Uke it Up

Ukulele enthusiasts are spreading their love for the instrument through a neighborhood storefront

Noel Tardy took a ukulele lesson during a Hawaiian vacation eight years ago.

And when she returned to Dallas, she had a hard time finding strings, sheet music and other ukulele accoutrements.

“There really wasn’t even much available on the Internet at the time,” she says.

So she became the Ukulele Lady of Dallas, selling instruments and other uke-related stuff online at ukeladymusic.com. This past summer, she opened a ukulele shop in east Dallas, and she’s already finding ways to give back to the community.

The store is inside Keep U N Stitches, the custom embroidery shop that fellow ukulele enthusiast Gina volpe opened at buckner and Northcliff in 1997.

The shop has a selection of 30 or so ukuleles on display in a range of prices. A cheapo painted one, such as one might buy in a tourist shop, costs $30. But Tardy says a good instrument that will stay in tune and sound goodcanbehadforabout$70.For someone serious about the instrument, the $200-$300 range is a good place to start.But some handmade ukes in the shop sell for $1,200, and custom orders can cost $3,000-$4,000.

The shop, which Tardy thinks could be the only uke shop in Texas, also sells handmadeguitars,amplifiers,music books, CDs and anything ukulele related.

Tardy and Volpe host an open mike night at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month, and on the second Saturday of every month (Nov. 13 this month), they give free ukulele lessons starting at 10 a.m.

Of all the string instruments, ukulele is one of the easiest to learn, Tardy says. Most people can learn to play at least one song during the first lesson.

“You can play so many genres of music on a ukulele,” Tardy says. “It’s little and it’s portable. You can take it anywhere.”

SheandVolpestarted a nonprofit, Ukes in the Classroom Texas, to help provide music study in North Texas elementary schools. So far, they’ve given 24 ukuleles to two schools, and they provide free instruction for the music teachers.

“Ukuleleisanidealinstrumentto introduce kids to music,” Tardy says.

TardyandVolpemetthroughthe Dallasukulelemeet-upgroup,which regularly meets at the White Rock Sports Bar and other places around Dallas. This ukulele group is bigger than you might suspect. There are some 300 people in the group, and 40 or 50 usually show up at their meetings. Every year, they have a big July Fourth party and ukulele jam session. And in April, volunteers produce the three-day Lone Star Uke Festival.

They’re a quirky group of Hawaiianshirt-wearing strummers, and they don’t takethemselvestooseriously.Next they’replanningtoform a marching band theDallasUkuleleMarching Band. That’s right, D.U.M.B.

—RACHEL STONE

Noel Tardy Gives Free Ukulele Lessons

starting at 10 a.m. every second Saturday at Keep U N Stitches, 718 N. Buckner Blvd. Otherwise, her rate is $35 an hour. If you buy five lessons, the sixth is free, and she offers discounts for siblings taking lessons together.

FIND MORE INFORMATION at ukeladymusic.com, lonestarukefest.com and ukesintheclassroom.com.

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