She has worked on projects for the likes of Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine and Nick Cave, but this week producer extraordinaire Anna Laverty sat down with some of the Goulburn Valley’s budding musical creatives.
On March 21 and 22, music students from Greater Shepparton Secondary College were paid a visit from Mrs Laverty through contemporary music initiative SongMakers, of which she is a mentor.
The up-and-coming musicians were separated into four groups, tasked with creating and recording their own songs from scratch over two days.
Witnessing the passion pour out of the participants during the experience first-hand, GSSC director of music Lachlan Gallagher said it was a vital learning opportunity, which provided a great shot of confidence to the students.
“They’ve felt a sense of pride within themselves in what they’ve been able to accomplish over the whole two days,” he said.
“The quality of the producers they get to work with — they’ve worked with international artists and been trained by some of the industry’s leading people, so it’s an amazing opportunity to get the quality of people in to work with the students.
“It has really built the confidence within their own musical abilities.”
Year 11 student Lincoln Atkinson was stoked with the experience, voicing his appreciation at learning more about what a career in music may look like.
“It’s good to experience that first-hand outlook on to what their job is and what they actually do, and getting that advice and professional look into the industry,” he said.
Fellow student Elissa Francis was equally grateful for the chance to hear from an industry expert.
“I’d say it’s a real blessing that I get opportunities like this,” she said.
“It’s not every day that people who work in the music industry and are very good get to come to our school and give kids like us a chance to learn more and more.”
Another to get a buzz out of the experience was Stephanie Ludlow, who indicated she would like to take music further once her schooling was completed.
“Ideally I’d like to go to university and study music to get some sort of degree,” she said.
“If not, I wouldn’t mind like having it as a side hustle.”
Nurturing curiosity and giving clear insight into what options are available to young musicians is precisely why Mrs Laverty has been a SongMakers mentor for the past eight years.
The award-winning sound engineer thrives off sharing her expertise with the next generation of artists, and the enthusiasm displayed by the GSSC students was no different.
“It’s so important for kids to be listened to and have their stories heard,” she said.
“That’s why I like to come in and give them encouragement to choose music as a career path.
“These kids are really lucky in that they’re in a school where there is a really amazing music department with a lot of gear, but the recording side of it is something that maybe they haven’t been exposed to before.
“We have seen from these kids a real keenness to learn that side of music, and to maybe experiment and see if it might be something they might be interested in doing when they’re older.”