Class limited to 15
$25 per person, Loaner ukuleles provided, or bring your own!
Ages 6th grade +

Take this beginner level class in ukulele and then have fun performing a song with Simple Gifts at their concert on the Village Green that evening. In this class, you will learn 2-3 chords and the basics of fingerpicking and strumming and be ready to go! Ukulele is an excellent introduction to guitar, since it is the same as the upper four strings of the guitar. As a special treat, after the intermission at the evening performance, the performers will pass out spoons, and everyone in the audience who is game will learn the basics of playing the spoons. You will be playing along with their performance in no time!

Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon perform under the name Simple Gifts, a folk/blues group. They are both accomplished multi-instrumentalists. Linda has a strong background as a classical violinist, having served as Principal Second Violin in the Nittany Valley Symphony. She also plays hammered dulcimer, bowed psaltery, 5-string banjo, and recorders. At Grinnell College Karen designed her own specialty, “Traditional Music in American Culture.” She studied and is influenced by ragtime, classical, American string band music, African drumming, blues, gospel, and jazz. In the ’70s Karen toured nationally with the bluegrass band Whetstone Run and has released two albums with the Rustical Quality String Band. Over the years she has picked up baritone fiddle, mandolin, banjolin, banjo-guitar, and a wide variety of percussion instruments.

Learn more about Simple Gifts on their website.