The Nature Beats / Positive pathways programme ran for three years and included a total of twelve six week courses, engaging many young people. My role as music leader was a fascinating one, bringing my audio and music production and outdoor skills to each course, whether out in the woodland or indoors for the production studio sessions.

Being out in nature meant i could help the participants learn about the settings we were in, including an awareness of the seasons, flora and fauna present around us and most importantly how to listen and act with low impact. All of this while also learning the practicalities of sound recording and sound gathering - something we did a lot of - with the aim of collecting interesting nature sounds for later use in the production of the group music tracks.

Sound and music were important elements of the courses, but by no means the only ones, as the whole camp had to be built and a fire started before anyone could have a hot drink or cook any lunch! So everyone would collaborate from the start to the end of each day in many useful practical ways, and ways that enabled important learning and confidence building.

For more information visit: https://www.naturebeats.org/