This ukulele, autographed by Cmdr. Chris Hadfield, is up for grabs at Canterbury’s Spring Music Night Silent Auction next week.

Cmdr. Chris Hadfield autographing my ukulele.

This soprano sized ukulele, Lanikai model LU11 #31204, has Aquila Nylgut strings and is tuned in the re-entrant C6 tuning.  It was autographed by Commander Chris Hadfield on Sunday, September 15, 2013 at the Wings Over Gatineau airshow. 

When my husband and I set out to visit the Wings Over Gatineau air show back in September, I knew I might get a chance to meet the famous Canadian astronaut. Before we left, I quickly stuffed one of my small soprano ukuleles from my summer camp stock into a backpack (just in case I’d get a chance for an autograph) and after about 45 minutes in line, he not only signed it for me but even played it a little too! (Glad I had tuned it while standing in line!)

It was a real pleasure to have just a few moments to meet this great man. During his time on board the ISS, he not only inspired so many children to discover space and the sciences but with his on-board guitar, gave us many gifts of music through social media like SoundCloud, Twitter and YouTube. He’s brought a lot of support and attention to the value of music education and the importance of fostering creativity in our children.  As he says, being a musician has made him a better astronaut.

Chris Hadfield playing ukulele

Here’s another video by Melanie Doane along with her ukulele students in Toronto during last year’s Music Monday celebrations in May 2013: