On a beautiful summer evening in Austin, nearly 150 ukulele players of all ages and stages enjoyed gathering for the June monthly meeting. We had a great time connecting over our beloved 4-string instrument! ❤

We enjoy letting the season inspire us in our song choices, and this first month of summer definitely influenced us. “Summer’s here and the time is right” for Martha and the Vandellas’ Motown classic “Dancing in the Street.” This song may be over 60 years old, but it is just as infectious and fun as it was back then. David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s cover in 1985 was also a smash hit. We were singing (and dancing!) along in no time! 

Bob kicked off the meeting with lots of exciting local ukulele news and a brief description of the evening’s flow. We then warmed up our fingers and voices with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Bob demonstrated his terrific arrangement of “Dancing in the Streets” to help us get familiar with what we’d be learning. We launched into the great exercises Bob had prepared for us, and he guided us through each part of the song. We got more and more energized as we practiced, and we sounded great when we put the song together.

We took a break from our practice for a fun math/music quiz with Walter, during the open mic part of the evening.

When we practiced the song a little more, we sounded even better and made a recording for you, coming soon to our YouTube Channel. We hope you’ll have fun playing along with us!

To play along, you can download the lyrics, chords, and tab for Bob’s arrangement of “Dancing in the Street” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide (what we project on the screen for all to follow along, including exercises and drills).

As always, we’re immensely grateful to Aaron for his accompaniment on U-bass and to Jen, Lyda, Jana, Lori, Barry, Gary and all the fabulous AUS volunteers, for all their hard work.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon, at our July 12 in-person meeting, at St. John’s United Methodist Church! We’ll see you then!  🙂

For more downloadable music, visit our Ukulele Music Library. For more Austin Ukulele Society videos, check out our YouTube Channel.

We appreciate your support and interest. If you’d like to make a donation to the Austin Ukulele Society (a 501(c)(3) organization), visit our Square Donation site. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out our this short sign-up form. For any other inquiries, please contact us or shoot us an email if you have previous correspondence with us.

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
We’re very excited about our 2025 Austin Ukulele Society t-shirt, “Circle of Stars,” designed by Lyda Guz! Each of the 15 stars stands for an action-packed year we’ve been making music together. As always, the shirts are silk-screened right here in Austin at a fantastic locally-owned print shop.

Our new “Circle of Stars” design, “AUS Grackle,” “Classic Ukulele,” “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $25. We also have vinyl decals with the AUS logo for $1 each. We can accept cash or a check made out to Austin Ukulele Society; you can also make payment via Venmo or PayPal. Please drop us a line if you’d like to purchase a shirt (or two or three). 🙂 At this time, we can only ship orders within the U.S.