Anne Ku hosts the thematic song session 3 Chord Thursday AND the monthly meetup of Ukulele Instructors International, both in Zoom. Prior to her current capacity as instructor of ukulele, piano, and music theory, she hosted the following series in which she interviewed experts to educate and share insight with her audiences.
- Conversations with Musicians (Applause to the Musician YouTube Channel)
- What It Takes to Succeed (WiTTs, Student Success Project, Maui College)
- Electric vehicles (Maui, Hawaii) – US Department of Energy Clean Cities grant
MUSICIAN
Born in Brunei and raised in Taiwan and Okinawa, Anne Ku played the piano in bands and accompanied choirs, eventually serving as chief organist at two churches on Kadena Air Base. She won a full scholarship to Duke University where she gave her senior recital of selected music of French composers, though she did not major in music.
After working in London, Singapore, and Houston in non-music fields, she enrolled as a full-time student in a four-year music degree program at Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands, earning a Bachelor of Music honors degree in composition and a teaching diploma in piano (on sightreading). She performed widely as a chamber musician in duos with classical guitar, French horn, and cello.
She taught music (class piano, music theory, music history, world music, and instrumental ensemble) at the University of Hawaii Maui College where she was introduced to the ukulele.
After leaving Maui, Anne wrote her MA in Music thesis on ukulele song sheets and participative music making before settling in Boston where she started a ukulele club.
Anne believes that the ukulele is the fastest way to making music and staying connected. She hosts 3 Chord Thursday, a song session in Zoom she founded at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, reaching more than 3,600 members on Facebook and a monthly meet-up for Ukulele Instructors International, a private Facebook Group for anyone who teaches the ukulele.
Having written two books for beginner ukulele players, she is now focussing publishing more books of her arrangements.
Publications & Interviews
“Happy Helpful Guide to the Ukulele” published in 2020 by UkuGlobal. The 110-page book is accompanied by a video tutorial for each of the 10-steps via the YouTube Playlist.
Fun with Uke Book, original illustrations and arrangements of 24 children’s songs based on nursery rhymes. Available as bi-directionally hyperlinked 82-page PDF.
Interview with the amazing multi instrumentalist and ukulele teacher Anne Ku by Paul Mansell, classical guitarist, ukulele teacher, and author, based in England – May 2019.
Featured in “50 Ordinary Women (doing extraordinary things)” – interview by Cathy Shefski, November 2014
Call for Scores: Piano Duets from Hawaii to Holland
a grassroots initiative to introduce pianists to new music of living composers, presented at Arts & Humanities Conference, Honolulu, January 2012
- PhD Thesis (1995) – 472 pages
- Bachelor of Music in Composition (2008) final exam – Culture Shock! a chamber opera
- Bachelor Teaching Diploma in Piano Thesis (2008): On Sightreading (209 pages)
- MA in Music Thesis (2018): Paradox of Simplicity: Song Sheets for Participative Music Making in Ukulele Groups (42 pages)
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