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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
When a ukulele comes into the scene, there’s usually a group of singing people holding hands around a campfire, isn’t there?
Well, not quite.
Over a dozen ukulele players gather every Wednesday at Dover’s Caryl Community Center to practice playing. They join together in song, leaving the marshmallow roasting and sleeping bags for another time. Players of all different skills are welcome to join and play for an hour from a book of chords and lyrics that each participant owns.
Daniel Metraux, a Natick resident who visits Dover each week to teach the class, stands at the front of the room to facilitate learning and give feedback after every song. The class practices the chords of the songs and agrees on which chord they will play when there are two versions of the same song. They then perform songs such as “Down in the Valley,” “Freight Train,” and “Peace Like a River.”
After “Freight Train,” a beginner participant finds that the song calls for fast chord changes, but it is difficult for the less experienced ukulele players. However, Metraux knows how to accommodate the new students when they get to a challenging song: “If you find the chords are going too fast, do not feel obligated to play them. You can skip over them or just sing. Whatever you like,” Metraux says, reassuringly.
Continuing the class with “Jambalaya,” “Skip to my Lou,” and “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” Metraux makes jokes and tells stories between the songs, keeping the atmosphere peaceful and casual. While the emphasis of the class is ukulele playing, they also sing many classic songs.
“I know a lot of the songs. I grew up with them,” says Sally Shoemaker, who has only been playing the ukulele for two weeks, but has a long history of singing.
“You’ll notice that a lot of the songs are American,” Metraux starts, “and there’s a good reason for that: because we’re in America.” The group decides to play the old sea shanty, “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor,” and finish the class with “The Rose.”
As they strum their tiny guitar-like instruments, participants of Dover’s weekly ukulele class perform and sing together.
Although Metraux and the participants prove that a ukulele does not always need to be in accompaniment of s’mores, Metraux did, in fact, first learn to play the ukulele at camp. “When I was younger in Switzerland, I was in various camps and the ukulele was very fashionable back then, so, of course, I learned,” he said. When he first came to the ukulele class in Dover, it consisted of just seven people. In the past three years, he has not only become the instructor, but also nearly quadrupled the size of the class, with over 30 participants registered.
The class brings back memories of songs from the participants’ childhoods and allows them to bond - all while learning a skill.
“My motto is that for one hour a week, we are 16 again,” says Metraux.
