The second volume of original tunes and traditional tune arrangements for the Celtic Harp. It’s a hodge-podge mix of her own comositions and tunes that are interesting vehicles for arrangement ideas, technical exploration or simply fun to play!

Content: Cloud Surfing, Klin Maeve Gilchrist, The Achiever/Sweet Catriona Rose

Linear Exercise: Fjellvåk

Triplets, slides and ornamentation: Muireann's Jig 

Groove Exercises: Reign of Love, Planxty Charles Bunworth, Rose and Kathleen's Jig Liz

Arpeggiation Exercises: Three Birds, The Sandhunter, Song for Sadie.

Throughout the book are technical exercises, stylistic suggestions and lots of ideas for musical interpretation. These facets are as important, if not more, then simply learning the dots on the page! Similar to the last edition, these pieces run from lower-intermediate to more advanced as we move through the book. If you’re a more elementary player, don’t be put off! If you’d like to learn a piece, simply deconstruct it until it’s manageable for you and then build up the arrangement slowly and steadily. For the more advanced students, use the simpler pieces as a way to work on your own melodic variations, ornamentation, speed-playing, reharmonization etc. 

The incentive to approach the arranging process in this pedagogical way is due in part to her wonderful students and the rich online harping community that has been formed through her web-workshop series Harp Talk. Knowledge is power. Please feel free to utilize these arrangements to further your theoretical, rhythmic, interpretive and technical skills. This set of tunes should simply be the starting place for your own journey into this material. The ability to make spontaneous musical decisions and let the music guide is a joyous, liberating way to make music, but it can only happen when we develop all sides of our musical self.

So: thumbs up, fingers down and be sure to remember to breathe! Enjoy the music!