ONE SPRING DAY
For SATB a cappella
Composition: One Spring Day
Ensemble: SFASU Chamber Singers
Conductor: Dr. Michael Murphy
Sheet Music
Available for SATB a cappella. Purchase through the composer!
Picture above: Tyler and I at Lambeau Field
One Spring Day
Sitting outside one crisp spring day
Listening I heard children play
They laughed and danced amongst the breeze
Passing their time by, careless and free.
Closing my eyes, I recalled simpler times
Building forts in the woods with my good friend Tyler
How days turned to months and months to years
Forts became houses and games careers.
Both present and past began to merge
My memories filled with the laughter I heard
Though lost in time those days may be
I played with my friends vicariously.
- Zachary J. Moore
Composer Notes:
Back in the spring of 2020 (amidst the pandemic, isolation, and finishing off a difficult year of teaching online), I sat on my apartment porch enjoying the first nice day of spring. After months of a Wisconsin winter and being stuck inside for half a year, it felt so freeing to be outside. But despite all the freedom I felt, I could not ignore the concerns I had for music programs, the arts, and staying safe because of the pandemic. As I thought about my concerns, I noticed the laughter of children amidst a warm breeze. It was a bittersweet and ironic moment watching a group of kids playing completely carefree, despite everything.
As I sat observing and longing to be in their shoes, I began to close my eyes and think about memories of my own childhood. I remembered playing with friends and feeling excited to grow up. I enjoyed my childhood a lot, but more times than not I was excited to become an adult, naively wishing my youth away. Continuing to sit on my porch, I felt the warm breeze swirl around me; however, this time I noticed a coolness in the air from the melting snow. At that moment I thought of the coolness that was always in the air when I was a kid. I never noticed how the cold and relentless march of time was always around me, slowly taking my childhood.
Continuing to think of fond memories, I began to feel sad that those moments could never come back. Silently I stayed in thought. While in thought, I once again noticed the laughter of the children that were physically in front of me. As I played through my silent memories, the sound of their laughter, in a way, filled my memories and brought those times back to life. It was one of the more beautiful moments in my life. In a rare instance, it felt as if I was reunited with my friends, playing once again.
I know that adults say this a lot to kids, but stay in the moment. Enjoy where you are now, because when you are older you will want to have it back. And to those who are getting older and long for the past, it is okay to reminisce, but don’t miss the moment you are in now. At some point, you too will want this very moment back.
-Zachary J. Moore
