Everyone loves the ukulele. They're cheap, portable, easy to start playing and available in every colour of the rainbow. They're versatile, too – fans of all musical genres can play their favourite numbers on a uke.
Ukulele punk Danielle Greenwood is the boss of the Uke Lift Project and founder of the Bristol Ukulele Festival. ‘I've just secured a venue for the 2020 festival and it's three times larger than last year!’ she tells me. Performing is at the heart of Greenwood's teaching practice, whether that's a mini concert at home or a school assembly where the parents are invited in. ‘The buzz felt from performing usually becomes contagious and the groups want to keep learning so they can perform again.’
Greenwood's adult learners have their own band names and logos. She owns her own PA system and puts on pub gigs for the strummers' friends and family. Each week she teaches 150 people in a variety of settings: in-school lessons and after-school clubs, one-to-one and group private lessons, and even outdoor sessions, whatever the weather. She's run large-scale workshops at summer music festivals and for groups from the Scouts to the WI. ‘The great advantage of the ukulele is that you can generally teach a whole group how to play a song within a one-hour workshop,’ she tells me. ‘The quick results mean that people feel encouraged to keep going.’
I ask Greenwood about her musical beginnings. ‘I have always been obsessed with music and tried to play many, many instruments, but nothing ever stuck with me,’ she says. ‘I then discovered that I could sing. I always sang at home but I was 17 when I realised that I was brave enough and had a voice good enough to sing in public. I started my first band and was the lead singer.’
Greenwood grew up in El Paso, Texas, on the US-Mexico border, but has lived in the UK for over two decades. ‘I was the frontwoman of a few punk rock bands in both America and England. Although I was a singer in punk bands, I loved mixing my vocals around to sing between blues and punk to sound different than all the other bands around.’
The ukulele came into her life at a challenging time. ‘In 2011 I had a phone call from my best friend. We were both preparing for major operations and she'd decided to teach herself a new instrument while she was recovering. I promised to do the same so that we could start a band together. We started teaching ourselves and each other over Skype.’
Soon they were having monthly ukulele meetups with other women in a London pub. ‘From those meetups we formed a punk ukulele band with about 15 other women. I have been playing and teaching ever since.’
Greenwood's band, the pUKEs, toured the UK for years. She's now based in Bristol and dedicated to teaching. ‘I took the leap three years ago – I was working in primary schools, always stressed, no budget – and decided to switch to teaching ukulele full-time. That's when I set up the Uke Lift Project.’
She's happy working across genres, and gets frequent requests. ‘We've done things I thought would never work on the ukulele – tracks by artists like Avicii and songs from Nintendo games. I use a lot of imagination and teach pupils to not only use strumming but tapping the ukulele to make percussion, which can replicate the original track.’
Her current teaching favourites are Rag and Bone Man's ‘Human’ and Lorde's ‘Royals’.
Greenwood uses ukulele tablature, which she finds easy and accessible for both adults and children. ‘I use a few websites for song ideas and then transpose the songs to where they'll work best for each group. I love UkuleleHunt.com and UkuTabs.com. I also use some teaching books such as Ukulele Magic [Collins] with children – the backing tracks help the children engage and follow along with the songs.’
I ask what advice she'd give to music leaders wanting to try out the uke. ‘Why not start out with a few friends and try to teach each other?’ she says. ‘So many adults and children say to me that they are rubbish at music. I remind them that the ukulele is the ‘can-do instrument’ and before you know it, they are playing songs. Spread the ukulele love!’
Visit www.ukelift.com for more.
