From Monday the 11th to Thursday the 31st various students ranging from year 7-10 got the opportunity to partake in the SmArts with Mob Deep program. This project was supported by the Smith Family.

We were shown a live performance by Dallas Woods, an incredible indigenous rapper who made this four-day experience great. Dallas Woods and Dion Brownfield (A founder and Co-Director of Indigenous Hip Hop Projects & Specky Dreaming) taught us all about the equipment used by them in the music industry. We were able to listen to some of Dallas’ songs and delve into what being a music artist is about, how their songs are created, all the effort put in and the finance side of everything.

Those in the program got to write their own songs, coming up with lyrics unique to each individual, which revolved around summer. We each wrote and sang/rapped 3-5 lines which were featured in our final song, Dallas and Dion would help us lightly modify our lyrics to match with each other to come up with the best song possible.

This definitely felt like a safe place where even people who were really nervous to go up and sing in front of others managed too. We were also provided with free snacks which was a great bonus.

The students who are able to play instruments demonstrated these incredible skills in the backing music. On the final day we got to perform our song to other people from the school as well! Overall, our experience was great and is definitely recommended for other students to do in the future if given the opportunity, it truly was something you wouldn't want to miss out on.

This article was written by the Song Writing Workshop Participants