In the Garden of Dreams (Harp Guitar), by Jon Pickard

This tune took quite some time to take shape. It started when the simple theme came to me after a conversation with my wife about helping our children through a period of change and uncertainty in their school life. We talked about the many problems the children would be facing with the impending changes coming to them and of ways we might help them to navigate it all and come out in good shape the other end.
My wife is a gardener and has a deep love and knowledge of nature and especially plants, and we likened the role of a parent to that of a gardener - to nurture the seedlings, give them the right conditions to grow, weed out harmful influences, yet expose them to things that will strengthen them and help inspire them to face adversity and learn from it in order to survive and grow strong. This was on my mind while the tune was taking shape.
I would go for walks in the woodlands and parts of the tune crept into my thoughts as I walked. It struck me that the whole long story of humanity’s struggle towards its improvement and higher purpose (which I still believe in, despite the many troubles the world faces today) is tied in with the same theme. Fragility, uncertainty and adversity, alongside inspiration, determination, the need to dream and to hold on to the things that matter, with purity and savage beauty. The journey of Life has always had to face all these things, and to figure out what it is all for and keep going.
In times of hardship it is often only our dreams that give us purpose and strength to carry on. So we must learn to cherish and nurture our dreams and our ability to dream wisely - like a gardener nurtures a garden, like a parent cherishes a child. These were the thoughts that helped shape this tune.
When I could finally more or less play this piece I let my wife and one or two others hear it and asked what it made them think of. Nearly everyone said something like, “its like walking through a garden” or “a landscape or forest”. So I decided to call this tune “In The Garden Of Dreams”.
Score & TAB available at www.jonpickard...
More Harp Guitar videos at www.jonpickard...
23 string Harp Guitar designed by myself.
built by Stuart Mewburn,
with finishing work by Alan Miller
(alanmillerguita...)