On Feb 22nd and 23rd I had the pleasure of being invited to do a 45 minute seminar at Olympia in London. My show was titled 'classical music on the ukulele. Its a pretty niche area in some ways but it was a large theatre (it held 160 people) and it was very nearly full. I played 4 classical pieces (Tarrega, Carulli and a couple of self compositions) just to demonstrate classical music on the ukulele. I then chatted about teaching ukulele in schools. I also taught the audience a quick song - Animal Fair. The audience were (thankfully) very receptive and made my job so much easier by being very interactive. I spoke to several people afterwards and everyone seemed to really enjoy the show.

As a full time classical ukulele teacher, author and performer I thought you might be interested to know what my average working consists of : what are the good points and what are the bad points. Today, a Wednesday, is a pretty average day so I'll talk you through it. My teaching day always starts at 9.30 am, straight after the school drop off - and that all important cup of tea. I teach from home in my studio which is a converted garage) Today's morning session consisted of four lessons all of thirty minutes each. I leave 15 minutes between lessons so I can prepare, get books ready and have (another) cup of tea. Lesson One was a classical ukulele lesson with a 40 year old man, who is stu

I often get asked about what right hand finger technique I use when playing the ukulele. People tend to ask this as unlike the classical guitar, where the technique has been honed over hundreds of years and is a well trodden path, with the ukulele it is less well studied. It is therefore much more open to interpretation as to the best right hand technique. The other issue is that there are many players out there who use predominantly just their thumbs for strumming (something you would never do in classical guitar) but still get an amazing sound. My technique is very influenced by my background on classical guitar. It try and use all the fingers (P I M A) - thumb, index, middle and annul

So am currently busy preparing for my seminar at the Music and Drama Education Expo at Olympia on Feb 22nd. Lots to do ! Here is a little teaser of a video that I will be playing. It features one of my very talented students, Vikki, playing a duet of aura Lea with me on Ukulele. I'll be playing some classical ;pieces from y album and book at the show, and hopefully demonstrating the many benefits of teaching ukulele in schools. If you are around London in Feb make sure you come to the show and say hello. Tomorrow I am off to look at a new ukulele as I really need an electro acoustic one for the show - any excuse to get another ukulele !