Episode Details

For this episode, I’m joined by my husband Geoff Robb - musician, composer and co-director of The Outdoor Teacher, to explore his lifelong relationship with music and nature, and the story behind The Music of Trees.

We discuss....

• Geoff’s journey from classical guitar and years of busking to becoming a professional musician, composer and creator of The Music of Trees.
• How his early experiences with Reiki and healing opened questions about music, creativity and where inspiration might come from.
• Geoff’s lifelong relationship with the outdoors, from Forest School Camps as a teenager to the deeper nature-connection practices we later explored together.
• What it means to listen to nature, ask permission and build a relationship with individual trees - without needing to claim certainty about what is happening.
• How the willow became a turning point in Geoff’s composing, and how music sometimes seems to arrive unexpectedly rather than being consciously created.
• The story behind The Music of Trees - combining original guitar music with folklore, ecology, storytelling and the remarkable lives of trees.
• Ancient yews, tree protectors, Julia Butterfly Hill and the people who have stood up for trees when trees cannot speak for themselves.
• How COVID brought Geoff’s work as a musician almost to a standstill, but also gave him time in the woods to write more music than he had written in the previous several years - much of which became Music of Trees.
• How that period also brought Geoff into The Outdoor Teacher, combining his technical and business experience with our shared commitment to helping more people access nature.
• The changing reality of being a musician in the age of Spotify, streaming and AI and why supporting live music and independent artists matters more than ever.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/97-the-music-of-trees

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

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