OU's Ukulele Club is ready to strike a chord on campus this semester.
Despite the typical sight of students lugging around philosophy and English textbooks in Ellis Hall, ukuleles will be the newly donned accessory at hand.
The Ukulele Club, now with 20 members, started in Fall Semester and can be heard in Ellis Hall strumming harmoniously to the tune of “Riptide” by Vance Joy.
“I think for the people who may be a little bit more sheepish, to see us up there just having fun and just really going at it,” Riley Engle, president of Ukulele Club, said. “It just really makes it worth it and I like to think people enjoy it.”
Engle, a senior studying information and telecommunication systems, said it isn’t necessary to have or even be able to play the instrument to be in the club.
“I never played the ukulele before this. I had a friend who lives in my hall and he played a ukulele … and he was like, ‘You should join this club,’ and I’m like ‘OK,’ ” Lydia Ramlo, a freshman studying civil engineering and environmental studies, said. “So I went and I loved it.”
Ramlo also said it’s nice to relieve stress and meet different people from other majors, and it is also something you would not expect to learn in college.
“I got into this cycle of thinking where … I have to do school all day. I can’t really have fun or enjoy college and that’s just not true at all,” Engle said. “So the fun of the club lets me break the cycle. It helps me break the routine every now and then.”
When Engle transferred to Ohio University as a junior, one of his Learning Community assignments was to find an organization on campus to become a part of, but he decided to make one instead.
“I went to Ohio State for two years. They had a great ukulele club there … and I was part of that for a little bit, but when I left, I came here and there was no ukulele club,” Engle said.
For Brandi Leffler, a sophomore studying Spanish, she decided to join the club because she said it’s great to socialize and have fun with the group.
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“I just thought this was amazing to hear this transfer student had come in and there was kind of a void in terms of our student organizations and he took the initiative and got everything going and I was just really impressed,” Dave Lawrence, adviser of the Ukulele Club, said. “I was really happy to be able to provide that kind of staff support. The instrument is so inviting, and I haven’t seen anybody playing a ukulele and not having a great time or someone listening to ukulele and not really enjoying it."
The Ukulele Club plans to have performances in Front Room Coffeehouse monthly and has a scheduled performance at the Acoustic Café, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on March 24 in Baker Theatre Lounge.
“But overall, it’s just a lot of fun and I really enjoy what I do, and I’m glad that my members will come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you know I really had fun today,’ ” Engle said. “I think that makes it ... worth it to me.”
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