In 2021, our members had the opportunity to connect and form a group project based on shared interests through our Skills Exchange program. These groups completed a 6-month mentoring program in their chosen interest area, concluding in a final product or event showcasing their work.
This program was an Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) funded initiative and formed part of the Life Ready suite of programs offered by BCA.
The aim of this program was to inform, connect and empower our members through a range of member-initiated projects.
As part of our Skills Exchange program, some of our members formed a music group which recorded a cover of the song ‘Top of the World’ by The Carpenters as their final production. Listen to the song through the media player below.
The artists involved in the music group told us about their experience working as a band and recording the song. Read their quotes below.
“I sang the lead vocal part. I recorded this on a phone.
I felt privileged to be part of this group and watch an idea blossom into song.
It has been a joy getting to know and collaborate with other group participants.
This recording would not have been possible without the assistance of Steve Sparrow who took all the individually recorded parts and put it all together.”
– Jen
“I joined the skill share music group in July 2021. I have really enjoyed working within this group with so many talented musicians. Everyone was keen to record a song and with the help of a sound engineer we were able to put together a song very quickly. I play bass guitar and acoustic guitar on the track. I think the main benefit of the group is we are all learning more about producing music and we plan to continue working together in 2022.”
– Annette
“Hi, this is Jenny! When I met the other members of our group on our first Zoom session together, I was excited about the fact that we all had a different musical skill that could fit together with the potential of being able to produce a song. I was amazed at how quickly we could decide on a piece of music that everyone was happy to try. When this decision was made, I downloaded the song from iTunes and was able to change the key on an app that I have, so that it would suit Jen’s vocal range. I then started listening to it and trying to make up a violin part. Then I recorded it by wearing headphones with the original recording playing from my iPhone and recorded my violin playing on my iPad. It took several tries to get through it without making mistakes!”
– Jenny
“I’m Janene from Melbourne and I played keyboard and sang backing harmony on the chorus of our track.
I recorded my vocals on computer with Jennifer’s lead playing in my headphone so that the phrasing could be in sync.
I recorded the keyboard part on acoustic piano along with a backing track through headphones.
These two tracks were then sent to Steve to mix into what you can hear in our final music track.”
– Janene
“I joined the skill share music group in July 2021. I have really enjoyed working within this group with so many talented musicians. Everyone was keen to record a song and with the help of a sound engineer we were able to put together a song very quickly. I play bass guitar and acoustic guitar on the track. I think the main benefit of the group is we are all learning more about producing music and we plan to continue working together in 2022.”
– Tim
Copyright notice: all rights to this song are credited to the Carpenters (the original composers) and no money is being made from this recording as it was part of an educational exercise.