Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 216 other subscribers-
Recent Posts
- 12 Chinese Zodiac Tunes February 15, 2025
- Guinea Pig for high G ukulele February 14, 2025
- Gift Horse for high G ukulele February 14, 2025
- 100 Days of Ukulele 2024 February 14, 2025
- Monkey Around for high G ukulele February 13, 2025
- Ukulele Chord Chart or Chord Table February 7, 2025
- Doggy Bag for high G ukulele February 7, 2025
- Chopin Waltz in A minor for low G ukulele February 7, 2025
- Chicken Feed for high G ukulele February 6, 2025
- Rat Race for high G ukulele February 6, 2025
- Counting Sheep to Sleep, a lullaby for high G ukulele February 5, 2025
- 3 Chord Thursday Anniversary February 5, 2025
- 3 Chord Thursday IRISH February 5, 2025
- 3 Chord Thursday LOVE February 4, 2025
- Counting Sheep for high G ukulele February 4, 2025
- Can’t Help Falling in Love in F for ukulele February 4, 2025
- As Tears Go By (1964) February 3, 2025
- Holy Cow for high G ukulele January 30, 2025
- Two Tigers for high G ukulele January 29, 2025
- Rabbit Hole for high G ukulele January 29, 2025
Categories
Tags
- accompaniment
- arrangement
- Boston
- Chinese
- chord melody
- chords
- class
- classes
- composition
- course
- dad
- father
- fingerpicking
- fingerstyle
- guitar
- harmony
- Hawaii
- high G
- instrumental
- jam
- London
- Massachusetts
- Maui
- melody
- music
- music theory
- notes
- piano
- session
- sheet music
- sing
- solo
- song
- songs
- song session
- strum
- tablature
- Taiwan
- travel
- uke
- ukulele
- Utrecht
- video
- workshop
- zoom
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
Ukulele curriculum: useful blanks
For every hour I teach, I probably spend two hours developing the content (ukulele curriculum) and preparing the material (sourcing, printing, copying, etc). To save time, I’ll log what I’ve found useful and free for teaching music via the ukulele … Continue reading
Two roads diverged in ukulele: strum vs pluck
Ukulele players today mainly exist in one of two worlds. If you go to a ukulele club, you’re most likely a hum and strum or strum and sing person. If you belong to a ukulele ensemble or ukulele orchestra, you’re … Continue reading
Mauro Giuliani Polonoise or Polonaise from Op. 65
Should it be “polonoise” as printed on the title page of the sheet music or “polonaise” as we know it?
Of guitar quartets and ensemble playing
In January 2018, I started a new ukulele group and joined the Boston Guitar Orchestra. For the latter, I begged the conductor to translate the notated sheet music for guitar part four into tablature so that I could read it. … Continue reading
Songs from Ireland: Ride On
Tonight we will be playing and singing songs from Ireland at the local library and going to a nearby pub afterwards — in Historic Lower Mills, a unique part of Boston, Massachusetts. One of these Irish songs is “Ride On” — … Continue reading
Do Wah Diddy for ukulele – video tutorial
At the request of my ukulele students, I recorded my first video tutorial. The song “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” is ideal for beginners as it gets them to practise frequent switching between the easy chords of C and F. It … Continue reading
Ukulele: ticket to ride
Little did I know that buying my first ukulele and learning to play it would change the direction of my life.
It’s so easy to fall in love but breaking up
During the four hour mash-up medley marathon, I conferred with six other ukulele players that mash-ups shouldn’t just be about songs that have similar chords or rhythms. There has to be a rhyme and reason to choosing songs for a … Continue reading
Songs I lead
I’m building a playlist of songs I can confidently and competently lead a ukulele group. The secret to successful song leading is to do it in a key with the entire melody falling within my most comfortable vocal range. In … Continue reading