Ukulele Workshop Series for Ages 8 to 88 | Classes are held one Tuesday each month, Feb-May, 2023.

Ben Hassenger’s “Next Step Ukulele” lessons are monthly sessions designed to teach a variety of techniques that will expand your skills and make you a better player. Attendees must know a handful of chords; including C, F, G7, and Am chords; switch smoothly between them; and keep a steady tempo. Materials will be provided and loaner instruments are available. (Each lesson is self-contained; register for one, two, three or all four.) 

February 21--Next Step Ukulele: Become One with the Strum. Learning to play a variety of strums makes your playing more interesting to you and your audience. We’ll explore folk, calypso, rock, polka, ska, and reggae strums along with the incredibly versatile “Benstrum” using some of your favorite songs.

March 21--Next Step Ukulele: Play (Almost) Every Song in the World. What do songs like “Last Kiss”, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, “With or Without You”, and “Say Something” have in common? They all use the same four chords. Learn to play every song ever written (well, most of them, anyway) with these “Fantastic Four” chords and find out how to switch keys easily

April 18-- Next Step Ukulele: EZ Tab Melody. Do you have a good handle on strumming, but would like to learn to play the melodies of songs on your ukulele? Ben will teach you how to read tablature, a way to read music for the ukulele without having to understand actual music notation. You’ll be playing everything from “You Are My Sunshine” to “Ode to Joy” by the end of class.

May 16-- Next Step Ukulele: Putting it All Together. We’ll take the strums, chords, and single-note skills that we’ve learned in previous workshops there take a well-known song and arrange a ukulele ensemble piece with separate parts for players of various levels

Taught by Michigan’s Ukulele Ambassador, Ben Hassenger, and sponsored by the Music is the Foundation non-profit. Registration Required, class size limited for personalized instruction.

"Looking forward to playing and singing with you soon-- aloha!" Ben Hassenger.

Help to Celebrate Earth Day 2023 in Grand Ledge!

The City of Grand Ledge is home to 15 parks and open spaces, so in honor of Earth Day, we invite our citizens to join us in helping to keep our parks clean and beautiful! There are three ways you can join in the Earth Day fun, and we encourage you to take pictures and share them on your social media accounts using the hashtags #EarthDayGL and #PlantedinGrandLedge, regardless of which option you choose!

Oak Park Clean Up

Date: Saturday, April 22, 2023

Location: Oak Park, 700 West Front Street, Grand Ledge

Time: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm (this is a drop-in event, so volunteers do not have to stay the whole time)

Note: The rain date for this event is Sunday, April 23, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. This document will be updated if the event is moved from April 22 to April 23. 

Event: We will kick off the Oak Park event with a ceremonial tree planting at 9:30 am. Then, between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm, volunteers will work in teams to spread mulch and pick up sticks and trash throughout the park. There will be volunteer coordinators on site to help organize the work. We will have some tools available, but we encourage volunteers to bring gloves, rakes, and wheelbarrows for their own use. In order to plan for the event, we ask that you sign up using this form; this will help us capture contact information, as well as allow you to sign the volunteer waiver form from the City of Grand Ledge.

Walk and Talk at the Fitzgerald Park Ledges

Dates: Saturday, April 22, 2023

Location: Fitzgerald Park, 100 Fitzgerald Park Drive, Grand Ledge, meet at the boulder near the colorful playground equipment by the gorge of Sandstone Creek

Time: 4:00 to 5:00 pm

Note: The rain date for this event is Sunday, April 23, starting at 4:00 pm

Event: Come to Fitzgerald Park for an interactive talk about the geology and history of the natural wonder that are the ledges. Tennis shoes or hiking boots are encouraged. 

Park Visit Challenge

Dates: April 16th-April 23rd

Time: Anytime!

Event: Visit all 15 Grand Ledge parks and green spaces during the week of Earth Day. See if you can spend at least 30 minutes in each park over the course of the two weeks to celebrate the beauty that Grand Ledge parks have to offer. Don’t forget to post a picture from each park using the Grand Ledge Earth Day hashtags! Looking to visit several parks on foot? Try one or all of these routes!