By Ann Marie Angebrandt
ABOUT 50 students from four local schools have become pop stars under the name “High Voltage”.
With the help of former Chocolate Starfish lead singer Adam Thompson, the students from Bellbridge, Manorvale, and Mossfiel primary schools, and Hoppers Crossing Secondary School, had the song “Hard Good-bye” radio-ready in only two days.
The Muso Magic program, supported by Apex and the Wyndham Innovation and Excellence Cluster, is aimed at giving students a realistic insight into song writing, performance and music production.
Hoppers Crossing Secondary School teacher Peter Cashin said the process also boosted the students’ self-esteem.
The students got the thrill of hearing their song played on local radio station WYN FM last week as well as performing it before a live audience of about 200 people.
Mr Thompson travels around Australia with the workshops and said he developed the program for schools out of frustration with music reality TV shows.
His former band, Chocolate Starfish, had two top-10 singles, gold and platinum record sales, and once claimed an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) award for “most popular album” in the 1990s.
