An instrument known for its relaxing and melodic tones is uniting people from all walks of life in Seward.
Once a month, the Seward Area Ukulele Players gather in a circle and for an hour or so, strum songs together on their ukuleles.
Veronica Gabel, group leader, said the group is open to anyone who owns a ukulele and is looking for a place to play.
“It’s fun to play with other people, learn different songs, share with each other and just laugh,” she said.
Gabel said she started the group three years ago with a post on the Seward community Facebook chat page and some additional flyers. She said she doesn’t have an exact number on how many belong to the group, as attendance and attendees vary each meeting, but that’s one of the elements that makes the group enjoyable.
“We just wanted to invite anyone who wanted to show up, to show up,” she said. “Some people have been here from the beginning and some people will show up once. You just don’t know who is going to come…but it’s all for fun.”
Meetings are informal in nature, Gabel said. They don’t follow an agenda or a setlist, but rather play songs people bring in or work on group favorites.
“We just play. We bring songs, we share songs,” she said. “We have some songs that we share and play, or someone might show up and say, ‘Hey, I want to try this song.’ We don’t really have rules here.”
This particular group isn’t typically a performance act, she said. However, it’ll get its first public performance at this year’s Fourth of July celebration in Seward. They’ll perform a couple of patriotic tunes, as well as some classic radio hits. In order to ready for the show, they’ve bumped practices up to two times per month instead of its usual one meeting on the second Thursday of the month. Gabel said after the Fourth, they’ll likely return to the regular one meeting, free play format.
She said it’s never too late to join the group and if anyone is interested, they don’t need to sign up or register. All they have to do is bring a ukulele, a stand and a desire to have fun.
“We’re just having fun,” she said. “All you have to know is a couple chords, don’t worry about being a good ukulele player. It doesn’t matter…we’re just having fun.”
