The sound of a jam session fills the room at the University Village Thousand Oaks senior living facility. Once a week, a group of residents gets together to master playing the ukulele.
Resident Diane Moore launched the group earlier this year, but it’s more than doubled in size since then and has participants aged from 21 to 99!
"We just span the generations," said Moore.
Moore says the ukulele is ideal for seniors to learn and play because of its easy to learn chords and small size.
"Ukulele's perfect. It's tiny, it's light," she explained.
More than just musicality, Moore said the strumming session is good for overall well-being.
"Whenever I'm kind of down or achy or just not with it, all I have to do is pick up a ukulele and sing for 10 minutes, and it's gone. I feel like a new person," she said.
"And then I read all kinds of things about dementia and the importance of socialization, which we do," said Moore. "They say learn a new instrument or learn a language, so we're doing that. And the singing is making new dendrites in our brains."
"Also, a lot of us have the beginnings of arthritis, and moving your fingers and pushing down on strings helps strengthen your hand and staves [off] the arthritis."
Joni Donaldson is 90 years old. She picked up the ukulele again after decades of not playing.
"It's the most fun part of my week," said Donaldson.
"We have so much fun," adds 88-year-old Barbara Johnson.
While these seniors are learning the chords and the music and using their muscle memory, they’re also building friendships.
"I was all alone and I wasn't meeting new people, so I joined this group," explained 93-year-old resident Maggie Kildee.
Kildee says she had spent a lot of time in solitude, so this group has brought her companionship and socialization.
"I have loved being out and meeting people and laughing. Now I can't sing, but it's been wonderful to pretend I'm strumming and pretend I'm singing," she said.
Sally Taylor is 89 and has a way of smiling while singing and playing.
"I was having the time of my life, and you know this is so good for the brain. Nobody cares how I sing or how I play. We just do it," said Taylor.
It’s never too late to learn to play a musical instrument for the first time, said 83-year-old resident Su Park.
"I say I can and I go for it," she said of her positive attitude.
Nate Harimoto, 80, had owned a Ukulele for 50 years but had never played it until now.
"I'm born and raised in Hawaii. This ukulele was made by a family friend when I was a child, and I've had it all that time and just never learned to play it," he said.
Peggy Waters also plays a ukulele she’s had since childhood.
"I bought this ukulele for $5 from another kid who didn't want it, and this was 1948. Diane [Moore] took this over to be restrung, and it turns out it's worth $500!" said Waters.
"So I immediately bought a case for it, because I was in a closet with the canned goods, and I didn't think that was right."
The group says they’re considering a performance, but a performance is work—and they’re doing this for fun. And they certainly seem to be having plenty of that!
