Walking with the Wilderness is a brand new touring Musica Viva show co-developed by Thea Rossen (percussion) and Aawa White (flutes) for Australian primary school students. The show features new commissions from four well loved Australian composers and takes the audience on an aural bush walk through different parts of Australia using music as an invitation to deeper listening.

At the core of the Walking with the Wilderness is an invitation to listen deeply, not only to the music being performed but to the environment around us. When we stop and listen to nature it gives us space to think, and the opportunity to more deeply understand our place. This is a concept central to Ngunnawal custodian and first nations man Richie Allan. His work Mulligans, co-developed with Griffin Ensemble, is all about that. The piece opens our performance and is for electronics and mixed chamber ensemble with the accompanying track full of bird calls from Mulligans Flat in Canberra on Nunawull Country. In the performance we ask students to hone in on listening to the bird calls as the soloists that are supported by our improvised musical responses on our instruments. It is music like the students will never have heard before, and offers a challenging listening experience, but one well worth the effort. By the end of the work the double bass drone that had been present all along, suddenly ends and we are left with only the natural sounds of the birds in the trees, we invite the students to close their eyes and listen. As someone who has presented children’s shows for a number of years now, this was a new approach for me to offer such a calm and quiet invitation, but it has been remarkable seeing the students respond so positively to the chance to sit quietly and listen for even a moment. 

The show then takes students on an aural journey around Australia as they listen to music written about cicadas, fungi, birds and tree roots. We wanted the performance to be full of interactive moments, so the students are encouraged to sing bird calls and help create the sound of cicadas in summer time. We also build up a soundscape of environmental sounds using body percussion and have a choir of students representing birds built into the last piece of the show.

Musica Viva in Schools commissioned the four new works for the show and supported the development process of the performance. Perth based composer Alice Humphries gave us Tick Tock, a beautiful work for tuned ceramic bowls, bells and flute that follows the life cycle of the West Australian Tick Tock cicada, who can live underground for up to 7 years before burrowing up to sing its song and find a mate. Miriama Young’s piece Wood Wide Web, offers a musical representation of the conversations that are going on under our feet between tree roots and the vast web of mycelium (or fungi) connecting them. We needed to be creative with how to build an expansive sound world using only two live musicians while also allowing us the freedom to wander amongst the audience during the performance. Wood Wide Web features a track of Aawa playing different looped sections of the work on her flute, reminiscent of Steve Reich’s electric counterpoint and we also had a portable marimba custom built by instrument maker Andy Rigby which allows me to walk amongst the audience while playing. The final work of the show links all the pieces together with a celebration of the natural ecosystem we have explored. Sydney based composer, Tim Hansen worked with primary school students in his residency through Musica Viva in Schools to design Bounding Flight which allows for students to help us create the sounds of birds, cicadas and rustling leaves as part of the grand finale that we often ask a teacher to help conduct, to the student’s delight. 

It is our goal that the students leave one of our performances with a desire to go out into nature and listen carefully to the sounds around them, and through this experience build a deeper connection to their own place, as well as a curiosity that will inspire them to learn more about it and feel passionate enough to protect it.

As well as the live 50 minute performance, schools are given access to a formidable package of resources that can last for up to a semester, if every activity is undertaken. This allows the teacher and students to dive deeper into other areas of the program that may not be covered in great detail in the show, including further elements of eco literacy, the opportunity to explore language from the traditional custodians of their local area, and a number of musical invitations around improvisation, composition and graphic score reading, as well as lots of bird call activities. 

This whole project started with a beautiful idea from Aawa about brining eco literacy to children through chamber music, and I am thrilled that she asked me to collaborate on bringing it all to life. Since my previous show with Musica Viva, Water Water Everywhere was all about the sonic properties of water and environmental sustainability, this show was a perfect fit for me. We are grateful for the support from Syzygy flautist Laila Engle and thank the wonderful MVIS team, led by Michael Sollis who helped us bring it all together.

While the development of the project was impacted by COVID in the last two years, the touring element of the show has been designed to withstand any future border closures with two independent ensembles that cover different parts of the country. Thea leads the Western states group with flautist Michael Howell and Aawa leads the Eastern states ensemble with Justin Marshall on percussion.

Since going live in early 2022, the show has already toured in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Western Australia’s south west region for over 10,000 students from Kindy to Year 6.

It is such a privilege to have the opportunity to bring great new Australian music to school students in a show that celebrates our diverse natural environment.  

While there are moments of big energy and group participation, it is quite unique to have a show that encourages stillness, calm and listening in primary aged students. We have had lots of great feedback already about how much the students and teachers have loved the experience and really enjoyed the time to listen deeply to the world around them.

December 2022 - Thea Rossen

Some highlights from regional touring with Walking with the Wilderness