Description
Harper Tasche’s third book of music for the 36-string harp, and his
first to use E-flat tuning and full levers (though there are still no
lever changes required while playing). These are all original pieces,
mostly from his “Provenance” CD and one piece from his CD “The
Summoning.” These pieces are also well suited to pedal harp (though
pedal harp players will need to identify enharmonics and pedal changes
in two pieces, noted below). 47 pages, comb-bound. Overall skill level
is upper intermediate.
“The Seldom Inn” is written in a bright fingerstyle guitar style using
overlapping left and right hand patterns. By accenting certain notes in
the pattern, melodic phrases emerge and give the piece a nice linear
feeling despite all the busy rhythm. Some big register jumps in the
left hand give this a nice bit of challenge as well.
“Sunset Habanera” is a slow, sensual piece to accompany an imaginary
evening at the beach… the chord patterns are smooth with a touch of
jazz, and the melody makes frequent use of an ornamental turn alternating with some three-finger chords in the right hand.
“Amble & Chat” is a cheerful tune set in sixths, over a rocking octave
pattern in the left hand. It’s not fast, but the syncopations between
melody and accompaniment make this both fun to play and fun to hear.
Right and left hands overlap regularly in this piece; it’s included in
this book of music for 36-string harp, but it was written for the
26-string so you smaller-harp players are welcome to it as well.
“Silly Bear Waltz” has a classic waltz feeling to it, with long and
flowing melodic lines and a very danceable accompaniment. It would be
perfect to use for wedding reception gigs, restaurants, cocktail
parties, corporate functions, and really any sort of background music
setting, and it’s very enjoyable to play with a lot of room for
expression and rubato.
The remaining two pieces in this book form a suite called “Painted
Music” and were commissioned to musically reflect two oil paintings by
artist Ed Edelstein. (These are the two pieces which may be tricky for
pedal harp players; lever players will be able to play the music as-is
with no lever changes within the pieces.) “Garden for Two” is a
beautifully meditative piece which uses enharmonic lever settings in all
but the lowest octave to achieve an almost Debussy-esque sonority.
“Best Foot Forward” is an exuberantly chromatic cakewalk that is a whole
lot of fun! It includes a ‘stand-up bass’ solo for left hand etouffez,
in the middle of all the playful chromatic stuff for the right hand.