What: An invitation to walk your local ngahere and discover its sounds, with guided inspiration from the students of Konini and Kauri Park Schools.
Go for a walk in a forest near you, listen to one of the tracks and take some time to consider our questions:
How does your forest sound?
How does it make you feel?
What can you hear in your forest?
What are the sounds of a healthy forest? Of an unhealthy forest?
Can you make your own sounds or music in/with your ngahere?
Where: Your local bush area.
How: Take your phone and some headphones to your local pocket bush. Select a track and play it. Afterwards go for a walk around the bush and listen closely.
Who: This walk is suitable for all ages, and is great for whanau to do together.
Difficulty: walkers choice
What do you need: Your phone connected to the internet your headphones to listen.
Created by:
Voices of the Ngahere
Konini School, Room 20 with Tash van Schaardenburg
“Close your eyes and let your mind drift off to a ngahere not far away from here. Think about your place in this world and your role as kaitiaki. Let your worries drift away and enjoy the voices of the ngahere.”
Pieces of Us
Kauri Park School students with Tash van Schaardenburg
Edited by Charley, Mckenzie, Elise, Holly, Madison, Lucy, Henry, Suka, Samantha, Lilly. “We are students at Kauri Park School. We are children from the ages of 9 – 11 who love our native bush and we have been working to create a beautiful soundtrack for you to enjoy. It contains sounds from our piano and from our very own bush. We hope you enjoy it.”
Toitū te Ngahere: Art in schools for forest health
These soundscapes wre created as part of a commission for the Urban Walking Festival. Students at Kauri Park School in Tāmaki / Auckland worked in collaboration with sound artist Tash van Schaardenburg, learning to take field recordings, then consider how these could be combined to create an experience of the forest.
It is one part of a collaborative research project with researchers from the University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau. The students are supported to examine the implications for their communities and local environments of two plant pathogens: kauri dieback caused by Phytopthora agathidicida, and the fungal disease myrtle rust, Austropucinia psidii.
Combining science, mātauranga Māori and the arts, the students explore ways to contribute to ngahere ora as kaitiaki, finding ways to generate positive social and ecological action in their schools and communities, sharing messages of concern, hope and connection with ngahere ora.
Toitū te Ngahere: Art in Schools for Forest Health is part of Mobilising for Action, a research theme within Biological Heritage National Science Challenge programme Ngā Rākau Taketake, focusing on the human dimension of forest health management https://www.mobilisingforaction.nz/