She mentions the stimulation is actually good for the brain as well as the soul moving so slowly, one can feel the synapses strummed into order.įinding A Path Lin's musical beginnings were with piano and violin. She acknowledges the difficulties students encounter, and reminds that it will take more time and practice to connect the brain with muscle memory in newly-activated fingers. Video allows progress at whatever suitable pace, and as many replays infinitely available as needed. On-screen chord diagrams illustrate finger placements. She breaks each song down into its elements, as slow as one strum per chord, and then reassembles them, just as she does with more advanced pieces. Lin usually introduces all or part of a song, and then gets to work gently explaining, eyes focused on the student through the computer screen. Some are more chatty or loud, others more complicated or theoretical. There are many other persons giving online ukulele instruction, with a variety of approaches to teaching and learning styles. Lin's beginner arrangements use just three or four chords, and apply them across ukulele's four strings to teach basic strum patterns. Lin's singing at first seems only an accessory to the lesson, then it commands attention: ranging high and low in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a sweet "Misty," a bluesy growl to start the refrain of the pop "Build Me Up, Buttercup." Lin says these classic songs are popular for teaching because of the strength of their writing: "when they're well-written they tell a story and people remember them." Lin considers herself a singer-songwriter first, but it is through her online instruction that she has attained prominence. A six-pack of introductory lessons includes "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and the jazz-influenced "Brown Eyed Girl" of Van Morrison and Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy." Jazz-specific tutorials use George Gershwin's "Summertime" and syncopated chord changes in "Fly Me to the Moon." Lin's online lessons have exploded, more than two million views for some of the more foundational lessons, hundreds of thousands for many others, approaching forty million views total, amid a renewed interest in the instrument that sometimes has been perceived as a just a toy. in Los Angeles and Lenny "Ukulenny" San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. Island-inspired jazz, bossa nova, and traditional Hawaiian music awaken new applications for the ukulele in a cross-cultural album In Waves due later this summer, with Lin on Oahu leading a trio, "U3," by virtual presence spread across the Pacific with collaborators Abe Lagrimas Jr. Her site mixes jazz classics: "Night and Day" by Cole Porter, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "Unforgettable," among ballads and Beatles songs, all on the instrument closely associated with the Hawaiian Islands. It is like a dear friend's individual welcoming. " Aloha, everyone!" is Cynthia Lin's cheerful greeting to start her ukulele instructional videos which have compiled millions of views on YouTube.