Ukulele lessons strike a chord with Edmontonians in need

Weeks after the video of a homeless man playing the piano in Edmonton went viral, a new free music program is putting instruments in the hands of vulnerable Edmontonians.

Ukuleles, to be specific.

As a teacher in the Uke-Can-Play program, musician Bob Cook makes weekly visits to the Bissell Centre and Boyle Street Community Services with a bushel of ukuleles in tow. There, he gives free music lessons to anyone who wants to learn.

He says the ukulele is the perfect instrument to teach, as it’s lighter and has fewer strings – and therefore easier to master – than a guitar.

“It’s getting them playing very quickly with the fundamentals of guitar – and you can cross over to guitar if you want to – but here you can make music at a high quality level fairly quickly.”

For those new to music-making, being able to get a handle on an instrument in just an hour or two can have a huge impact, says Rylan Kafara with the inner-city recreation program.

“To find out that they can learn how to play a few chords right away, and be essentially playing the framework or foundation to a song – and from there it can help build with self-confidence and maybe even identity too. Maybe they've always wanted to do this and never had the chance.”

“It was very uplifting and gave you a brand new start on the day,” said Franco Giordano, a regular at Boyle Street Community Services who first picked up a ukulele last week as part of the program.

“It sort of made a brighter day ... not so dull and gloomy and boring.”

By the lesson’s end, he was already picking out Beatles tunes and looking forward to his next session on the strings.

Uke-Can-Play is funded by a music education grant from the Calgary Foundation.