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Welcome!
Where to start... Well, I grew up in Honolulu, HI and began ukulele lessons around age 6 at Roy Sakuma's ukulele studio. I guess I was okay, because at 9 years old, I was invited to join a group called "The Super Keiki's", a group of 7 kids who performed ukulele at various parties and events! I did this until about age 12...when I started shaddowing teachers in preparation to start taking on my own students. But then I decided I wanted to have a "normal" time in high school, so I stopped teaching so that I could do after school sports (a great decision that I do not regret at all, as it has led to a life of enjoying exercise, by the way!) But...when I was 15, I took a beginning guitar class and sort of fell in love with classical guitar! So then I spent the next lifetime learining, teaching and carving out a living as a classical guitarist (which I still do). I received my BM from the University of Denver and my MM from the Peabody Conservatory, both in classical guitar performance. I hadn't really touched or thought about the ukulele at all for about 20+ years, and then one day, about 10 years ago at this point, someone asked if I could teach the ukulele!!! I thought, "Well, of course...!" This led me to slowly get back into playing the uke. It has been, and continues to be, a learning experience as I sought to apply all that I had learned about guitar playing to the ukulele. One thing I forgot to mention is that ever since I can remember, I have been a singer...with my all-time musical idol being (not a guitarist, but a singer) Ella Fitzgerald!!! Another thing that happened about 10 years ago is that I had a deep desire from somewhere within to incorporate singing into what I did musically, not just to use it as a tool for learning instruments...but to actually sing for singing's sake...which led to the purchase of an acoustic guitar (of course, right?!) and to me learning to play and sing music outside the classical guitar realm. And that's where I am now. I have so much music to share. Head on over the "Listen" page or to my YouTube channel to hear some samples! |
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