Thursday, April 23, 2009

Derick Sebastian visits AMS

Yesterday afternoon Derick Sebastian came by after school to meet with the ukulele club here at Alvarado Middle school. We had a small group but it worked out well. Derick was wonderful with the students and they seemed to enjoy listening to him play and learning from him some techniques in playing.

He showed them a picking pattern that the students caught on to pretty quickly. A few of the students played a little for him as well and he was helpful and encouraging.

Today Derick is at the Santa Cruz Ukulele Club and I will not be able to attend because we have Open House tonight. Derick will be at Mike DeSilva's on Saturday in Berkeley and the Northern California Ukulele Festival on Sunday at the Hayward Adult School. Check it out, he is talented young man with lots of Aloha.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Herb's lesson and workshop

Yesterday, in Berkeley I was privileged to take a private lesson with Herb Ohta Jr. He is an awesome teacher, patient with a good sense of humor. We worked on Pua Olena which is a beautiful song. I have something to work and and there is a lot of room to add, embelish, work with the song. The workshop was helpful in getting some perspective and ideas for doing just that.

Tomorrow Herb will be coming to the middle school I teach at for a workshop with the ukulele club at my school. The kids are getting jazzed about his visit. It should be a fun day for all.