On Thursday, April 18, 2019, the Canastota Library Ukulele Extraordinary Strummers Club, under the direction of Deb Guarneiri, held a program to celebrate the Ukulele Support System’s newest development; the Project Fibonacci Foundation presented an award to Nathan Angell and Eric Surprenant, along with Guarneiri, the creator of the Ukulele Support System for upper limb disabilities. The project development prize is $3,200 for their prototype of an automated ukulele tuner, which addresses the needs of players with upper limb disabilities.
This project, which has been ongoing for more than 18 months, unveiled the working prototype developed by these two high school juniors from the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill School District. The money will be used to assemble the next phase of test units to be used with the system.
Following the awards ceremony, Hawaiian Master Ukulele Player Kimo Hussey gave a concert featuring his signature jazz style and an instructional chat for the audience. Kimo’s connection to our area is through the Ukulele Guild of Hawaii. As president of this world-wide organization, he champions the UGH’s commitment to builders of ukuleles and the concept of Kanikapila (playing together) and the virtue of inclusion. This is the focus of the Ukulele Support System.
The Canastota Library is home to CLUES Club. Deb Guarneiri offers weekly instruction of ukulele playing and Hawaiian song-singing. For more information on these classes, contact the Library at 315.697.7030.
The Canastota library is located on Center Street in Canastota. The Fibonacci Foundation local chapter is located in Rome. The Ukulele Guild of Hawaii is on the Island of Oahu. These three magnificent organizations are non-profit groups, whose purpose is to better lives and support those whose passion is helping others.