30 July 2018

By Kaitlyn Suson, St John’s Regional College student

Over the school holidays, St John’s Regional College, Dandenong, hosted the Mushroom Group’s ‘On Track Music Program’. Despite my lack of music experience, I signed up for the programs and needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

Throughout the five days, I expanded my knowledge of music and gained new skills relating to DJing and rapping. Each day was well structured, hands on and very enjoyable. A typical day consisted of advice from our mentors – Rojdar and Rob. Occasionally, a special guest would come and talk about the music industry. This segment was insightful and many lessons were gained from their experiences.

After the discussions, our class was then split up into small groups and learnt how to use the DJ decks. At first, the abundance of buttons seemed intimidating, but became easier after practicing.

As part of the program, one of the exercises was to collaborate together in a small group to produce a rap. To help us with this process, we started by doing a writing exercise to clear our minds. We then wrote down lyrics that came to mind whilst listening to some music tracks. Everyone was encouraging and surprisingly, many people were open to sharing any ideas or verses that they came up with.

The final performance was on Friday. The energy among one another backstage was electric and gave everyone an extra boost of confidence to perform.

Overall, this program helped me grow both musically and as a person.