Music. Movies. TV. Theatre. Everyday inspirations maintain flow of tunes
INSPIRATION is for Vreni Murphy.
In fact, it was while taking out the bin one night that Vreni discovered a hidden talent – folk music composition.
“My first tune came to me in a very unexpected way. I was walking back to the house after putting out the wheelie bin, when I had this mental picture of me playing a tune with a fiddler friend,” she said.
“Then I heard the music, and it was like watching a movie, when I suddenly realised, that I didn’t recognise the tune.
“I ran back to the house, grabbed my whistle and some manuscript paper and started writing. This tune was The Pinnacles; I’m very fond of it!
“After that I was inundated with tunes, in the car, while grocery shopping, doing housework and on bike rides.
“I wrote them all down at first, later I became more selective. I started experimenting, choosing to write certain styles and not necessarily for the whistle.”
Vreni said once she discovered her hidden talent, finding inspiration was easy.
“After the first book was published and my tunes were out there being played, I was getting feedback and it was all really wonderful,” she said.
“I just felt like writing a tune for everyone who had said something nice. That is why I ended up writing so many tunes so quickly, there was always another person to write a tune for.”
Vreni said it was always a thrill to hear people play her tunes but one of her proudest moments came when a friend came across a musician playing one of her compositions by accident.
“A friend of mine and a couple of his mates went to a sesall around sion in Balmoral near Mittagong, in the Southern Highlands of NSW,” she said.
“A woman at the session started playing my tune Rachel’s Waltz.
“Two other musicians said, ‘Ah yes, that one’, and played it as well.
“Others tried to pick out the melody notes and play along.
“My friend and his mates knew the tune too and played it. So there were at least six people who knew my tune. Wonderful! That is the pinnacle of tune writing, when the tunes get into the sessions and people learn them they like them.”
Vreni said having her tunes out there had brought her into contact with many lovely folk musicians who were taking her music even further.
“One is Greg O’leary, who chose a couple of my tunes to because teach at the Australian Settlers Dance Music workshops at the National Folk Festival in Canberra,” she said.
“To be part of such a well known and respected event is about as good as it gets.
“Another is fiddler and banjo player Wayne Millar from the Illawarra region, who included me in a workshop on Australian composers.
“This was followed by a workshop about my tunes, which he and the band No Such Thing presented at the Bush Traditions Gathering in Yass, in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.
“Also from the Illawarra region is classical guitarist and fiddler Marg Sherringham, who has written harmonies for several of my tunes, and an arrangement for classical guitar. These are all in the book.
“Singer/songwriter Jeff Corfield, whom I’ve known forever, wrote a song about the bush band Wattle n Gum and asked me to provide an instrumental interlude to go between the verses. A thoroughly enjoyable task.
“And then, to top it all off, I won a tune-writing competition in England. By this time, I wondered if I was dreaming.”
Tunes from the Tropics contains a CD sample of tunes.
“These have been recorded by many different people on wildly varying equipment, from iphone to professional set up,” she said.
“As always, the chords are a guide only.
“Writing a bunch of tunes is all very pleasant but making them appear in book form takes a lot of planning and organisation. I would like to express my gratitude to Dave South, who is the driving force behind these books. Without him they wouldn’t happen.”
Tunes from the Tropics 2 is available at Arties Music Townsville.