About

Born in Washington State and raised in Connecticut, USA, Terra Burgoyne has always showed high levels of musicality: singing even before she learned to speak. After being diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities, her family decided to educate Terra at home. This allowed her creativity and imagination to blossom. At the age of eight, Terra began learning classical voice and piano after being gifted an antique Wurlitzer Player Piano. These lessons were instrumental in developing her musical ear, eye, and mind; yet she had always dreamed of playing the harp. In 2014, Terra founded her own sewing business and, after only one year of saving, she was able to purchase her first harp. For the first few weeks, it was played non-stop.

Terra was self-taught for a year before beginning lessons with Haley Hewitt, a graduate of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It was Haley who introduced Terra to Traditional music, a genre that she had never heard before: one with which she instantly fell in love. From then on she went to compete in the Scottish Harp Society of America’s harp competition, winning the gold medal in the master’s category in 2016 when she was only eighteen. She was awarded scholarships in 2015 and 2016 to attend the Ohio Scottish Art School, a week-long intensive Scottish music retreat, and won the Neighborhood Music School Merit Award with Honors in Performance in 2016. From 2015 to 2018 she was the resident harpist at Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT. In 2017 she was given the Special Recognition Award in Instrumental Music from Shoreline Arts Alliance.

Terra graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with honours. She has performed with RCS at Celtic Connections on multiple occasions and in 2019 she was selected to be part of Ùr, a group of students chosen to play at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton.

Terra now lives on Knoydart, a remote peninsula in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. She recorded a digital album of music about women, witches and the supernatural which has been released on Bandcamp. Terra has become fascinated with the history of the Scottish Witch Hunt and its relation to the systematic oppression of women. These issues were examined in both her Year III research project and year III recital. During her first winter living in the highlands she wrote a tune book titled Rainbow Weather which can be purchased on Bandcamp. The tunes were inspired by living life close to nature and the power of the weather.

Moving to Knoydart has created a close relationship with nature and has brought out resourcefulness and creativity, inspiring and strengthening her passion for music-making and deepening her understanding of the stories, cultures and traditions of Scotland. Her wider ambitions for the future are to create music she loves and, while doing so, be kind to the Earth.