Out of the woods

"In “Out of the Woods” new and old swirl together. The primary inputs are field recordings from a violin workshop near the river. All of the percussion sounds come from the wood instrument construction sounds from the workshop. The rhythms were already so compelling, I took long clips of them and did very little processing. The voices are also all from the workshop visit, in the field recording. Voices in the workshop blended four languages, discussing craft and location. “Acero” means maple in Italian. Wood was harvested nearby, connecting nature and human process. Soft sandpaper rubbing underlies the vocals. "The only sound I added was viola da gamba, an early bowed, wooden, stringed instrument that was popular in Europe in the Renaissance before the onset of modern strings. This instrument had a musical culture of being played in the home and in small groups, emphasizing soft richness of tone and polyphonic shaping before more modern priorities of loudness and soloists. Visually the instrument looks similar to the violin family, but has more sloped shoulders, 6 strings (generally) with frets, C holes instead of F holes, and all sizes are played upright held between the knees. Strings are tuned mainly in fourths, with the historical tuning of A a bit below modern standards (415hz vs 440hz or higher). The instrument went out of fashion being gradually replaced by the violin family in the Baroque period, though viols started to regain interest in the 20th century. I added reverb and effects to this early music sound, linking past and future. Along with other dedicated players and composers worldwide, I write and play new music for the viola da gamba to keep this instrument alive. "In “Out of the Woods,” wood is nurtured by water. Wood is flooded by water. Wood resonates. Wood transforms. Wood speaks. Wood connects. Wood remembers. Wood forms new memories." Section of the river Lech reimagined by Heather Spence. ------- Part of Flow, a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. Explore the full project at .

You can listen to Out of the woods online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Out of the woods is an episode from Cities and Memory.

This episode is 2:09 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2026.

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