I had no idea who or how many would be at this camp. It could have been kids. It could have been all Hawaiian natives. I expected the students to be really good
musicians of all ages who wanted to mingle with the best and mostly lived in
Hawaii somewhere. The tuition was
$1,400.00 for the week, which included lunch and dinner and all classes and
evening concerts. Because of the caliber
of teaching talent, I thought this was a bargain. I suggested it to some island friends,
however, and they thought the price was high and they couldn’t attend for the whole
week. I was there from 9:00am to 10:00pm daily Monday through Friday.
To my surprise, Sunday afternoon, after the SuperBowl, I
was one of about 60 haoli adults, average age about 60, from Canada, the US, many
from California. I met around six people
from this island and maybe a couple more from other islands.
The first night the Kumu talked about their classes and what
they hoped to achieve. We were asked to
go to the same class at the same time each day.
There were four class times, about 1 ¼ hour each.
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| Kaliko with wife Joy |
Hawaiian language was
my first session. It was taught by
Kaliko Beamer-Trapp. Kaliko is related
to the famous Trapp family. He won a
scholarship to Hawaii and became beloved by the Beamer family and they adopted
him. He speaks fluent Hawaiian. He is so proficient; he is on the official
committee that creates Hawaiian words for new American words. He has an online website where you can learn Hawaiian language. We learned the alphabet and
how to pronounce it. Then we learned how
to pronounce words in general. Later we
learned “ka” and “ke” which mean “the”. We
also learned how to describe something, which you do by adding descriptive
words after the “thing” you are describing. Then each day we learned some songs in
Hawaiian where we had to pronounce correctly and learn the meanings from the
songs. He passed out flash cards as well
for some common things. It was an
introduction, the purpose being for us to be inspired to learn more on our own,
which I hope to do.
My second session was also taught by Kaliko which was beginning
ukulele. We learned chords in the key of
C and later in the key of G. We
practiced the chords by singing the songs we had in the language class. I played ukulele 50 years ago when I was a
lifeguard one year. One lady had never
picked up a ukulele in her life and took the class. It seemed like just two of us were true
beginners. The rest of the class just
wanted another ukulele class. This was
nice because we could hear how it should really sound from the experienced
players.
I did not have a ukulele to use for the class. They offered the use of a very inexpensive
one for the week. There were two others
left by “Jim” to use. Carol, a lady I
hung out with later, picked out a beautiful koa ukulele from Jim. I was immediately dazzled by the beautiful
wood tones and the extra shiny surface that brought out the wood grain even
more. She said it sounded lovely. I
couldn’t wait to hold that ukulele. But
Carol had it. At the end of the session,
she put it back in the case and gave it back to Jim saying she enjoyed playing it,
but she preferred her Kohala brand uke. A
local ukulele player I met named Cheryl had a uke made by a well know luthier,
Dennis Lake. Dennis was also the teacher
for the ukulele making class.
Later, I found Jim and asked him about the koa ukulele. He said he is a dealer for this manufacturer,
Kanileʻa
and was just in Oahu visiting the
factory and picked out three to sell at the camp. Naturally I bought the koa uke from him. I call it Hinuhinu which means shiny.
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| Konabob |
At lunch I found some ladies who looked interesting and sat
with them. It turns out they have been
coming to this camp for years. They
remembered it when it was held on Molokai.
They talked about the former manager, Mark, whom they didn’t like, and
how they like Konabob, the new manager.
They said they came because Herb Ohta Jr. was the ukulele
instructor. Herb does not sing, so he
uses more interesting strumming and finds melodies to play, not just
chords. He has several instrumental
recordings and is in high demand for performances. I sat with him at dinner once.
After lunch the session I took was beginning hula with
Maunalani Beamer, Keola’s wife. She is
the spirit of Aloha in a woman’s body. I
love her smile and her hula style and her personality. Everyone was still sort of mourning the death
of Auntie Nona Beamer, the Mother of Keola, who taught hula and Hawaiian culture and
wrote songs and stories. She was the
life blood of the camp. To me, Maunalani
was what I imagined Nona was like. She
explained that the Beamer style of hula was 1,2,3,4 – step, step, step, step. Whereas many other hula teachers teach step,
step, step, touch. The main movement is called the leva. By lifting your foot, then the other, and
moving your hip as you lift, you create the swaying hips of the hula. It seems simple, but was actually quite
difficult. My one hip went one way, but
the other did something else when it was its turn. We learned how to change direction and the
names of the directions, and some other simple steps, like pointing your toe
one after another. Your hands are a
whole other dimension. She kept it
simple by saying you cupped your hands like holding water, and if you moved
your fingers in that beautiful graceful way, it is as if you were gently
touching sand. I was exhausted after the
first day of this, so I did not take the next hula class taught by Uluwehi Guerroro, a very famous hula teacher, dancer, singer and accompanist. He also has recorded a couple CD’s.
You could also take Beginning or Advanced slack key guitar from Keola Beamer. Ozzie Kotani taught Intermediate Slack Key.
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| Dr. Sam blessing the ti leaves |
The last class of the day became ti leaf sandal making. Monday we drove to a coffee farm in Holualoa
and picked ti leaves after Dr. Sam Gon, our instructor, blessed the leaves with a
chant. Dr. Sam was also the Oli
teacher. Oli means chant. Chants are performed ceremonially often in
Hawaii. It is almost like a song.
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| My sandals |
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| Dr. Sam weaving |
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| Auntie Elaine |
The last class was over about 4:30pm and dinner didn’t start
until 6:00. Since David and I only have one
car, I hung out in the hotel lobby the rest of the day. Luckily, musicians can’t sit around doing
nothing. Usually they got together in
the lobby in a circle and played Hawaiian songs. Alan Akaka, the steel guitar teacher, usually
led the gathering, called a Kanikapila.
Auntie Elaine was there playing her uke with long beautifully manicured nails. A Hawaiian song would be suggested, then the musical key would be
decided, then everyone would begin to play and sing. Since it was a big group, at least someone
could remember the words to the song.
Most everyone seemed to know the tune.
If you are experienced, and you know the key in which the song is
played, you can play most anything even if you have never heard it. At this point, since I barely knew three
chords, I was content and honored to watch and listen. I think this part of the day was the most fun
for me. Alan would usually “talk story” between each song. “Talk story” is telling a personal story
about how you learned the song or where it came. Alan, Kaliko and Keola were particularly good
at this.
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| Lobby Kanikapila with Alan Akaka |
During dinner I tried to sit with interesting looking people
and find out who might actually live on island that I could get to know. Besides these folks I will talk about later,
I met several others who had never attended camp like me. One was a luthier. One had been playing banjo professionally for
30 years and took steel guitar for the first time. One had been playing slack key guitar for
years and years all by himself. There
were several couples. The man usually
took an instrumental class and the wives took hula or lei making. I really admired the people who took an
interest in a new instrument for them.
There must be nothing like learning slack key guitar from Keola Beamer,
who has two songs on the Descendants’ soundtrack. A couple of the teachers have grammy
awards. I forget which ones. I particularly enjoyed meeting Madeleine Brandli, a recorded ukulele musician in her own right, who was a student at the camp.
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| Keola Beamer |
Monday night after dinner the teachers gave a concert. Tuesday evening was open mike. I skipped this to go home and practice my new
ukulele. I was exhausted as well. Wednesday night they played the movie being
made about the life of Nona Beamer.
Thursday was the Beamer family concert night.
Friday night was the night everyone had to perform what they
learned in their classes. I had two
performances. Then I discovered that my
ti leaf sandals were given an oli chant blessing so I had to stand on stage
again. Our hula class performed the song
Pupu Hinuhinu which was written by Nona Beamer.
It means shiny shell and is a
lullaby. I just loved the music and the
hula that went with it. I can play it and sing it on my
ukulele now. The Hawaiian language
class and the beginning ukulele class were combined into one performance song: Wahine ʻIlikea. The language class sang and the uke class
played. I was in the back row playing
chords, hopefully the right ones. It was
fortunate that so many experienced players were in our beginning class. Someone looked at me funny once, maybe because
I have a hard time strumming. I don’t
want to strum too loudly because my chord fingers don’t always hit the strings
correctly in time for the strum. Not
pretty.
Saturday morning was the closing ceremony. We had lots of speeches, chants, lei
presenting, and even a communion of sorts when we all shared a plate of
Hawaiian sweet potato and taro. Of
course we all sang Hawaiʻi Aloha, the state song. This song will have to be the first one I
learn because it is always sung at the end of just about any occasion. Everyone holds hands in a circle during the
song and raise them together at the end.
We all said our goodbye’s and got addresses and phone
numbers and took pictures. The next camp
is scheduled for July 1 to 5 here in Keauhou.
I get a $500 discount on tuition if I recommend someone new and they
attend, so now is your opportunity!
David bought steel guitar picks and bar from Alan Akaka before he left,
so I may get a discount for him. My
dilemma will be whether or not I am ready to take anything but beginning
ukulele again.
Follow through so far consists of the Tuesday ukulele class
held in the lobby of the Keauhou Beach Resort, the Wednesday night Kanikapila
there, Thursday morning smaller Kanikapila with Alan, and practice on my
own. I just learned of a new class on
Fridays. I have to keep those calluses
on the tips of my left hand. The chords
I know I can find and play, so far.
However, the list of chords is endless.
I bought a book today that has three different choices for F, so that if
I can’t reach the strings one way, hopefully I can find another way to play the
chord. I’ve already figured out that I
can play the chords I know and skip the ones I don’t.
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| Kona Kanikapila |
Wednesday night from 6 to 8 there was a Kona
Kanikapila. Over 90 musicians gathered
in a large circle and played Hawaiian songs, mostly from the book "He Mele
Aloha". It was quite inspiring. I am looking forward to participating Wednesday evenings, even
though I haven’t even heard most of the songs, let alone know how to play or
sing them. There is a lot of joy in that
room.
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| Hinuhinu |
