Percussionist To “Play The Landscape”

Visitors to this year’s Swaledale Festival can expect to experience the Yorkshire Dales in a whole new way, thanks to support from the National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund.

From woodland performances to music shaped by the landscape itself, the Fund is helping the festival connect people more deeply with the Dales’ natural environment.

In one of the events, fallen trees will be brought back to life as musical instruments with internationally acclaimed percussionist Delia Stevens, from Hebden Bridge, presenting ‘Playing In The Trees’ at Intake Wood near Fremington.

Delia will lead audiences on a guided walk through the woodland, using drumsticks to create music from fallen trees (link takes you to video)

The annual Swaledale Festival will take place from Saturday 23 May to Saturday 6 June. The festival has 75 events, many of them connecting people to the natural environment.

Delia Stevens said: “When you are a percussionist you are always looking for sounds. If you go back to the roots of the word ‘xylophone’ – it literally means ‘wood sound’.

“The ‘Playing In The Trees’ events are about putting the vibrations back into trees that have fallen down. When we hit them, they are re-resonated. I would like to use Intake Wood as my concert hall – to play the landscape, be in an intimate space with an audience only a metre away.”

Emily Rowe Rawlence from the Swaledale Festival, an arts charity, said: “The festival loves the intersection of the arts with the landscapes of the Dales. Some of our events are outdoor performances. So the landscape shapes the experience. For instance, Delia Stevens is literally making an instrument out fallen trees. It is arts and the Dales melded into one. We are thankful to all our funders and appreciate the support of the Sustainable Development Fund.”

Chair of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Derek Twine, said: “The Swaledale Festival has been promoting understanding and enjoyment of the National Park for more than fifty years. The festival is always full of surprises and, alongside agricultural shows, is a highlight of the social and cultural year in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“We are delighted to be able to support the Swaledale Festival this year through the Sustainable Development Fund, as well as through hosting an event from Aysgarth Falls National Park Visitor Centre – a Schubert song performed during a walk along the Ure, with tickets already sold out.”