The first tune I ever wrote on the harp was about three years ago. I had been playing the harp for a little over a year at the time when I was ‘hit’ by inspiration. I called the tune “A Different Day” and it all stemmed from a simple random gesture. Surprisingly, I remember the day very clearly. It was autumn and the leaves had turned to gold, orange, and red. I was out on a walk with my camera trying to capture some photos for a photography class. On my way back, I walked past three girls standing on the corner opposite my house trying to flag down the passing-by cars. I asked them what they were doing and they told me they were trying to raise money for the local high school by taking in old clothes and shoes. The only problem was, they didn’t have a sign and few cars were stopping. I wished them good luck and crossed the street back to my house. Realizing I had some poster board in the basement, I grabbed some markers and the posterboard and headed back outside. We spent about twenty minutes making the sign and it turns out that I had taken ballet classes with one of the girls years ago and she knew my name.
It was such a random thing for me to go out there and make a sign with them but it was so unexpected and it made my day. I knew I wanted to remember the spontaneity of the moment and the ‘different day’ I had.
I wrote the tune in about twenty minutes and it went through several changes over the course of the week. I ended up arranging it for a group of harps which I taught at a CT Harp Ensemble class. You can listen to the recording of us playing it here.
The tune starts in C minor and then moves to Eb Major. This transition was to represent the shift that occurred in my day. You can view the score for “A Different Day” here: A Different Day Harp Group.
When I look back on the tune I can see now how much I have learned and grown as a musician.
I used to think that I had to wait for inspiration to come to me. Now I know that I have to sit down and work on composing something rather than waiting for the tune to pop into my head. While every now and again I do get inspiration for tunes, the process of composing is long and sometimes tedious, yet I always learn something new and surprising.
Terra Burgoyne 