Charnwood Arts is inviting people to immerse themselves in the sounds of the Geopark, through their Found Sounds of Charnwood Forest project. In August 2024 Charnwood Arts commissioned three sound artists to lead participants on a tour of Charnwood Forest and capture sounds of the natural environment. Using various forms of audio equipment ranging from specialist microphones to simple smartphone applications, attendees recorded bubbling streams, birdsong, and other natural sounds of the forest.
Research suggests that bringing the sounds of nature into your life can be very beneficial; it’s widely proven to significantly reduce anxiety and stress levels and the ultimate aim of this project.
The captured audio of the forest was then collated, edited, and manipulated to be include in a unique composition sound scaping nature’s symphony of Charnwood Forest – which you can listen to on Youtube and Soundcloud. The finished piece has been named Charnia masoni after the 562 million year old fossil that was the first to be discovered in Charnwood Forest. If you would like to find out more about how the finished piece was made, you can watch a video made by artist Tom Hill on Youtube.
Found Sounds of Charnwood Forest is intended to be fluid, grow in content over the coming years and provide Charnwood Arts a platform to showcase new compositions by emerging sound artists. The three artists involved in this stage of the project were Tom Hill, Karl Saddler, and Marshall Fairbrother.
This project has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Scheme.