A Minor Motif for high G ukulele

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Anne Ku

Have you ever woken up with a tune that sounds so familiar that you spend the rest of the morning trying figure out where you heard or played it? The tune in my head was so loud and enduring that I had to find a home for it. Here’s what happened. It was a minor motif. I didn’t hear it on the high G ukulele but it’s very possible to play it.

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Glistening Glass for high G ukulele

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Anne Ku

The music of Philip Glass accompanied the 2019 film “Samurai Marathon” brilliantly. Watching the movie last evening reminds me of his Glass Works for solo piano, beautiful yet haunting. Inspired by his music, I decided to write my own minimal music for the ukulele. As today is the annual Boston Marathon, play to make it glisten like Glass’s music — and listen for it, thus “Glistening Glass.”

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Up the Neck and Back

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Anne Ku

In lieu of naming my work in progress for the past few days, I tentatively gave the file name “Up the Neck and Back” to describe the physical process of moving my left hand up the neck of the ukulele and back down. Unless you play a string instrument, you may think it’s about the human neck and back. What exactly do these 16 bars entail?

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Call and Response

Posted on April 19, 2025 by Anne Ku

One of the first workshops I gave at a ukulele festival was “call and response.” Songs that use this structure include “Doo Wah Diddy” and “Day O, the Banana Boat Song.” It’s also possible to “call and respond” with the Z-chord. Here’s a piece that gives practice for the development of many musical skills.

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Z Before A

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Anne Ku

Here’s a chord switching exercise laid out in notation and tablature with accents, strum patterns, and left hand fingering. Why Z before A? The Z Chord begins the piece. And it ends on the A chord, hence “Z Before A” for high G ukulele.

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Relative Lives in Parallel Universe

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Anne Ku

The idea of writing an instrumental piece that uses only one finger at a time is idealistic. After penning “One Finger at a Time,” I noticed it didn’t sound right. Reusing the same opening, I rewrote the piece. Like the harmony of moving from a minor key to its relative major and then to its parallel major, sometimes we live relative lives in a parallel universe.

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The Z Chord or “Zed Chord”

Posted on April 17, 2025 by Anne Ku

In the very first ukulele class I give, I introduce the Zed Chord. Before we even start tuning our ukuleles and introducing ourselves, I get everyone to hold the ukulele and make the Z or Zed Chord. What is this famous chord?

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Roman Hands & Russian Fingers

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Anne Ku

It is so easy to get complicated. As usual, before I opened my eyes while still in bed, I was mulling over how to simplify “One Finger at a Time.” All the best laid plans of mice and men went awry when I tried to develop the instrumental piece last night. Were there bits I could re-use in a new piece for Level I of my new book? I heard “roaming hands and rushing fingers” as a teenager. When translated to the ukulele it’s suddenly “Roman Hands & Russian Fingers” for the high G ukulele!

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One Finger at a Time

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Anne Ku

One of the first pieces I learned to play on the classical guitar was an earworm that I still remember decades later. It was a simple melody in a minor key. Pressing one left hand finger at a time, sliding on the fretboard with the right hand fingers in a predictable fingerpicking pattern, I committed the piece to memory. Does such a piece exist for the ukulele?

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More Major Minor Menagerie

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Anne Ku

No sooner had I posted “Major Minor Menagerie” than a new idea surfaced. What if I remove the third and sixth degrees from the C major melody? How would that affect the harmonic possibilities? This thinking is akin to baking a cake and asking if I could get away with fewer ingredients. Which notes are essential? Which notes are not? In “More Major Minor Menagerie” I explore the piece that emerges from such contemplation.

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