ukulele and the major affect the Family had on the American Music scene. |  |
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Bryan Tolentino was a fun instructor. His class on Hawaiian Vamps and Turn-arounds was fun, as within ten minutes he had shown us how to create the appropriate starting point for any Hawaiian song and examples of when to use the turn arounds. Then we expanded into the basic formats of the music in general. |
| I took two classes from Casey MacGill, Blues with a Feeling and Polishing the Details. He has a great voice and his knowledge of musical history is deep. He would demonstrate a playing technique, help us work through it and then pull up examples from recordings of well known artists. When one student compared what we were doing with a current artist, Casey pulled it up and played a song, showing that the ideas are still as good today as when first laid out almost a century ago. |  |
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Herb Ohta, Jr Chord Melody – I’ll Remember You. Playing the ukulele since age 4, Herb brought a lot of traditional Hawaiian flare to the workshops. His sense of humor and teaching style were fun and easy to relate to.
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Other Instructors
Andy Wilson and Sandy Weltman are two of the longest running instructors at the camp, providing instruction on all things harmonica since the first camp. Their concert set never fails to entertain!
Chrissy Ukulele, Among other classes, she taught one where the class worked together and created a song they could all play when they finished!
Melissa Sigh, as been a music instructor for several decades. After running a music school in Lansing for many years, she has migrated to Hawaii, where she performs with hula dancers on a regular basis, as well as continuing music education to students both in person and online.
Kirk Jones has been an active part of the ukulele world for several years, being a part of several MUDs.
Amber Rozel has been great support for MUC over the years and was brought on to instruct some beginning classes.
Reubin Stump, a recent Michigan State grad has been hanging around MUC and MUD for many years. He led the bass track at this years camp. His father often shares the Guinness Record holding largest playable ukulele with Lansing area events.
And as always, kudos to our sponsors and organizers, Stan Werbin and Lily Werbin of Elderly Instruments and Ben Hassenger of Music is the Foundation. We love you all and appreciate your continued support of these learning opportunities!
It should come as no surprise that I’m planning on going next year as well! If you can fit this one in your schedule, it is a fun event with a lot of learning opportunities.
On a personal note, The Ukulele Dude retired the end of June. Expect to see more regular postings as I get settled into a new world order!
