By Ketrice Hann

My Dad, Rodney Gregory, found Quentin Eyers on the internet and had a previous meeting with him regarding putting music to my daughter’s lyrics. Dad made an appointment for our first two sessions in the recording studio.

I was so nervous, as a mum of children with special needs it is always scary taking your child into an environment where you have no idea how your child is going to be received, how they are going to react in that environment, over all I had no idea what was going to happen and what my strategies were going to be to keep Benita safe……

The first song we recorded, God’s Love, Quentin had booked Kaylene Graham as our session singer. How exciting this was for Dad and I, Kaylene is a wonderful lady who originally resided on the Yorke Peninsula, she sang at my wedding, Quentin did not know that we already knew Kaylene.

Quentin started with a soft piano tune on the computer. He then began to layer the music slowly by adding more instruments. This was a truly wonderful experience watching Quentin play different guitars, find different instruments on his computer programs. All the while he was asking Benita if she liked the path that he was taking her on. Then Kaylene arrived, she went into the sound booth, started singing over the word track that Quentin had layed down for her to follow. Once Kaylene was comfortable with the words and tune Quentin took out his words from the track, Kaylene bought the words to life. Jayden, Benita, Dad and myself sat there memorized with how the song was growing before our very eyes. I had no idea how songs were made, I had no idea that people could create music without a written note. Quentin read Benita’s words and a tune came to him. He then builds on that tune, he is not always happy with the first take, many takes later he decides what he is happy with. Bentia writes a lot of words in her songs. Many times Quentin has to put in an extra beat or two to be able to fit all the words in. I could not believe how mindful he was at keeping Benita’s words exact, as he said, this is her story, and I have no right in changing her story.

We arrived at the studio at 10am, we left around 4, and the song “Gods Love” was born. We are not a religious family; I gave Benita some religious books to see if she was interested in them. As a mother of autistic children I feel that it is my job to expose my children to as many different things as possible. It would easy for me to let them live in their own world. But that is not going to get them to find their true potential. Not everyone has to be a leader in society, but everyone should be a contributing member of our society. These religious books resinated with Benita, she has a strong faith, one that I was not aware of. She wrote two songs from these books, Gods Love and Let Me Go. Both are amazing words.

Quentin spoke to us that afternoon advising that the next day he wanted to record “We are Glorious”. This section of words Benita had written about her personal autism journey. Quentin wanted Benita to read the words as this is her journey, he didn’t feel that anyone else could portray that journey as well as her. He knows that Benita does not sing strongly, so he asked her to speak the role. I was having kittens inside. What if this experience for her was going to be awful, are we going to be asking too much from her, what if she cannot do what he is asking from her and it all goes to shit. I was so excited from what they had created that day but so freaked out about the next day, it was a very emotional night for me. What in the world was going to happen the next day………?

We arrived at 10am, Quentin met us with a smile, and he explained to Benita what he wanted her to do. How he thought that she would speak all the verses and Kaylene would sing the two choruses’. It sounded fantastic, it sounded daunting, it sounded like it was the most exciting opportunity for Benita but I was so conflicted with emotion I had no idea what to do….. So I did what any mum would do, I shut up and just let it happen. It was out of my control, out of my domain, I had no idea how all this stuff worked so best to let the people who do know how it works to do their thing……

Benita was then taken into the sound booth. Now this is the closest thing to Harry Potter’s cupboard I have ever seen. Quentin put head phones on her head; he adjusted the height of the microphone for her. He put her words on a stand so she could read straight into the microphone without turning her head to be able to capture her words clearly. After allowing me to take too many photos he shut the door. The only way she could hear us was when Quentin pressed a button and spoke into her headphones. He also gave me a foot control so I could speak to her. Quentin gave me explicit instructions that less words are best, be positive, be kind. I was nervous. Not just little butterfly nervous but full blown not sure if I am going to pass out nervous or vomit everywhere nervous.

Quentin then gave Benita a drum beat; this was so she could read the words to the same beat, keep in time etc. Quentin told Benita that we are just doing a line at a time and he would edit it all together. Benita is not the strongest reader. My anxiety was building by the second. What if it all went south, Benita would be devastated, how was I going to get her to bounce back from this failure if it was to go bad. Benita then started talking to the beat, she was amazing, she was brilliant, I was a freaking mess, tears going everywhere, and I could not say a word. There was me, tears streaming down my face, mouth wide open, and two thumbs up, thinking to myself, where in the hell did she learn how to do that?????? Very big proud mummy moment. Quentin was brilliant, he decided that the drum beat was too slow for her, he sped it up, she read more lines, and we were all in awe of what we were witnessing. “We are Glorious” is coming to life. Quentin encouraged Benita to give him the emotion that he was looking for, he helped her with her timing, he helped her do her best, and it was beautiful to watch. At that moment I was not a mum of special needs, I was a mum of a beautiful, talented, creative teenager. It was the most amazing feeling ever.

Quentin then weaved his magic over the drum beat and Benita speaking voice. He put in all sorts of different instruments. He is truly gifted. We sat and listened. Just when we thought he could not make it any better he did, all we did was make sounds of “wow that is so cool”, “you are so clever”, “how do you do that”, “electric guitar, my god that is awesome”.

Kaylene then arrived at the studio around 2, she sang the two choruses’, and Quentin inserted them into the song. The song was basically finished. I had no idea that some words on a page could be created into such an emotional peace. The song is Benita, it is beautiful, it is meandering through her emotions, her wishes, her feelings. It really is a very powerful song. Every time I listen to it my eyes well up with tears, my heart gets fuller, I sit a little taller, and I give myself the privilege of dreaming what could be.

These two days are some of the most memorable of my life, for many different reasons. Bentia was not in her brother’s shadow, this is something that just Benita and Quentin created. All we did was give her the right person to be able to interpret her words. Bentia was not a child with special needs here, autism was not something that was discussed. Quentin made it very clear to me that Benita is his employee here, she needs to be kept happy, and that my dear friends is exactly what he did…… Amazing…..