Give the Gift of a Musical Tree

Looking for an extra special gift idea for that special someone in your life? How about commissioning a piece of music while making a difference in the world?

Sharlene Wallace and I are co-composing a special collection of music for solo lever harp and fixed electronics called Trees.Listen. Our suite is inspired by the enlightening book, To Speak for the Trees, by acclaimed medical biochemist and botanist, Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger. Diana has a unique combination of western scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge from the ancient world. Orphaned in Ireland in her youth, she was educated by elders who instructed her in the Brehon knowledge of plants and nature.

The music that Sharlene and I are composing is based on different letters from the ancient Ogham script, a medieval alphabet that named each letter for a type of tree (this is how important trees were to the ancient Celts). The predominant musical note heard in each piece will be the note named after a particular tree. For example, there’s many Cs for “Coll”, the Celtic word for “Hazel”, and then many Bs for “Beith”, the Celtic word for “Birch”. This approach will create an extra spiritual connection between each piece, the tree and its designated letter. The overall tone of each piece is also be inspired by the information and stories shared by Diana about each tree, each having its own unique musical character, just as each tree does.

Thanks to seed money from the Ontario Arts Council, we were able to complete a demo of 2 of the 9 pieces earlier this fall, first recording samples at Jean Martin’s studio. I then took those samples and used them as a basis to compose electronic bed-tracks. Sharlene then composed a live harp part on top of those bed-tracks. Then we recorded Sharlene’s solos on top of my bed-tracks…the outcome is magical!

We now want to repeat this process for all the pieces in the suite…and that’s where you come in!

Visit sharlenewallace.com/treeslisten to learn more.

Sharlene and I hope that Trees.Listen supports Diana’s vision that trees are a fundamental part of our existence and survival on this planet and that they are something to be worshipped and protected. We have been fortunate to receive Diana’s enthusiastic support for our endeavour. She is a passionate individual who envisions a better world, with more trees!