The School Brief
Former Karratha resident and MESA band member David Morgan was selected to create and record the song—David wanted no payment and was honored just to be asked. The school provided some guidelines of what message the words of the song should carry. In summary, they were:
- School value of diversity and academic excellence.
- Always positive and inclusive.
- Embrace the values of care and personal best.
- Responsibility and respect to nurture independent lifelong learners and active citizens.
- Strong themes of diversity and culture.
- School motto is Courtesy.
- Include Aboriginal greeting in local language - Wayiba, Wanthiwa (Hello Hello).
- Encourage engagement and pride when students are singing the song.
- Possible harmonies.
Writing the Song
Given the brief, in October 2021 David decided to visit Karratha Primary School and facilitate a short workshop with a cross-section of students so he could better understand the students' perspective of what words the song should include.
David recalls the workshop visit and the writing process:
“When I visited Karratha for the workshop, I already had a song structure in my mind – but no title. I knew it was very important to have a local aboriginal connection and the brief words ‘Wayiba, Wanthiwa’ kept appearing throughout the workshop. At the end of the workshop, I picked up my guitar and played around with a few words for a chorus. The chorus words just fell into place and the students quickly endorsed ‘Wayiba, Wanthiwa’ as the song title.”
“I returned to Perth and played around with word structures for weeks. I had finalized the chorus and song chords, but the final words eluded me. Initially, I was aiming for just one verse and chorus but given the brief I decided there just had to be two verses which pushed out the length of the song once the choruses were added.”
“As often with songwriting, there is a moment of inspiration where everything seems to fall into place. For the school song, this was a wet and cold Sunday afternoon when I picked up my guitar and the final words just came together in twenty minutes. I immediately recorded the song on my phone so as not to forget.”
Recording the Demo
The words were approved by Karratha Primary School. The next step was David arranged the recording of an acoustic/vocal demo via a benevolent friend’s studio in Perth.
The reason for recording a demo was two-fold: the school could get a feel for the song before the final recording commenced, and the demo would be used to find a suitable singer to sing the song. The demo recording was made in Perth, and the school representatives listened with some reservation but were keen to hear the final outcome.
Recording the Song
Over the years, a majority of David’s MESA band songs have been recorded at Rocket Studios in Sydney, and a very good working relationship had been established with Rocket Studios owner and Producer David Holmes. For this project, the decision was to once again record with David Holmes.
“In April, I sent the demo to David Holmes in Sydney and asked if he could find a suitable singer for the song. ‘Leave it with me,’ he said, and a few weeks later he called to say Sydney session singer Sally Rosin would suit the song and she was available in early June.”
It was acknowledged there would be some cost incurred recording the song in Sydney, and it was at this point there was a fateful meeting in Karratha. In early May, David had to visit Karratha on business and by chance caught up with Sean Joyce—Business Manager of Karratha-based Joyce Krane (www.joycekrane.com). David told Sean about the school song project. As a major supporter of the local Karratha community, Sean offered for Joyce Krane to sponsor the Sydney recordings—accepted with thanks.
A few weeks later, David tried to get to Sydney, but the COVID risk ruled it out. They decided to push on with David in the Sydney studio building the backing tracks (drums, bass, keyboards) on top of the acoustic demo track. Layering the backing tracks took over a week, during which time there was frequent daily communication between Perth and the Sydney studio.
Once all the backing tracks were completed, Sally came to the studio, sang the lead vocal, and then added all the harmonies. In the days that followed, the regular communications between Perth and Sydney continued making minor adjustments, and finally, on Saturday 12th June, the song was mastered and complete.
In October 2021, I returned to Karratha Primary School, and it was very rewarding to hear the school sing the song—I was very surprised to hear some of the younger students singing the song with such confidence. Looking back, it was a most enjoyable project and hopefully the song will live forever in the hearts of the Karratha Primary School students as mentioned in the song:
“Our hearts rejoice forever – we never will grow old”