2026 Song Makers

Last Monday and Tuesday (18th and 19th May), 17 Beaufort Secondary College students were lucky enough to participate in a Song Makers workshop. It is run by APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) and the group brings world class songwriters and producers into high schools to work with passionate music students. The 2 day workshop allowed the students to work on collaborative writing, writing and recording their songs, and to learn about career pathways into the global music industry through artists currently working in the field.

The Beaufort Secondary students were able to work with three incredible musician mentors for the program. Claire Rayner, better known as Rromarin - is an ARIA nominated vocalist, songwriter, topliner and vocal engineer. Recent years have seen Rayner forge her name locally and overseas, receiving airplay across Triple J and BBC Radio 1, while adding her voice to a slew of acclaimed releases with artists such as Golden Features, Solomun, Colyn, The Presets and Hii Spirits. She is also about to perform at a large music festival in Albania.

Seetali Mack is a Melbourne based producer, songwriter, musician and composer. As a producer, Seetali has achieved remarkable success, amassing over 1.3 million streams. This was Seetali’s third time working with the Beaufort students, and she recorded and produced two of the group's final songs. 

The third mentor was Jackson Phelan. Phelan is a Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, most notably recognized as the creative force behind the indie rock band RAT!hammock. He has toured nationally with Spacey Jane, Ball Park Music, Angie McMahon, Yellow Days, Hockey Dad, King Stingray, and has featured on line-ups for Laneway, Spilt Milk, and Falls Festival.

These musicians were able to take the students through a number of exercises to explore how to collaboratively song-write in a group, and then mentored them through adding instruments and recording their group songs. 

Simone Conroy - Head of Art and Technology 

‘From a teaching perspective, it was excellent to see the students immerse themselves with their passion for music, while allowing them to develop their literacy skills in the song-writing component. They would start with a concept and branch out into related words to build their ideas and develop their song structure. The guidance from the mentors meant that every student had a role to play in the group's final songs. By the end of the two days, students had produced four amazing recordings, created by the groups, for which they have been given the song-writing credits.’ 

‘We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity. The Song Makers Victorian program manager Katja Krstic, has been instrumental in arranging the workshop for our Beaufort students and program coordinator, Kathryn Taylor, ensured the day was well organised and supported. The funding support from APRA AMCOS, and the Victorian Government, is absolutely vital to ensuring that students in regional and rural areas don’t miss out on these music opportunities.’ 

'We would also like to congratulate our original Song Maker members Matilda Venes and Annie Kehoe. They completed their first session in March 2023, and have gone on to participate in extra workshops in Melbourne and Geelong, as well as performed on the Freeza stage at the Queenscliff Music Festival. This workshop will be their final session. We thank them for their continued positivity in the program and the mentoring they have provided to the junior students in their groups.'