Wild Earth are a West Midlands based organisation which specialises in youth employability programmes using bushcraft / nature connection training, music and creative arts. For five years we facilitated the sound recording and production side of Wild Earth's 'Music in Nature' projects including a three year Nature Beats programme.
The approach to creating music was always kept very open and collaborative. This was to allow plenty of space for participants to input their own ideas while learning about sound, music production and settling into the group / getting to know everyone.
We would generally begin with young people collecting sounds from within a safe woodland or urban space. Then during a handful of indoor workshops, help the group gradually create soundscapes and music of their choosing from all of the collected sounds, as well as allowing for new musical ideas to be added to the mix. Tracks have been produced using Logic Pro and Ableton Live in styles chosen completely by the young musicians, and were all brilliant examples of what can be achieved in only a few sessions by those with little or no experience of recording or producing music.
We enjoy working with youth and NEET groups and strongly believe in the power of nature connection and collaborative music creation to provide a focus, build confidence and develop aspirations in young people.
The Nature Beats toolkit is now online, containing more details on the project approach along with resources for others to learn from. If you would like to speak to us about nature based sound and music projects, feel from to drop us a message.