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Recent Posts
- 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
- Relative Lives in Parallel Universe April 18, 2025
- The Z Chord or “Zed Chord” April 17, 2025
- Roman Hands & Russian Fingers April 16, 2025
- One Finger at a Time April 16, 2025
- Major Minor Magic April 15, 2025
- Major Minor Menagerie for ukulele April 15, 2025
- A Minor Moment to C for high G ukulele April 15, 2025
- 3 Chord Thursday Festive Full Moon April 14, 2025
- 3 Chord Thursday Halloween April 14, 2025
- Thumb Through All That for high G ukulele April 11, 2025
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May 2025 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: travel
Kubasaki High School Reunion Cruise: part one
My high school reunion cruise of July 10-13, 2015 in the Caribbean was a much anticipated event. Thanks to Julie, one of the organizers who reminded me to pay the $200 deposit by December and the remaining amount in April, I eventually did reserve … Continue reading
Utrecht: the Roman city of cyclists
In 2006, I moved to Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, eager to join the cyclists on the streets of cobblestones. For the previous two years I was commuting from Bussum, a village of 10,000, by train to … Continue reading
Dad’s favorite songs
The third Sunday in June is declared for Father’s Day, first celebrated in 1910 in the USA but not proclaimed as such until years later. Coincidentally, June 21st is also Summer Solstice, the longest day in the year, and thus a very important milestone for those who … Continue reading
A song for dad: diamonds and rust
My dad never hesitated to share titles of the songs he loved. In his last years, he took a liking to Youtube. One of his favorite singers was Joan Baez.
Somewhere in time before iPhones
Before the iPhone, the video quality was not high definition. Before the iPhone, I wore a watch regularly. Sure, I always took it off whenever I practised the piano. Here is a video taken before I got my smartphone. It … Continue reading
Classical guitar: intimate, personal, and vulnerable
There is something intimate, personal, and vulnerable about sharing a space with a musician — unplugged. Such is the case of experiencing the classical guitar, which is a rare thing on Maui. Once a year Ben Verdery draws students and … Continue reading
The two Cs
My dad warned me about the two Cs when I was leaving home for college. “Beware of chemistry,” he said.
The making of a fan
As a musician, I was not aware of how to turn my audience into my fans until I became a fan myself. As a fan, I want to support the musician or musicians I’m a fan of. I want to … Continue reading
Dad’s iPad
On my brother’s last visit, he bought a new iPad for my father. It sat unused until I showed up six months later in Taichung. Some ten years earlier, I had done the opposite. I first diagnosed that my father … Continue reading