Finger workout at 2016 New Jersey Uke Fest in Whippany

HANOVER TWP. - Jeff Lupinacci rolls his eyes when he's asked whether he can play Tiny Tim's trademark tune "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he strums and picks his ukulele.

It's a familiar question but one, Lupinacci says, that doesn't account for the range of songs - he loves playing Beatles tunes - that an avid ukulele fan can learn to play.

A Hershey, Pa. resident, Lupinacci was one of hundreds of ukulele players and students who turned out Saturday to learn from ukulele masters at workshops at the fourth annual 2016 New Jersey Uke Fest, presented by The Folk Project and held at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center in Whippany.

The festival started with a Friday night concert at the Ukrainian Center and included performers James Hill, Victor & Penny, Manitoba Hal, Jim Boggia and Cousin Earth. On Sunday, uke players are invited to the Morristown Green for a post-fest jam that is free and open to anyone and starts at 10:30 a.m.

Jeff Freling, who partners with Erin McGrane in the performing duo known as Victor & Penny, gave a "Jazz Toolbox" workshop for advanced ukulele strummers and they treated the audience to portions of original songs. McGrane encouraged the students, who brought their own instruments and listened with intense faces, to experiment with notes that aren't necessarily familiar.

"We train our ears to play what's familiar," McGrane said. Freling said that ukulele playing is more than a passing fad and is quickly gaining popularity.

"It's getting more popular every day," Freling said. He and McGrane are sentimentally attached, he said, to a Hofner ukulele that McGrane's father bought in 1952 while serving in the military in Germany.

"We have yet to find something that sounds like it," Freling said.

Participants, many wearing leis, learned from experts like Manitoba Hal, who taught a workshop on slide tricks and tips, and Curt Sheller, who offered a recipe for success with the ukulele that included a diagram of the four-stringed instrument with its frets, fingerboard, sound hole and bridge, and tips on how to bring together the mind, ear and hands to create beautiful sounds.

"This is what I do," Manitoba Hal, whose real name is Hal Brolund, told the audience of his career choice. "I teach ukulele and I perform and I'm lucky enough they asked me to be here, this time."

Rob Porras said he enjoys playing the ukulele as much as he likes building them. One of several vendors at the festival, he brought along at least a dozen of his handcrafted ukuleles that have whimsical body parts made from lunch or wooden cigar boxes.

"I kind of build everything for myself but when I have too many I come to the uke festival to try to sell some so I can make more for myself," Porras said.

"The thing I love about ukes is their size and they're quiet enough that my wife can talk on the phone or watch television and I can play in the same room," said Porras, who is based in Monroe, N.Y.

Phyllis Webb traveled from Massachusetts to also sell ukuleles, music-themed earrings made from scrap tone wood and copies of the book by her brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Liz Beloff, called "Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Songbook."  Remember the Bee Gees? The book has the music for "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" along with "Bye Bye Love," "Folsom Prison Blues," and 362 more songs.

"Ukuleles are fun to play and they're the easiest instrument on the planet to play," Webb said.

Lupinacci, one of the audience participants who himself plays publicly in Pennsylvania, said the simplicity of the instrument can be deceiving . Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he said, wrote some of their songs on the ukulele and transferred the music to the guitar. The various types of wood used in the manufacture of ukuleles also produces different sounds from deep to soft, he said.

"Solid wood is more tonal than laminated level wood, and koa wood from Hawaii is good," he noted.

"The instrument can be very complex, with a lot of finger strumming and picking," Lupinacci said.

Saturday's workshops were scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The event was scheduled to end Saturday with performances from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. by Cousin Earth, Manitoba Hal and James Hill, along with an open mic event.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.