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Recent Posts
- 3 Chord Thursday Farewell April 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Freedom April 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Multi-Lingual Songs April 26, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday 70s 80s Favorites April 26, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday ART April 5, 2024
- Birthday Bash April 5, 2024
- Leap Year Special 2024 March 1, 2024
- 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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May 2024 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 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. […]
Category Archives: sheet music
Star Spangled Banner
The national anthem of the Unites States is not easy to sing due to big interval leaps and huge vocal range (more than 1.5 octaves). In the key of C major, the melody spans from middle C to the second … Continue reading
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Who wrote the original tune to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? The same melody used in the alphabet song “A, B, C, D, E, F, G”? The popular nursery rhyme “Baa, baa black sheep, have you any wool” also uses this … Continue reading
Game of Thrones
I was living on Maui when “Game of Thrones” premiered on American cable TV HBO in Spring of 2011. I must have watched one episode of it on someone else’s television and concluded that the main theme was an ear … Continue reading
3 Chord Thursday Golden Oldies
On Thursday 3rd August 2023, let’s revisit the golden oldies — the most memorable songs of the 50’s and 60’s. We have previously celebrated three sessions of 60’s songs in 3 Chord Thursday but not yet 50’s songs. Elvis Presley … Continue reading
My Country, ‘Tis of Thee or God Save the King
On an American air base in the island of Okinawa, I grew up singing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” before I learned that the same tune was known as “God Save the Queen” or “God Save the King” depending on … Continue reading
America the Beautiful
A parishioner requested “America the Beautiful” to include in the programme on the weekend before Independence Day. For Catholic mass, I played it as a recessional hymn on the organ while the young cantor lead the congregation who sang more … Continue reading
God Bless America
God Bless America arrangement for ukulele or piano with four chords or original many chords is a free gift if you subscribe to 3 Chord Thursday, the thematic song session in Zoom Continue reading
Correct fingering for error-free execution with ease
“Pencil in your fingering for both hands. Use a pencil in case you want to erase later. Decide on the fingering. Practice with the fingering you wrote in the score.” Why? The students in piano and ukulele classes ask. Why … Continue reading
Taster Workshop on song writing and composition
The ukulele culture of sharing songs and sightreading song sheets sometimes leads to writing your own songs. It may start with a famous poem with words that seem to suit a tune whose origins you’re not sure of. Convinced it’s … Continue reading
Music Theory MELODY
Of the essential elements of music, melody is the single most important ingredient in a song. You can think of melody as a series of notes, one after another, defined by the distance in pitch (interval) and duration. What makes … Continue reading