Sometimes reading a book published in a distant location makes me hungry for the cuisine of that faraway place. Long overdue, I downloaded and digested the 155-page book summarizing the contents of the first academic conference on the ukulele from the website announcing the third conference which will take place this autumn. There’s so much in there! Can I whet your appetite with my new fingerstyle piece – Arpeggio Carpaccio Prego for high G ukulele?
Arpeggio is a fingerpicking pattern consisting of single notes ordered in ascending or descending pitch, usually all from a specific chord.
Carpaccio is an Italian dish of raw meat or fish thinly sliced or pounded thin. It’s Italian sashimi, so to speak. Served as an appetizer it whets the appetite for primi and secondo plates of Italian goodness.
Prego means please in Italian.
To break the predictable arpeggiated pattern, I add some scale passages and left hand techniques.
The piece starts in D major then shifts to its parallel D minor key and returns to D major, then D minor and finally ends in a Picardy third — D major chord.
Italian Cuisine
For years, if not decades, my preference for Italian food was absolute.
If the appetizer section contained carpaccio, I’d choose it.
If the primi section included linguine alle vongole, that would be my first choice.
If the dessert section showed tiramisu, I’d select that.
After participating in two consecutive contemporary music festivals in Tuscany (as performer and composer), I expanded my palette to other Italian dishes.
Every time I visit that beautiful country, I’d inevitably ask, “Why would anyone want to leave Italy?”
I am so glad there is a Little Italy in Boston. It’s called the North End. There’s an outdoor (public) swimming pool nearby, too!
Pick! Pluck! Play!
“Arpeggio Carpaccio Prego” is aimed at the second level in the “Pick! Pluck! Play!” book.
The last page “Ukulele Chords” of the new book contains a table of ukulele chord diagrams ordered alphabetically for the chords used in the book.
I’m thrilled about releasing these books as a precursors (prerequisite) to the 12 Chinese Zodiac Suite, which contains three skill levels.
I am recording all my new compositions in the 100 Days of Ukulele 2025 project. To me, this challenge means uploading a new video recording of a new piece each consecutive day from 1st March to 8th June 2025.
For other recent compositions and arrangements by Anne Ku, please visit the Daily Music Writing Project or scroll through the consecutive blog posts.
