Ruth Boden
Boden

WSU associate professor Ruth Boden from the School of Music has been hiking up mountain trails with a full-size cello on her back and playing music to the sky. This has given Boden some unique perspectives on the nature of music and life.

As part of her research project “Music Outside Four Walls,” Boden, who teaches cello, bass, chamber music, and music theory at WSU, has carried her 12-pound instrument to Northwestern mountaintops, along the Appalachian Trail, and deep inside other spaces.

She will present a public concert and talk about her research on Thursday, January 19th, at 8:00 p.m. at the Kimbrough Concert Hall.

Through Music Outside Four Walls, Boden aims to create “transformative experiences in music that transcend the commonplace,” she said. To that end, she has hiked with her cello more than 400 miles during the past three years and sent at least 100 hours of music into forests, meadows, mountains, rivers and clouds.Ruth Boden backpacks with her cello across the historic Potomac River railroad bridge on the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry, WV. Photo credit: Dean Luethi

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