‘Stem Song’ is an acoustic response by third grade music students at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School to the salal plant. The groundskeepers at Wind River Arboretum invited me to gather the salal plant that they were harvesting as part of their ongoing project to restore one of the oldest arboretums in the Pacific Northwest. I brought the plant into Emma Downing’s third grade music class at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School. We collaborated with local musician Taiyah Simone to create experimental music in response to sensory experiences with the plant, as well as naturopathic and botanical knowledge that I shared with the students about the plant. Taiyah re-mixed recordings from these sessions together into original music. During Assembly, Taiyah and I gathered the class to listen to the remixed music. Together, collectively contemplated and honored human kinship with local plants and trees through sound.

Third grade student artists: Alice, Armani, Aubree, Chase, Danielle, Davon, Emily Claire, Georgia, Jinzen, Josephine, Kyleigh, Magdalena, Ma’Laeyah, Mariana, Milan, Naomi, Nazier, Sarahi, Ra’Kiya, River, Robin, Romely, Romeo, Rosa, Ursula, Walter, Win

Thank you to Lisa Jarrett, Adrian Ruth Williams, Emma Downing, Alexis Johnson, Lillyanne Pham, Teresa Seidel, Mr. Monty, and Taiyah Simone

Related publication: Stem Song Stickers