My name is Ava Bloomfield. I am 17 years old and a senior at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in Bethlehem, PA. I have been playing piano for about 8 years, and music has since become a huge part of my life. I started taking piano and composition more seriously a couple of years ago after discovering a passion for classical music. I never would have expected the impact it would have on me. I started smaller with compositions for solo piano, but the more I exposed myself to bigger works, the more I wanted to branch out in my instrumentation and presentation. I’m nowhere near done learning and experimenting, but I enjoy sharing my progress. I started to write “A Bird Song” in October of 2020 after hearing pieces like “Èpitaph de Jean Harlow, Op. 164” by Charles Koechlin. Hearing how naturally a piano, flute, and saxophone or clarinet could blend together really inspired me. I started crafting a main melody before finding the poem “A Bird Song” by Christina Rossetti. From the moment I read it, I had no doubt it was the one I wanted to use. This poem had the form, subject matter, and style that I was searching for. It tells about the interactions of swallows, and the speaker’s need for consistent companionship.