I woke up...

...this morning later than usual because I was expecting an Amazon parcel today. They never come before tea time.
I was about to turn over for another short nap when I thought I should check my phone...

“Driver is 8 stops away”...

Aargh...out of bed...cuppa...get dressed....

Parcel came. First photo. Popeye came along wanting to know how his Amazon order was. To understand this statement you will have to read Monday’s Blip
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2485876041470444949

Once I am opening parcel Popeye comes along and grabs my hand. I have my arthritis gloves and supports on because the weather has gone too cold for them. He thinks my hands are only for treats and stroking.

Then he is sitting on the chair, his back to me sulking because he got neither stroke or treat.

So I go and get some treats and open up the potting shed for him.

I am profoundly deaf, and still cannot hear with a cochlear implant. There is noise, but if I shut my eyes I cannot lipread to figure out what someone is saying. I cannot even hear my own voice. I modulate it to the vibrations in my chest which is how an old lady taught a deaf child (me) to speak many decades ago.

So, what the heck am I doing buying a ukulele?

I have always wanted to ‘listen’ to or ‘feel’ music rather.

I bought a large African drum a few decades ago. And this Nigerian guy tried to teach me. But I couldn’t quite get into it. And if you try and put your mug of coffee on it, you will get yelled at. It is NOT a coffee table.

Then, after I had the cochlear implant about 10 years ago now, someone gave me some money to buy a keyboard. It was quite expensive. I got the full size one but with just piano type settings in it. I tried to teach myself, but it doesn’t have the vibrations that you can feel when someone plays a piano. With being deaf, it is like hollow notes in a sense. I keep losing my will to keep at it. But I will keep trying.

Then on Sunday this week I decided to try for a Ukulele. Researched. Googled. You Tubed.

Why a Ukulele?

Well, I didn’t know, but I was assuming you (I) could feel the vibrations from the back of it on to my chest. The other problem was going to be tuning it. But I had seen on cassnet’s Blip last week of an electronic tuner she put on her ukulele https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2483728655646198139

Ah! This meant it might be a possibility now.

I was going to go to an actual music shop to touch and feel and try the sounds and vibrations of ukuleles. And try and get advice.

But Popeye preempted that on Monday when he leapt on my bed where I had put my iPad down. I was seeing how long it would take to be delivered. His paws landed in the screen putting my order through. But not before pawing promotional discount and getting me more off my purchase. It took me awhile to work out what he had done. There was a promotion on the ukulele page, but I never click on them now because you always have to buy more stuff to get something off.

But in this instance if you clicked the promotion link it simply gave you a discount for buying just the one item and no code number had to be inserted, but you still needed to press the promotion button in the order page which is what Popeye did. And hey presto.

The tenor ukulele look is nice and feels nice. The strings were way out. Floppy. Anyway a very tiny electronic tuner was with the ukulele. But no instructions in the box.

Two hours later I am still trying to work all this out. I am trying with this tiny tuner. Suddenly a light bulb in my head and I think I have worked it out. Then I downloaded a tuner app. And I was pleased that it tallied with the tuning I got with the electronic tuner.

With being deaf, there is no way I can tell whether I am tuning the ukulele correctly. But it feels much nicer now.

Now to learn how to play. I am only going to be playing for me. No people!!!

I couldn’t strum. I couldn’t pick the strings. Too clumsy.

Watched You Tube. Downloaded free ukulele books from Amazon. Went to the potting shed. Watched You Tube again. Found this very old post by a Hawaiian shop guy who was explains stuff in tiny steps. About 2008 I think it was. It was subtitled. But he is assuming you can hear what he is playing. I can’t. However, the first few videos he does explain clearly, and the subtitles are clear, so I think I will be able to work something out from him.

Anyway that is going to be my starting point.

I did research deaf people playing instruments, and the ukulele as well. But, it seems to me, all those I can find, initially had full hearing and had already had been involved in musical or played a musical instrument before becoming deafened.

I was born profoundly deaf. I have never had prior hearing. I have never heard the spoken word. With my cochlear implant, I now hear bits of things. The brain does a lot of working out and guesswork, probably based on the amount of words and books I have read over the years. A lot of guesswork is used for speech added with my lipreading.

But I cannot apply this to music.

So this is a new journey for me. It is a private journey in the sense that I will not allow anyone to hear me play. This afternoon, in the potting shed, sitting on my bed in there, I have been learning how to strum. Not bothered with the chords on the frets yet. And the strumming is becoming more comfortable and feeling soothing. So much so, Popeye is now sleeping and purring by the ukulele as I am strumming, which you can see in the last photo.

Have a great week.
Thanks for all your comments and stars and faves.
Take care x