Alongside Autumn (2019)
The Project
In Autumn 2019, Matilda walked the length of Scotland, solo, self sufficient, carrying everything she needed on her back,
without any expedition support. She walked over mountains, through valleys, towns and one city – The city of Glasgow. She walked through some of the most beautiful and desolate wilderness of Scotland. It was Matilda’s own route – linking old paths to make a new path.
During her walk Matilda composed and performed music with musicians in six unique places across Scotland. The music emerged and developed through the people she met, the landscapes she passed in and through, the thoughts that ran through her head – her mind turning over like her feet stepping one foot in front of the other.
Throughout the journey, Matilda shared regular updates via her Alongside Autumn Blog and listen to Matilda live on her walk here of have a read in this interview with Countryfile Magazine. Her walk was broadcast on BBC which you can find on the BBC Website and Acast. Furthermore, Matilda’s walk was covered in The Scots Magazine as well as Fiona Outdoors:
I’m delighted to be in the October 2020 edition of the The Scots Magazine and thanks to Fiona for the article, Fiona Outdoors.
Musical Monsters and Outdoor Learning at Wallace Hall Primary School
P3 and P6 children at Wallace Hall Primary School enjoyed working with composer Matilda Brown to create music inspired by monsters. The project came about as part of Matilda's 'Alongside Autumn' project, involving Matilda walking 500 miles over the length of Scotland with her faithful canine companion, Jasper, for company, stopping to perform and compose music with local communities along her route. Wallace Hall Primary School was her first port of call.
The children participated in a whole day music workshop, thinking of plot lines for the monster music and then experimenting with a variety of traditional and electronic musical instruments to compose the piece together.
"It was much more realistic to make monsters in the forest instead of in the classroom."
"I felt really proud when I heard our music in the woods."
"I didn't know it was so easy to make music!"
Following this workshop, the children visited Drumlanrig Castle along with children from Kelloholm Primary where they were met by the Rangers and taken into the woods to begin a morning of monster making. To the obvious delight of the children, they were led to a part of the forest where 30 buckets full of clay and a forest floor covering of moss, sticks, ferns and pine cones were the materials for the day. Monsters slowly began to come to life and adorn the trees and forest floor. After a much needed clean-up and lunch the children returned to the monsters in the woods to hear their compositions emerging, and then booming from the undergrowth.
Many thanks to Matilda Brown and Richard Clarke and the Drumlanrig Ranger Team for such a fantastic musical and outdoor experience.
Performance as part of Alongside Autumn: A Composer’s Walk
Listen to original music created and performed by local school pupils and Matilda in, and around, Drumlanrig Castle. The music you hear will be devised from the workshops and played through the trees using Pro Sounds top notch music tech while the children create their own monsters out of the woodlands natural materials.
Footsteps Marking Time
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Other Walks
Winter in Knoydart
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Spring Torridon to
Shenvall Bothy
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