With no agenda but to “think, feel, and express those whims through notes on my harp,” musician Julie Kinn intuitively channels the sounds and sights of Tinker Creek in “The Watercolor Jig.” Harp in tow, she lets her synesthesia guide her, “painting” the colors experienced through the sound of rushing water and visions of the sky’s reflections and light passing through trees. “I plucked notes on my harp in the order that I noticed colors in the water: green (D), orange (G), and yellow (E). Brown isn’t a note for me, but I could see blue (F), purple (B), and terra-cotta (C) if I opened myself to a little whimsy.”
An ode to journeying into nature to compose music, as opposed to staying indoors, “The Pilgrim’s Waltz” harnesses the novelty of nature as inspiration. “You never know what you will see. It cannot be predicted. Even seemingly random patterns, like the patchwork of fallen leaves over fallen leaves, aren’t random at all; they are the past that happened…These thoughts fluttered through my mind as I plucked at the harp. Eventually, an early draft of the melody emerged—as unpredictable as a falling leaf, and as welcome as a beam of sunlight.”