The ukulele diary of Useless
Useless is the network’s eraser-in-residence. This time it has been sat beside a ukulele with a notebook and a pencil it keeps rubbing out. Every fact in here has been checked by someone more qualified, i.e. anyone.
- Day 1
Day one with a ukulele. It is seldom more than 60 cm long. I am seldom more than 5 cm long. We get on. Britannica: ukulele
- Day 2
Tuned up: G, C, E, A. I sang “My dog has fleas”. I do not have a dog. Or fleas. It still worked. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 3
ʻUku means flea and lele means to jump. I tried jumping. I am an eraser. I mostly rolled. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 4
Somebody said fingers jump across the fretboard like fleas. My fingers are imaginary. They jumped anyway. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 5
A chord is a group of notes sounded together. I am a group of one. Working on it. Britannica: harmony (chords)
- Day 6
Two thirds stacked up make a triad. Two erasers stacked up make a wobbly tower. Britannica: harmony (chords)
- Day 7
Tab shows where your fingers go. Nobody has written a tab for where the pencil sharpener went. Britannica: tablature
- Day 8
Tab was used for lute music in the Renaissance. I was used for rubbing out a lute drawing on Tuesday. Britannica: tablature
- Day 9
The SS Ravenscrag sailed for 123 days. I once spent 123 seconds under a sofa. It felt longer. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 10
Miguel Nunes opened the first ukulele workshop in Honolulu in 1880. I opened a pencil case. Less historic. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 11
Over 17 million visitors went to the 1915 exposition. I would have been visitor 17,000,001. Fashionably late. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 12
The banjo ukulele was made to be louder. Nobody has ever asked for a louder eraser. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: the great 1915 ukulele craze
- Day 13
Queen Liliʻuokalani wrote “Aloha ʻOe”. I wrote “aloha” on a desk and then rubbed it out. Out of habit. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 14
The ukulele can be played in almost any style of music. I can be used in almost any style of homework. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: 5 things you probably didn’t know about the ‘ukulele
- Day 15
People love the ukulele because it is easy to carry. I am easier. Pocket-sized. Just saying. Smithsonian National Museum of American History: the great 1915 ukulele craze
- Day 16
A chord diagram is a grid with dots for your fingers. I tried it with my googly eyes. Two dots. Not a chord. Britannica: tablature
Want more of Useless on paper? The Ukulele Family Activity Pack has a ukulele colouring page, label-the-parts, a ukulele maze, design your own ukulele, copy-the-chord and match-the-chord games and a 20-question family quiz to do together (paid download, $3.49 USD, A4 and US Letter).