As part of our regional touring program, the Wanim artists are sharing their music, stories and creative practices with young people in schools along the tour route.
Across Kununurra, Warmun, Halls Creek, Wangkatjunka, Fitzroy Crossing and Broome, the school’s program creates opportunities for young people to meet the artists, experience live music and take part in creative music-making close to home.
Through stories, songs, singing, percussion and improvisation, students are invited to listen, respond and participate.
At East Kimberley College in Kununurra, students from pre-primary through to senior school took part in performances and workshops with Wanim artists Stephen Pigram, Bart Marr, Mary Rapp, Carl Dewhurst and Talya Valenti.
Each musician introduced students to their instrument and explored its different sounds and possibilities. Stephen shared the story of his custom-made ukulele, crafted from a mango tree that grew in his nanny’s backyard in Broome. Carl demonstrated the unexpected possibilities of the electric guitar, from rhythm and distortion to feedback, while Mary invited students to close their eyes and imagine what the sounds of the double bass and cello brought to mind.
Talya introduced students to the drums and cymbals, moving through rhythms from pop, jazz, rock ’n’ roll and reggae. Students joined in through clapping, dancing, body percussion and experimenting with instruments including the whirly.
For some students, the visit was part of a much longer relationship with Tura. Some older students from Warmun and Kununurra have run up to the Wanim Ensemble, saying they remember experiencing Tura performances when they were in their early primary years.
Alongside Wanim, other projects are creating opportunities for young people to explore music, language and storytelling in ways that reflect their own communities. In Fitzroy Crossing, the Kimberley Song Muster is building on Tura’s long-running Sound FX program, with students from Fitzroy Valley District High School taking part in the Young Language Leaders Project, writing songs and stories in language and bringing them to life through illustration.
These experiences are part of a wider network of artists, educators, cultural leaders, schools and community organisations supporting young people to connect with music, language, culture and creative practice in their own communities. This includes programs such as Marra Worra Worra’s Night Space.
For the Wanim artists, meeting young people along the tour is an opportunity to listen and respond to the curiosity and creativity they bring to the music. One teacher shared that their child first heard the violin played many years ago by long-time Tura collaborator Erkki Veltheim during one of the Kimberley Echoes tours. Now in Year 12, they continue to learn and play the violin.
