Cheryl Beer is a tree listening, sea whisperer, repurposing hearing aid & biomedical technology to compose music & nature narratives led by the natural world. Interested in the relationships between sound, music & the environment, her cutting edge innovations in ecomusicology raise awareness of nature in crisis by embodying a visceral sense of place. Playing now, is a piece of tree-led music. Delving beneath the bark, Cheryl has collated the inner biorhythms of an oak sapling, using these to compose music led entirely by the sapling itself. The sapling you are listening to is shown below, miraculously growing on a seemingly dead tree trunk in the Woodland Trust Coed Felenrhyd Rainforest.
PLAYING NOW : Acorn Sapling
Cheryl explains how becoming suddenly hearing impaired, with hearing loss, tinnitus & hyperacusis, shaped the way in which she now composes with nature -
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​'I remember waking up & wondering, 'Why have the birds stopped singing?' Overnight, my life radically changed. Until then, I'd been a full-time musician. Whilst waiting for my NHS hearing aids, discombobulated, I retreated to the woods & learnt an awakened understanding of how the natural world nurtures well-being. Compelled to 'pay back', I began seeking out our most fragile forests & eroding shorelines. ​When I realised that we have rainforests, right here, in Wales, I knew I needed to extend my practice & raise awareness of their exsistence. With moss dated back 10,000 years they are part of the most significant eco-history across the globe & yet modern life has eroded them to crisis point.' ​
Cân y Coed / Song of the Trees, is a Rainforest Symphony raising awareness of nature in her hour of distress, by reuniting 4 remaining fragile pockets of Celtic Rainforest across Wales, weaving a tapestry of tree, fern & moss biorhythms into music & sound, unearthing the unique songs of different trees from beneath their bark & bringing them to the virtual world. The work is made possible through a Main Commission with Unlimited, funded by the Arts Council of Wales & has enabled Cheryl to spend a year in the rainforests bringing the Symphony into being. Concurrently, her research Sensory Solutions seeks to widen access for virtual sound. Click the link to meet the funders ...
Cheryl invites you to join her during her residencies in the rainforests & behind the scenes at her studio with Podcasts, Videos, Live Audio Descriptons & Welsh translations, ​​The Symphony itself launches at Summer Solstice with an exciting line up of events beginning at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, as part of an international tour. 
Daeth Cheryl i Gymru gyntaf yn ei harddegau ac erbyn iddi orffen ei gradd gyntaf ym Mhrifysgol De Cymru, roedd wedi cwympo mewn cariad â'r diwylliant, y bobl a’r cefn gwlad – Cymru yw ei chartref bellach ac, er nad yw'n siarad Cymraeg, mae'n chwilio am ffyrdd o gynnwys yr iaith yn ei gwaith. ​

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE TOP 100 ​PIONEERING WOMEN  ​FOR HER CONTRIBUTION ​TO THE ARTS ( WWEN : 2020 )

Sea Whisperer ... 

Cheryl's research into notating the visualisation of nature sounds came as an AHA moment when based at the flood defence walls of the Millennium Coastal Path, as part of a mentorship with ADDO Creative, during the pandemic. She realised, by applying the same technology that audiologists use during hearing tests, ie/spectral frequency & digital sound, she could measure the notated pitch of the sea & compose music led by the natural world. The first notated recording she made was a wave in slow motion during high tide. For Cheryl, it sounded like the morning call from the temple roof, a call to prayer, for others it is a warning from the deep ... See what you think by pressing play & watching her end presentation for the work. ​Due to the significance of this research, Cheryl has archived the full findings here, so that you can delve more deeply. Click the link below to find out more. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE 

#PethauBychain
​@ Wales Arts International

Cheryl's digital poem 'Bard Beneath the Bark', commissioned for the Disabled People's Cultural & International Manifesto, is currently being exhibited by Wales Arts International as a Case Study for a more equal Wales; part of #PethauBychain curated by acclaimed immersive artist Marc Rees, #PethauBychain is a campaign to connect the cultural sector with the 7 goals of the Future Generations Act for a more prosperous, resilient, equal, healthier, cohesive, vibrant & globally responsible Wales.

Disabled Peoples' Cultural
​& International Manifesto

Cheryl was commissioned to create a piece for the launch of a game changing new Manifesto that responds to articles 30 and 32 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Disabled People. Her piece, ‘Bard Beneath the Bark’ draws a comparative dialogue between the discourse of climate crisis & the position of disabled people, both within the cultural arts sector & wider society. Bard Beneath the Bark opened the launch, which live streamed into 8 different countries.

H2O @ COP26

Cheryl's innotive film about climate change, H2O, was showcased by Wales Arts International (WAI) as part of their Cymru COP26 Campaign for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. WAI enable international work in the arts through collaborations, projects, networks and communication, offering a gateway between the arts of Wales and the world. The film was made at Coed Lletywalter Rainforest during Cheryl's residency with Coed Cadw & the Celtic Rainforest Project. To watch H20, click the link opposite & visit Wales Arts International website.

Climate Justice & the use
of art as a tool of change

​Cheryl was commissioned as an Unlimited panelist addressing how artists use art as a tool for highlighting Climate Emergency. She was also invited as a one of 4 leading disabled artists addressing Climate Change to pitch her work as an Environmental Sound Artist. Her film H2O was shown to key members of the industry looking for creative ways to address the emergency. In addition her photograph of Coed Felenrhyd Rainforest became the title image for the debate.

Everything Change

Earlier this year, Cheryl was invited to take part in a tri-national event between Wales, India & Canada, about the Climate Crisis. Headed up by Taliesin Arts Centre at Swansea University, Dharka Literature Festival in India & Award Winning Author Margaret Atwood, in Canada -  'Everything Change' is a radical call from the world of creativity to open conversations & provocations about new & innovative ways of addressing the crisis. During COP26, the Everything Change Team collated & published the work from the event. Cheryl's commission can be seen in the link opposite, as part of Changing Justice. 

Community Sound Art 

As the Founder & Director of Sound Memories Dementia Friendly Radio Station, Cheryl designs & delivers projects t0 support  older people in creating their own Memory Resources, through Life Story & Nature Narrative. This work has won a GOLD National Award from the Wales Care Forum, was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Drama from the University of South Wales & Cheryl's Health & Arts Empowerment Model was published in a co-paper written with Nick Andrews for the International Journal of Storytelling in Health. In addition, Sound Memories Radio won an Excellence in Digital Media Award from the Celebration of Arts & Culture. Throughout the pandemic, Sound Memories quickly became an inspirational online resource, bringing the virtual outdoors to the older community, through partnership working with older people themselves, & the organisations that support them. Click the photograph tobe taken to the radio website for more details.
''​​Cheryl is a creative humanitarian. Her visionary projects enable sustainable social change ​& impact ​Arts & Health strategy at the very core of Welsh life. ''​