Description
A collection of original works for harp by Claire Pershan (when she was a young teenager some years ago). Her music is inspired by the stories of Arthurian legend read to her as a very young child by her mother. The music is out of the ordinary, and fun to play. The compositions are not difficult, but they do have changing meter and many passages that are very good for learning specific technical aspects. Dynamics are well marked. All of the music Claire wrote for this collection can be performed on a full range lever harp. Guinevere is in A minor, and uses mostly two and three-note finger placings. It is two pages in length and without lever changes. Tingagel is in D minor, three pages in length. There are two, three, and four-note finger placings. Also, there is a 7/8 rhythm change, and some notes quite high, requiring learning some of those notes way above the treble staff. This piece also teaches phrasing. King Arthur is four pages in length, and in the key of D Dorian. Meter markings are 2/2, ¾ and 4/4. Although not difficult, in one section there are left hand harmonics as the underlying harmony to right hand triplets. Wicked Day is in C minor, 6/8 time. Contains parallel 5ths, three and four-note placing patterns, two pages in length. Ninian is in D Dorian ending on an A minor chord. Two pages in length, mainly three-note placing patterns. Its meter changes from ¾ to common time and back to ¾ again. Ninian contains one and two-measure phrases shared by both hands. Morgane, the Witch is marked with three flats, but C and F sharps are on permanently. It consists mainly of parallel 4ths. There are a few lever changes in this one. The final selection in this book is Sparrow Hawk. It is two pages in length and in the key of G Dorian with three flats. The meter changes several times, and there is one measure of 4/8. It’s a great exercise in counting. The left hand remains active with broken chords; right hand contains broken chords and also short lyrical phrases.
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