By Max Davies
Whittlesea Community House last week presented the 2022 Whittlesea Uke Muster, bringing together ukulele groups from across Victoria to take part in a day all about uke.
Held at Whittlesea Secondary College, the 2022 event marks the first time the Uke Muster was held in person since 2019, with a marquee set up outside to allow for greater flexibility in holding workshops and getting people together in large groups.
A range of community groups from the City of Whittlesea also contributed to the event, with workshops for players of all abilities held on speakeasy blues, gypsy jazz, songwriting, and rhythms and riffs.
Whittlesea Community House manager Mary-Lynn Griffith said the Uke Muster was a way for people to learn about ukulele in a friendly environment.
“It gives everyone an opportunity to play in a group, everyone’s very happy,” she said.
“Some people here do know each other and other haven’t people met. The ukulele’s a great way to engage because it’s a pretty cheap instrument to buy and it’s not too hard to learn, and there’s ukulele groups all over the place.”
Ms Griffith said the Whittlesea Community House was working to reduce social isolation and increase community connections, and the Uke Muster was a way for people to get together and learn something new.
The Uke Muster was first held to address a lack of options for people interested in the ukulele on Melbourne’s fringes, with limited groups operating outside of Melbourne’s metropolitan area.
“We thought it would be good to connect with other fringe and semi-rural groups and that’s what we’ve done in the past,” Ms Griffith said.
“I think now that we know we’ve got support from groups in the community we can keep going in the future.”
The 2022 Uke Muster was supported by the City of Whittlesea council through the Community Event Funding Program, as well as Whittlesea Secondary College by providing facilities and instruments for the event.
Living Music in Greensborough also provided a prize of a $100 voucher for ukulele lessons, awarded to ‘Best in Show’ during a fancy dress competition as part of the event’s finale.
“The finale concert gave ukulele groups that don’t get a chance to perform very often an opportunity to perform for each other as well as for an audience,” Ms Griffith said.
“Workshop groups also performed what they learned in their workshops, so it makes for a really good day.”
