New Release
New single - out 6 May
“Ellie Wilson’s Listen to the River Ching gives voice to this magickal watercourse, featuring field recordings, composition and readings the Ching speaks to us through Ellie’s enchanting creation. Such a beautiful tribute to this essential capillary of London”
Listen to the River Ching is a project taking place at Brookfield Path in Highams Park E4, funded by a ‘Make It Happen’ grant from London Borough of Waltham Forest.
This new music composition grew from a series of workshops led by composer Ellie Wilson for pupils with vision impairment at Joseph Clarke School. They visited the River Ching to explore the landscape through sound and collaborative listening. Together, they captured a sonic portrait of the environment using hydrophones and microphones.
The resulting composition combines percussion and whispered voices (water spirits) captured in the classroom with field recordings of the riverbank and its underwater world. This is combined with violin, synthesiser, piano, percussion and sound design for an immersive experience, evoking the flow of the river as it meanders through Epping Forest and slips quietly past back gardens, playing fields and allotments.
A reading from Henry Hawkins’ 1895 book Epping Forest – London’s Great Legacy (from a copy that belonged to Ellie’s great-grandfather) is incorporated into the piece, connecting past and present through place, memory and listening.
Ellie Wilson composer, violin, hardanger fiddle, voice, sound design
Pupils from Joseph Clarke School whispered voices, shakers
Thom Ashworth mix, master, sound design
Ryan Pearce cover image and video
A lesson in listening
Pupils with vision impairment worked with Ellie to pick some of the sounds used in the piece.
This new music composition grew from a series of workshops with pupils with vision impairment at Joseph Clarke School. We visited the River Ching to explore the landscape through sound and collaborative listening. Together, we captured a sonic portrait of the environment using hydrophones and microphones.
The resulting composition combines percussion and whispered voices (water spirits) captured in the classroom with field recordings of the riverbank and its underwater world. This is combined with violin, synthesiser, piano,percussion and sound design for an immersive experience, evoking the flow of the river as it meanders through Epping Forest and slips quietly past back gardens, playing fields and allotments.
Working with the students was a lesson in listening for me too as many of them rely on their ears (and touch and smell) to navigate their surroundings. They were so enthusiastic and I enjoyed working with them.
Here’s a word cloud with some of their answers to the listening survey I gave them.
Podcast: Eavesdropping Festival preview
Podcast: chatting to Juliet Fraser (Eavesdropping) about violins, influences, musical genres, layers of history & moths
Hear me chat to Eavesdropping curator Juliet Fraser about my chance encounter with a violin at school, finding my own soundworld, exploring layers of history, musical genres and moths.
PODCAST (13mins): on.soundcloud.com/L8VcM
I will be performing works from my latest album Memory Islands at Cafe Oto Dalston, on Friday 22 March as part of the excellent Eavesdropping Festival.
GIG: tickets can be purchased at www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/eavesdropping-festival-2024-2/
Here's a tiny preview of what i'll be performing. There will be violin, hardanger fiddle, drones, glitches, improv, field recordings and the voice of my grandad.
PREVIEW (INSTAGRAM): tinyurl.com/2m5ee7wr