Blog 2: Tríona Walsh, Opera Singer, TAP Artist and Music Educator
Little Woodland Heights - Documentation Award 2025. Photo Éilís Murphy
Tríona Walsh is an opera singer, collaborative artist and music educator. Her music education practice is rooted in the use of a child’s first instruments – the voice and the body- as a medium for expression, communication, play, and artistic exploration.
Making music together provides children with a plethora of musical and non-musical benefits including building coordination and motor skills, resilience, empathy, and communication skills through co-operative objectives.
Triona is a TAP trained artist and works regularly with Music Generation partnerships and Sing Ireland, leading group singing days and providing classroom-based projects in various primary, secondary and early years settings. Her philosophy is one of inclusivity, differentiation and accepting every offer as an artistic expression of the child. Having fun and making ‘mistakes’ are essential ingredients in her collaborative process.
In 2025, Tríona collaborated with composer Fiona Linnane and classroom teacher Nuala Dooly to deliver Little Woodland Heights, a programme of interactive music-making for children with students at Scoil Mhuire Eimhín in Co Limerick. Little Woodland Heights was one of three recipients of the 2025 Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award.
In the second post of her guest blog series, Tríona Walsh reflects on building relationships with students and teachers at Scoil Mhuire Effin and preparing for a field trip as the Little Woodland Heights project takes shape.
Little Woodland Heights – Building Relationships and Preparing for a Field Trip
Composer Fiona Linnane and I arrived at Scoil Mhuire, Effin, on the last glorious day of April 2025. It had been the third warmest April on record since 1900. Little did we know that we were about to experience an equally beautiful May and June. We were greeted by the enthusiastic students of 3rd and 4th class and their fabulous classroom teacher, Nuala Dooly. We also met the wonderful Sarah O’Halloran, who was completing her teaching practice placement at the time.
We began each of our sessions with a music making activity. The school’s outdoor classroom was an ideal space for us to work in. It was well equipped with wooden logs to sit on and was sheltered from the sun. We played a Māori stick game, practicing our singing, beat keeping and co-ordination skills. The students were asked to sit and listen…just listen… to all of the sounds they heard. They noticed insects, aeroplanes, the sound of pre-school children laughing and playing, a tractor in the distance, breathing and the noises of the rustling breeze.
We explored the architecture of trees, the life cycle of a forest and Dr Margaret Lowman’s (AKA Canopy Meg) ten fundamental reasons that trees are essential for life on Earth: oxygen for air, climate moderation, shade, medicines, water purification, soil enrichment, storing carbon, homes for animals and insects, providing resources like timber and food, and providing spiritual sanctuary. The children were divided into groups and asked to create a tableau reflecting these processes. We made forest collages with leaves, pipe cleaners, wool and pop sticks and we also explored ancient Druidic beliefs about trees. As we learned about native Irish trees, we discovered our own ‘sign’ in Celtic Tree Astrology and had fun creating a musical improvisation around the names of the trees. It turns out that I am a Rowan – The Thinker, which represents protection and insight.
With a keen sense of purpose and a clear understanding of the task at hand, we were ready to set out on our field trip to Curraghchase Forest Park.
Students from Scoil Mhuire Eimhin during Little Woodland Heights. Image credit: Scoil Mhuire Eimhin and Éilís Murphy, Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award 2025
