Write a Song

“ To understand the personal growth that this bucket list item will bring, you must first understand where I have started on this journey.”

To understand the personal growth that this bucket list item will bring, you must first understand where I have started on this journey. Music is something that I have always enjoyed listening to but listening and creating are worlds apart. I grew up in a household where we listened to a lot of music, my father was always playing his old records and cassettes and my mother really enjoyed playing the piano. I don't know what it was but I fell in love with the sound of the ukulele. and my parents. My parents gave me one when I was around 3 years old. I can still remember strumming it randomly, having no clue what I was doing, and my parent's praising me for how good I was haha.

Maybe what drew me to the uke was the beautiful tones, maybe it was a young child wanting to be like his father guitar playing father or maybe it was my parent's praise. Whatever it was that drew me to it, it was something that I always wanted to learn to play but for some reason never did. When I was young there was no opportunity for lessons. When I grew older life just seemed to get in the way with work and sports taking up most of my time. The ukulele sat forgotten me for years, with the occasional reminder.

One of those reminders was on a trip to Bali. Has I walked to markets in Ubud, I saw a collection of Bob Marley, painted ukuleles. I am a huge Bob Marley fan so wanted to buy one for my collection. I made a deal with the store owner that I would buy one only if he taught me to play the song he was playing "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz. The deal was made and my first lesson began. We spent about 30 minutes and I could not make a single note haha. When I returned from my trip, the uke sat proudly unused on my display shelf with other Bob Marley memorabilia.

Fast forward a year or 2 later and after hearing the Pixar song Lava, I got the itch to learn to play. I started by watching videos on YouTube and practiced for a month but for some reason, my version sounded nothing like how it was taught haha. I realized I needed a teacher and not just any teacher but a gifted teacher. Now I was not a little kid anymore I had money so the opportunity to learn was there all I needed to was looking for it. I spent a couple of weeks looking for a teacher, going through countless listings and listening to the way they played and how they communicated. I eventually found someone I thought would be a good teacher ( I was wrong they turned out to be an amazing teacher) and booked my first lesson.

The lesson went really well and even though I was so bad, the encouragement and passion that came from my teacher, was inspiring and transferred to me. After the lesson, I felt really positive, taking what she taught me and spending countless hours practicing. Eventually, I was able to play my first song. I played it far from perfectly but the fact I was able to play it made me excited. One song became 2 then 3 and so on. I have so much to learn and after playing for almost 2 years, I would still call myself a beginner but I am a beginner that has found a passion. A passion that I really enjoy and for me, enjoyment is the driving force. To be honest I wish I knew how much enjoyment this little instrument would have given me years ago. Had I known sooner I would have made this apart of my life years ago.

I still do get shy playing in front of people and this is something I need to get over. Where I live there is a shopping centre with a really nice community garden. Amongst the greenery, there is a long bench and the area is lit up by string lights. To the side is a small wooden i-cream shop. The way it is set up, it looks really nice, especially at night time. Night time oozes a feeling of tranquillity and would be a great place to play the ukulele. My goal is to one day have enough confidence in my uke playing to spend the summer evenings sitting out there and playing.

This bucket list item is about being creative and getting over my fears. The creative side is taking what I have learned so far and somehow, figuring out a way to create something unique. The fears come from two sides, there is the fear of playing in front of people and the fear of ridicule in publicly sharing my own creations.

For this bucket list item, these are the parameters.

* I must write the entire song without help.

* I must record and share the song online.

* I must play on the recording but I can use other musicians for accompaniment.

* I must create a video to go with the song.

* Once I have uploaded the song, I can not hide it and it must be shared.

* I must go to the community garden and play my song in front of other people.

* I must complete this within 6 months of the posted date.