<i>‘Wild’ music-making:</i> an investigation into the experiences of children (aged 7–10) when music-making in a woodland

Music-making has long been associated with ways of knowing that enable enhanced experiences of reality. This study explores children’s (aged 7–10 years) experiences of music-making outdoors in a nature reserve and the potential for aesthetic ways of knowing affecting their musical experiences and sense of relationship with the more-than-human world. Three schools took part and groups of children were randomly selected from each school to undertake semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the transcribed interviews showed that children’s music-making afforded them artistic or aesthetic ways of knowing giving them an enhanced experience of the natural world, themselves and their music making.