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- 3 Chord Thursday Farewell April 27, 2024
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- 3 Chord Thursday 4th Anniversary February 13, 2024
- Workshop: Happy Birthday February 13, 2024
- Arrangements for easy piano February 8, 2024
- Guitar orchestra concert in Boston – free February 5, 2024
- Chinese tea dyed eggs or marbled tea eggs January 23, 2024
- Ukulele Accompaniment Course in Zoom January 18, 2024
- Workshop: Ode to Joy January 13, 2024
- Workshop: the Hawaiian vamp January 13, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Poems & Parodies January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Irish January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Island Tunes January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday: World Ukulele Day January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Thesaurus January 11, 2024
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Recent Posts: Concert Blog
REVIEW: Discovering Fingerstyle Ukulele Songbook by Colin Tribe
Colin Tribe’s new book offers new possibilities for ukulele players who aspire to fingerpick their way through thirty of the most popular songs of all time. These chord melody arrangements show a variety of ways the high G ukulele can be used for instrumental solo or duet (such as chord accompaniment and melodic fingerpicking) . […]
REVIEW: Piano Animals (duet) by Heleen Verleur
This 31-page book of four hand piano music is sheer FUN with a capital F. The composer Heleen Verleur knows just what pianists love playing: music that is easy to read, sounds hard to play, but is so much fun that you don’t want to stop until it ends.
REVIEW: Ukulele Picking Tunes Classical Gems by Paul Mansell
This 40-page book is the latest contribution to the ukulele repertoire by the UK-based ukulele and guitar composer Paul Mansell. Guitarists who play the ukulele are few and far between, for many adult learners pick up the ukulele without knowing the guitar. Yet it takes a guitarist who understands the possibilities of the re-entrant tuned […]
REVIEW: Modern Pieces for Ukulele by Paul Mansell
Review of first three pieces from the new book Modern Pieces for Ukulele by Paul Mansell
Group piano class in Zoom
Introducing my group piano class online: Group Piano Class in Zoom. The first series of seven weekly one-hour class started in June 2021. The second (continuation of the first) started in October 2021 at alternating weeks, until end of December (seven sessions). The third series of 16 consecutive weeks started at the beginning of 2022. […]
Monthly Archives: October 2018
It’s so easy to fall in love but breaking up
During the four hour mash-up medley marathon, I conferred with six other ukulele players that mash-ups shouldn’t just be about songs that have similar chords or rhythms. There has to be a rhyme and reason to choosing songs for a … Continue reading
Songs I lead
I’m building a playlist of songs I can confidently and competently lead a ukulele group. The secret to successful song leading is to do it in a key with the entire melody falling within my most comfortable vocal range. In … Continue reading
Compromised and impersonated on Facebook
Yesterday, two friends from high school sent me private messages asking why I had contacted them to request friendship when we were already friends on Facebook. I was not hacked but “compromised” — that’s the word. Regardless, it was quite … Continue reading
Nontraditional students and their struggles: the pursuit of degrees
In the UK, older students are called “mature students.” In the US, anyone over 25 studying for their first degree falls into the category of “nontraditional students”. In the Netherlands, it is uncommon to see a mature, nontraditional student at … Continue reading
The last degree of separation
Each time I left my job to study for a degree, it felt harder than the previous. I call the latest my last degree of separation, for truly it was more arduous than I had ever expected — a physical … Continue reading