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Recent Posts
- Read Rotate Repeat December 18, 2024
- Instrumental Halloween tunes for ukulele October 29, 2024
- Ukulele Fall 2024 Course October 11, 2024
- Ukulele Exercises Series (books) September 26, 2024
- Nutmeg Ukulele Festival 2024 August 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Rest of the Year Pass August 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Hunter’s Full Moon August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Holiday Songs August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Sad but beautiful songs August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Disney August 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday television August 12, 2024
- Borrow ukulele from a library August 7, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday NAMES July 29, 2024
- Fun with Uke 2024 July 23, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Dance! June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Hooked on Classics June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Relaxation June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Colorado Songs of John Denver June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Parody Parade June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Across America June 25, 2024
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December 2024 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. […]
Tag Archives: guitar
Homage to Carcassi and Carulli
Music and memory are intricately connected. The last classical guitar solo piece I loved playing in my teenage years was one by Carcassi in 3/4 time in a minor key. The nylon string guitar my mother bought from a music … 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
Happy Fourth of July! Invitations to concerts
Happy Fourth of July! So many FREE concerts in the Boston area next week. My latest ukulele mail-out below includes a NOT FREE concert of a non-traditional string quartet from the Bay Area and my Boston Guitar Orchestra rehearsals and concerts.
Solstice at Eustis 2019
Just an idea. It rhymes. It catches on. How do we combine guitar and ukulele? One after another? Or together? At Derek Gripper’s African Music Workshop both instruments were welcomed in the same room. Everyone played together. It was one … Continue reading
The gift of a music education for yourself or Mother’s Day present
I am forever grateful to my parents for the gift of a music education. I remember my mother tirelessly driving a great distance to my piano teacher’s home off-base on Okinawa. In the hot and humid afternoon, she took a … Continue reading
Getting the word out: website, blog, mailing list, twitter, Facebook, and ?
When you become aware that you are at the centre of those that want to know what’s going on and those who want others to know about their events, what do you do? There is a certain responsibility that comes … Continue reading
Most commonly used chords for ʻukulele
The common chord progression assignment I gave to my beginning music theory class caused an uproar. It was the secret formula that explained the Pareto Rule of Pop Music: 80% of pop music used only 20% of the chords. “You mean, … Continue reading
Chord shape thinking from guitar to ukulele
In my forthcoming paper on teaching yourself to play the ʻukulele, I venture into similarities between guitar and ʻukulele chords. If you already play the guitar, thinking in intervals and chord shapes will give you a head start to playing the … 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.