3 Chord Thursday: ukulele all over the world

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Anne Ku

On Thursday 3rd February 2022, we celebrate World Ukulele Day which falls on 2/2/2022 (in fact, 2nd day of the 2nd month every year). We will share songs about the joy of playing the ukulele in any language or culture. Songs that are famously accompanied by the ukulele, songs about the ukulele, … songs with ukulele in the title are all possibilities.

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Ukulele Jeopardy Winners & Losers

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Anne Ku

At the last 3 Chord Thursday session in 2021, we played our third ukulele jeopardy game in Zoom. I invited a co-host to help me test the game beforehand and teach the ukulele jeopardy theme tune “Think!” in the beginning of the session while I set up. The winning team received a special prize — and hand-drawn group picture by the Houston-based artist Eve Myles.

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Kanikapila in Hawai’i (part 4)

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Anne Ku

There’s something different and special about jamming with other ladies (in contrast with an all male or a mixed gender group). It feels like going to an all-female luxury spa, such as the Korean body scrub spa in Seattle some five years ago. You can let your hair down.

On Maui, I participated in two wahine kanikapila. Wahine means female. At the one in Kahului, we play and sing through as many songs as possible, with hardly any pause or chit chat. Then we break for lunch when we are thoroughly exhausted and famished. More recently, I joined a group in Kihei. There was chit chat between the songs, probably because we were getting acquainted.

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$99 Music Classes in Zoom

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Anne Ku

The number nine in Chinese sounds exactly like the Chinese word for “long time” as in “Long Time No See” – hao jiu bu jian. It also sounds like the Chinese word for alcohol or wine.

What can you get for US$99 ? One-hour music classes in Zoom over four weeks or four one-hour music classes of different topics.

And then? You can decide if you want to continue, one class at at time for $29 each or $109 for the remaining four classes in that 8-week series.

Illustration by Eve Myles

For the PERFORMANCE SERIES on Tuesdays starting 1/25/2022 at 5:30 pm EDT, you also get a harmonica class (to be scheduled) for free. If you just want to take that harmonica class and not anything else, it’s still $99.

The PERFORMANCE SERIES refers to classes that help you become a better performer. Previous classes focussed on how to memorize and other requests by the students in a small focussed group.

For the Winter 2022 season, the PERFORMANCE class will address the following topics:

  1. Request a song to study and perform
  2. Manage nerves and overcome stage fright.
  3. Practice for performance.
  4. Review your performance and improve for the next one.
    1. Get constructive feedback to prepare you for 3 Chord Thursday performance (or elsewhere). 

Register NOW for a class in Zoom. For course descriptions, visit the CLASSES webpage.

Illustration by Eve Myles
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In-person music classes

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Anne Ku

Prior to the pandemic, we assumed all classes were given in-person. Only online classes needed to be labelled. Now that we are STILL in the worldwide pandemic, we have to label classes that are given in-person.

Are we ready for in-person classes?

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Musical tributes

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Anne Ku

Homage. Tribute. These are words reflecting past accomplishments that live on. Here is the start of a project paying tribute to a composer or artist or other famous person through a re-interpretation of his or her music.

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Kanikapila in Hawai’i (part 3)

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Anne Ku

In part three of this blog series, I write about getting together to play music outdoors on the beautiful island of Maui. Subtitle: making music on Maui.

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3 Chord Thursday workshops

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Anne Ku

On 13th and 20th January 2022, we will be giving free workshops in Zoom instead of hosting song sessions for 3 Chord Thursday. Doors will open 10 minutes before start time. We will use a WAITING ROOM to let you in, ready to start BEFORE each workshop. The times are 2:50 pm EST, 3:25 pm EST, and 3:50 pm EST. If you’re too early, you have to wait in the WAITING ROOM. If you are too late, you’ll have to wait for the next workshop.

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Kanikapila in Hawai’i (part 2)

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Anne Ku

At the beginning of the pandemic, I watched Facebook livestreams of “Unko George” Kahumoku, Jr making music on his farm on Maui. It looked like such fun. He had introduced me to Daniel Ho who then introduced me to the ukulele just before I left Maui.

Two years later, I am on Maui. On the Thursday before Unko George took off for his annual concert tour of the East Coast USA, we visited his famous farm, cutting grass for his animals and taking part in his morning feeding. He instructed what to do. After making us lunch, he brought out several copies of his songbooks (what he uses in his ukulele and slack key camp). We sat together and engaged in kanikapila in front of a small audience.

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Kanikapila in Hawai’i (part 1)

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Anne Ku

Upon my return to Maui, I got introduced to “kanikapila” — a Hawaiian term describing a spontaneous, impromptu music making with others, usually outdoors.

The pandemic made us cautious about indoor activity. Portable instruments such as the ukulele and guitar made it possible to go outside. Most of all, the tropical weather during winter and beautiful locations on Oahu and Maui lured us to kanikapila.

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