Students from the Gulf Savannah region came together for a special songwriting workshop held as part of the cattle industry’s BeefUp Forum in Mt Surprise last week.
The workshop was presented by musical duo Carter and Carter, one of Australia’s most successful independent country music groups, with seven albums, a DVD and three books released in their 15-year career.
Merelyn and David Carter make up the duo, based on a mountain farm in Kinglake, Victoria.
Married with three children and two grandchildren, Carter and Carter have made a name for themselves in the industry and have numerous awards under their belts including Golden Guitar, APRA and Country Music Awards of Australia.
Merelyn Carter said the purpose of the workshop was to work with the students to write a song.
“I think people think songwriting is beyond the average person,” Mrs Carter said. “But its really not.
“We work through the process by brainstorming ideas which frees people up to say anything they want.
“There are no bad ideas.
“It’s a free creative space.”
About 34 students from Mt Surprise and Forsayth State Schools along with distance education students took part in the day long workshop at the Mt Surprise State School.
The result was the production of My Motorbike, My Horse and Me, a song atypical to life on the land.
The students performed the song at a special daytime concert for the school community and later that evening for guests at the BeefUp Forum, to a resounding reception around a campfire at the Bedrock Village.
Mrs Carter said the creativity of the group was “fantastic”.
“There was some very diverse age groups here,” she said.
“It was a really good process.”
The songwriting workshop was delivered with funding from UnitingCare Community, Charters Towers Regional Council, Solas, Mental Illness Foundation North Queensland and Mustering Wellness.
It was part of the two-day event which brought together cattle producers and industry stakeholders to discuss all things beef in the Gulf region.
