KOONDROOK and Murrabit primary school students have showcased life on the land.
The two schools received funding from School Focused Youth Service, through Northern District Community Health, to create a song unique for the respective schools, written by the students and produced by singer-songwriter Josh Arnold.
A music video showcasing the school and the town was also created to go with the song.
“The kids were jumping out of their skin,” Arnold said.
“The enthusiasm levels were fantastic.
“Even a couple of the kids from Koondrook wrote a song themselves because they got inspired, and it was about me and how I was nearly as good as Taylor Swift – I’m just a few billions of dollars poorer.
“You get to know all the families because it’s a bit more like one big family there at Murrabit with 20-something kids.”
Arnold said the children weren’t looking to promote themselves, but the schools were “passionate about letting the world know who they are and where they are”.
“The ability and opportunity to write and create an original song, and the kids to perform it and be the stars of that, to then show their life, I think it’s magic,” he told the Gannawarra Times.
“It’s a huge source of pride for them.
“They’re just so proud to tell the world who they are. And the school has got 70,000 views each on Facebook.
“That’s far more than just local people watching.”
For Arnold, it’s important he arrives at the school gate without any knowledge of the community.
“I prefer to know as less as possible coming in because there’s more creative energy that way,” he said.
“When you just get there and feed off what they’re telling you, you don’t do much research other than putting the location into Google Maps when you leave the airport.
“I learned from that and they tell me their story and then I get a feel from their energy where the music needs to go, and so we build a song from scratch and they’re part of that.”
Arnold said he left the region back home to Queensland knowing he made a whole school of “little mates”.
“I feel like I’m part of the community, but also I get to leave that legacy there with the kids,” he said.
“I’ve been doing it 14 years, so I’ll run into some young fella with a beard in a pub somewhere in Australia, and he tells me how he still loves to show off his song that we did 10 years ago.
“It’s our connection forever, which I love.
“Being compared to Swift was gold for me, but you won’t see my performing in stadiums, school assemblies is about it for me these days.”
Arnold is responsible for putting the music and video together.
“I put it all together in a recording studio,” he said.
“So I take the kids’ voices back and build a track, with proper drums and electric guitar.”
The videos featured the children riding their motorbikes down dirt driveways, running into the sunset on the paddock, jumping off the wharf into the Murray, swinging on red gum trees, stand up paddling, horse riding, whip cracking, running through the school gates, and playing football at the local club.
Koondrook Primary School Grade 4 students Amy and Briley admitted to nerves.
“You’re kind of nervous because we didn’t want to muck it up,” Amy said.
“The lines were pretty easy to remember because it was a catchy song so it got stuck in your head.
“It was really great to be in the video that we haven’t done before. A little bit of a different thing to do.
“And there’s a lot of pressure because you’re going on like YouTube and Spotify.”
Briley said there had been lots of praise from family and friends.
“My parents and family said it got stuck in their mind and that they just couldn’t stop listening to it,” she said.
“It is a lot of beauty. Like, we’ve got the Murray River, the bush – it’s awesome.”
Acting principal Carly-Marie Clark said it was a fantastic promotional video for the school and a keepsake for the children involved.
“I think for the area in general, what a great place for children to come to school, and for families, how their children grow up here,” she said.
“I think that was something that Josh wanted to highlight as well.
“What the kids do after school, and engage with nature and their farm life and down by the river.
“So you’re not only doing it for the school, but just showcasing the town of Koondrook. He captured it beautifully.”
