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Recent Posts
- What’s It Waltz for high G ukulele May 15, 2025
- Whirlwind Waltz for high G ukulele May 10, 2025
- From lead sheet to chord melody arrangement May 9, 2025
- Suss the Suss for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum Scale for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum Chromatic Scale for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum C Major Scale May 9, 2025
- I Hear Ya, Andaluza for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Fingerstyle for Fun May 8, 2025
- May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii for ukulele May 1, 2025
- Cadencia Andaluza Por Favor for high G ukulele April 30, 2025
- Tulips in Triple Time for high G ukulele April 30, 2025
- Lament on Love and Loss for high G ukulele April 29, 2025
- C Minor Scale Waltz for high G ukulele April 25, 2025
- C Major Scale Waltz for high G ukulele April 25, 2025
- A Minor Motif for high G ukulele April 22, 2025
- Glistening Glass for high G ukulele April 21, 2025
- Up the Neck and Back April 21, 2025
- Call and Response April 19, 2025
- Z Before A April 18, 2025
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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. […]
Category Archives: travel
ABBA GOLD JAM
Our first ABBA GOLD ukulele jam will take place on Tuesday 1st May 2018 at 7 pm EDT in the common room of the Walter Baker building in Historic Lower Mills. We will celebrate ABBA’s announcement of new songs, first … Continue reading
The freedom and friction of fiction writing
“Pick up a postcard on your table and write your address on it. Take what you’ve learned in this conference and write to your future self. Which words of encouragement would you impart?” Among the postcards of city scenes and … Continue reading
This time last year in California
We think in cycles, every full moon, every birthday, every St Patrick’s Day, every Valentine’s Day. This time last year, I was clearing the home of an 84-year old woman named Maureen. A sudden fall on 4th of July 2016 … Continue reading
April 15: ex’s of evil in Texas
In my quest for songs to fit thematic jam sessions and repertoire for thematic concerts, I came across two things that perplex me. Axes of Evil and Exes of Evil. Maybe it’s a play on words, but it made me … Continue reading
Culturally themed concert: from New Zealand to Hawaii
Music can transport you to another world, another place, another time, another feeling. Such was my motivation yesterday in South Boston and today in Brockton, Massachusetts when I gave a culturally themed concert to take my audience first to New … Continue reading
Temptation of the tropics in winter
It’s been over a year since I last posted to my Maui blog for newcomers. I had long left and travelled to mainland USA and Europe, back and forth. However, every winter I experience withdrawal symptoms, that is, looking back … Continue reading
My last grandma (1917 – 2017)
6 October 1917 – 3 July 2017 We called her “Ah Po” – an endearment in the Hakka dialect.
Opus: Live is Life for ukulele
On my first trip to Europe, I heard a song in the Greek islands that roused me to get up and dance. Because I heard it everywhere, it became the single defining song of my first backpacking trip as an independent solo … Continue reading
A novel to escape from reality
Dusk at 10 pm in London. As I sit in front of the dining room window, I see the silhouette of the tall trees behind my garden. I hear the hum of my refrigerator from the kitchen. I am finally … Continue reading