Song a dream run for ukulele player

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

UKULELE LADY: Jane Fisher has won an APRA award for a song called Dreamin'.

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Off the main street of Stoke, a ukulele-strumming woman is sitting pretty after winning a songwriting prize in the instrument that is growing increasingly popular.

Nayland College music teacher Jane Fisher, who is one member of the Nelson four-women ukulele band the Nancies, has just won the Australasian Performing Right Association "Uke Can Do It" songwriting competition for her original composition Dreamin'.

She was writing the song to give the Nancies, who regularly perform around Nelson, an original song in the style of the Andrews Sisters tune Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

"I was trying to write another song and I just came across this very appealing chord progression and I wanted an upbeat song because we have quite a bit of middle of the road."

While Fisher wrote most of the song herself, another member of The Nancies, Kath Bee, helped with some finishing touches, including the intriguingly un-rock n' roll line: "oooh I'm going to the library".

"I couldn't figure out a middle bit, so I invited Kath over to hear it and she quickly came up with the finishing touch. She didn't want to go down in writing as the co-writer, but I'll be sharing the winnings with her."

With the $300 cheque from APRA - which is also responsible for the slightly more prestigious annual Silver Scroll award - Fisher says she is also going to put it towards a fund for a family trip to Rarotonga.

"It's a low-key kind of thing," she says of her first song-writing accolade, before adding: "my husband is very excited, it's good for our marriage."

The song has already been road-tested by the Nancies, most recently on the weekend before last at the Riverside Cafe.

But the group is shooting for the stars, or at least the festival circuit.

"I like the idea of being able to fly somewhere. It's a good excuse to get a couple of days off," she says.

The Nancies plan to travel to the Wellington Arts Market - a sort of shopping mall for festival organisers - in June to sell their wares.

- © Fairfax NZ News