By Antoine Bellemare-Pepin, Mar Estarellas, and Eldad Tsabary

This Plain Language Summary is published in advance of the paper discussed. Please check back soon for a link to the full paper.

What happens when people make music together by following the forest, rather than a score or usual musical rules?

We explored this question through a project called “Returning to the Trees.” A small group of musicians, artists, and researchers met in a forest in Quebec and took part in a 90-minute group improvisation. They used musical instruments as well as natural materials they found in the forest, such as sticks and leaves. Instead of following musical rules or written scores, participants were invited to listen closely to the forest and respond through sound, movement, and play. We recorded the sounds of the session and used computer tools to examine the types of sounds that emerged. We also invited participants to write short reflections afterwards about how the experience felt. Together, these approaches helped us understand both what happened and how participants experienced it.

We found that the forest strongly shaped how people created together. Participants made many non-traditional sounds, including vocalisations and noises that animals, textures, and movement in the landscape inspired. Their reflections described feelings of curiosity, joy, admiration, and awe. Many participants said the forest helped them feel safer, more open, and more connected to one another than in typical creative settings.

Moving beyond treating nature as a passive backdrop, our findings suggest that natural environments actively influence how people think, feel, and create together. The forest invited listening, slowed people down, and encouraged playful ways of creating, including moving, gesturing, vocalizing, and interacting with natural materials.

This work shows how creative practices in nature can support well-being, connection, and collaboration. It also offers ideas for artists, educators, and communities interested in using nature-based creative activities to counter isolation, burnout, and disconnection in modern life.