While currently putting the finishing touches on her new book of Scots Gaelic songs, Dr Ruth Lee Martin (composer and head of musicology at ANU) has just had an article published in the Australia Music Centre series on composers, providing insights into the research and the thought processes behind her compositional work.

"Landscapes are a significant element of creative work, whether they are responded to directly or mediated through the experiences of others," writes Ruth.

"Our relationship to landscape and musical response can be viewed on a continuum, one end being a creative response to an intimate knowledge of the physical landscape, while the other end is a response to a landscape of the imagination. This is a landscape that has never been directly experienced itself, but rather, mediated through the experiences of others. Both approaches to landscape are compelling in their own ways."

To find out more about what informs the creative minds of composers read Ruth's article online at  http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/insight-music-landscape-and-the-imagination