WHAT musical instruments have you got in your home? Piano, harp, violin, guitar?
And can you play any?
Years ago most farmsteads had a piano in the parlour, as we did at Tan-Y-Bryn, Cefn Meiriadog. However as youngsters we were rarely allowed in the parlour because it was the “best” room.
My elder sister Mary started to learn but for some reason gave up. At the age of seven I started having lessons but had difficulty getting to grips with the theory.
I couldn’t remember my crochet’s from my quavers and my minors from my majors.
So I gave it up as a bad job.
My late mother, however, had a lot more success. When she was growing up at Hen Dy Farm, Cefn Meiriadog, she played the delightful sounding mandolin.
And she was awarded certificates (which I still have) issued in 1909 by the Tonic Sol-Fa College. She used to sit me on her knee and sing nursery rhymes, in Sol-Fa, such “Little Boy Blue”, “‘Baa. Baa, Black Sheep”, “Simple Simon” etc.
I remember it well.... I was 21 at the time!
For many years, as I watched George Formby in his prime, I wished I could play the ukulele. I thought if “gormless George” could play it, so could I.
Little did I know at the time that I was admiring a genius who just made it look easy.
In the 1990s I began singing George Formby songs to piano accompaniment when I was entertaining in the Olde Tyme Music Hall with a group called Button’s and Bow’s.
Three years ago I read a piece in my local paper inviting readers to learn to play the ukulele by joining the North Wales branch of The George Formby Society.
I went along to watch one of its monthly concerts at the British Legion Club, Pen-Y-Ffordd, near Mold.
I was hooked.
I chatted to some of the members and they offered every encouragement to join. The following day I bought myself an inexpensive (£25) ukulele and a few days later went to their practice and free tutoring night.
After an hour’s coaching I could play three tunes - slowly.
I practised at home for the next month ‘till my fingertips were numb and my index finger nail was worn down to the quick.
After two years I could play 20 tunes and was performing on stage at Pen-Y-Ffordd.
The true wooden ukulele (shaped like a small guitar) has a short finger-board and four strings. It originated in Hawaii but George Formby began playing a crossbreed between a ukulele and a banjo which its inventor called a “banjolele”.
Most people now call it a “banjo/ukulele”. It has four strings on a short fingerboard and a banjo-type resonator.
George was born in 1904 and died in 1961. At his peak he was one of the highest paid performers in the world. When he died it was reported that as many as 100.000 people lined the streets on his funeral day.
The George Formby Society has branches all over Britain and around the world. The North Wales branch was formed in December 1993 and some founder members still play.
Membership is very strong and growing; there are usually about 70 people in the audiences at the monthly concerts. Ages of the performers range from four to 84.
The recent success of nine-year-old Christopher Napier on TV’s “Stars In Their Eyes” has created an upsurge in young people taking up the instrument.
If you would like to have a go on the banjo/ukulele, and learn how to sing and play the Great Man’s hand-clapping, foot-tapping, saucy songs - such as “With My Little Stick Of Blackpool Rock” or ‘With My Little Ukulele In My Hand” - get in touch with me at russell.davies@care4free.net.
