School of Rock: Regional Sounds teach Geraldton girls rock ‘n’ roll isn’t dead

Program co-ordinator Bec Price claps her hands and sings along with the four young girls on stage as they jam out the original song they wrote as a group. Their hour-long songwriting workshop the day before is now a fully-fledged ballad being performed in the confines of the Regional Sounds building on Marine Terrace. The “Girls Rock” program is the brainchild of writer and musician Chiara Grassia, a Canberra local who was able to travel to the US with the help of a YMCA grant to volunteer at Girls Rock camps in California, Texas and Oregon. Grassia brought the program back to Canberra in 2015, then in January 2019 West Australian Music (WAM) established the program in WA. The week-long day camp encourages creativity, self expression and teamwork in a safe and nurturing environment for girls, trans and non-binary youth. The kids rehearse, make T-shirts and wish dolls, an exercise that involves writing their wishes on paper, and bundling them in yarn. The song ends, and Price says: “We came together, and thought about what we had in common, which was school”. When asked if the girls wanted to continue with music, there were head nods in unison., and they agreed it was something they would pursue as a career. Some of the kids involved in the band had never played the instruments they were allocated for their original song. El Auld, 15, plays trumpet outside of the workshop, but sits confidently at the drum set, sounding like she has been playing for years. But she picked up the drumsticks only a few days ago. “It is scary at the start, because you don’t know how people will react to your voice, but I think everyone should give it ago, before it becomes a regret,” says the band’s guitarist Freya Geqwin., 14. “Once you’re on and you’re actually playing, you’re more focused on what you are actually doing, rather than what everyone else is thinking,” Auld said. The girls showcased their hard work at the end of the program, performing their original song at Regional Sounds on Friday night.