This time the ukulele life lessons all came from my DH, who appeared to have channeled a Mr. Miyagi-like version of a music guru as he helped me replace the string I broke from my first attempt at playing the uke.
Rather than helping me, I pretty much let him complete the entire operation himself. Recently I read about the phenomenon of someone feeling closer to you after you have asked them to do you a small favor. My DH has expressed a similar philosophy in the past, so I decided to take a back seat and observe instead of jumping in myself.
He assured me that strings break, so I shouldn’t worry about this one. It’ll probably be the first of many.
He told me that getting exactly the correct tuning pitch as far as the digital tuner was concerned was not as important as I thought. The overall balance of the four strings will work out even if each one is not tuned to perfection.
Tension changes when the environment changes. Deep, huh?! This is how I wrote his last piece of advice down in my notes. Honestly, I don’t have a clue how it related to the ukulele, but it makes me think about relationships and the importance of a little give and take when one or both parties are a little out of their depth.
Ukulele Life Lessons:
- Leave it to the expert, especially when the expert will feel good about helping.
- Life happens. Even if something may seem like a disaster at the time, it often turns out that you are the only person worrying about it so much.
- Overall balance is important – there’s no need to micromanage every little thing.
- Tension changes when the environment changes – What does that gem mean to you?
Maya Green 