Stephanie Pardee of Altoona surprised herself at a recent ukulele jam at ArtsAltoona. As she strummed and sang, her smiles increased.

“I wasn’t expecting to pick it up so quickly,” she said with a beaming smile. Pardee and friend Matt Cain of Altoona spent an hour “jamming” with Allegheny Ukulele Kollective members Mike Holzer of Altoona and Diane Albert of Bedford.

Holzer provided Pardee and Cain with brief instructions accompanied by a simple drawing of each note on a white board and demonstrated how to strum the four-string instrument.

Strolling the streets of downtown Hollidaysburg at a recent outdoor event, I encountered Melanie Ramsey and Claire Burk from the Allegheny Ukulele Kollective strumming some of their favorite pop, country and folk tunes...Holzer believes that the organization is important for the same reason. It is a good excuse for people to play an instrument within a collective of people. The ukulele tends to be a more social instrument than a lot of other instruments and does not have a lot of ego associated with it, he said.

Locals and visitors to State College had their choice of ways to welcome the new year Tuesday — from seeing art created out of ice to learning to play the ukulele.

Mike Holzer – President, and Chief Ukulele Evangelist & Louise Troxell – Secretary, and Song Master Extraordinaire with The Allegheny Ukulele Kollective (or Allegheny Ukes) is a Ukulele enthusiast club based in the Altoona-State College, PA region. The Allegheny Ukes have existed in various incarnations since 2010 where we jammed on college campuses, the local YMCA, and in cafes. They welcome players of all abilities and of all ages!

For the final episode in this special series, I sat down and talked to Mike Holzer, the chief ukulele evangelist of the Allegheny Ukulele Kollective and Festival Director of the Allegheny Ukulele Soiree. Make sure you get your tickets soon for next year’s. They’ll go on sale around October.

AUSS no. 4 features a Steel City Ukes native! Amber Rozel is a teacher and performer that you may not have heard of, unless you’re from Pittsburgh, PA. She’s also a classmate of mine from the James Hill Ukulele Initiative in Toronto. She may be the least famous guest I’ve had on the show, but it’s definitely one of my favorite conversations!

We talked about teaching tips, playing past the 3rd fret, practice schedules, and so much more. The saddle we were talking about is called a compensated saddle.

Here’s 3 of 5 from the Allegheny Ukulele Soiree! Today’s episode is with Danielle Ate the Sandwich.

This is the second installment of a special uke fest series I’m putting out as quickly as I can. These episodes were all recorded on April 21, 2018 in Altoona, PA. In today’s episode I sat down with Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel.

In this first of the series, Ukulele Abe had a chance to sit down and chat with Jim D’Ville. He’s a wonderful teacher/performer that put on a bunch of great classes and a wildly entertaining set at the concert on Saturday night.

Springtime in the Alleghenies sounds like the title to a Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald musical from the 1940s, but in reality it’s the season and location for the annual Allegheny Ukulele Soirée.