About Me

Hi, I'm Jen Courter!

I'm a ukulele jam leader, teacher, and performer based in Walnut Creek, California, offering private ukulele lessons and group classes for beginners and beyond in the East Bay. I love how this instrument's joyous, unassuming spirit brings people together and welcomes you exactly as you are.

Since 2019, I've been a leader of the Lamorinda Ukulele Club, one of the largest in the Bay Area at 185 members and growing, regularly running mixed-level jams with the club, as well as my own intermediate jam series. Workshop presenting has taken me to the Smoldering Uke retreat in Carmel Valley, CA, and Uke Jams' Sycamore Ranch Campout in Browns Valley, CA, and in July 2026, I joined the California Coast Music Camp as a ukulele instructor. Performance highlights include Front Porch Music Presents at the Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette and the Community Stage at the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival. I also serve on the Advisory Board of Front Porch Music, a Lafayette-based nonprofit that supports local hobby musicians and emerging artists.

My ukulele journey is part of a longer musical story. I studied piano privately for many years, including under Terry Spiller at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I earned a music minor in classical piano performance and electronic music. I played viola in community orchestras and local productions throughout high school, and I've been a vocal student of Tina Strance since 2022. Since picking up the ukulele in 2017, it's been my main focus and greatest musical joy.

Outside of music, I earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. My math career has included publishing research, teaching at universities and colleges, tutoring, and developing computer visualization, animation, and special effects software at a Berlin-based startup called mental images, later acquired by Nvidia. The team received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.