Waking Early (Duet) Stephen Dunstone

Waking Early For - Intermediate harp duet Please click the "About this work & Performance Notes" heading below for further details This book is supplied as a score and set of 2 parts   Buy this music now £7.50 +p&p

Artist Profile and catalogue of works - Stephen Dunstone

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As with many of my compositions, Waking Early started life as a short, fast, fun piece to develop my pupils’ finger technique. Back then it was just a solo (which you’ll find embedded in this duet as the Harp 2 part from bar 32), but pretty soon it had acquired a second harp part with a more melodic line, and finally the whole dreamy, stretchy, early-morning waking-up section that this duet now starts with. (The original shorter piece still appears as a solo in Harpo Not Quite Beginners).

When I was first working on it with pupils, I wanted to include some less experienced players in the performance, so I wrote a simpler third part that joined in after the dreamy introduction. When I then published it (Pink edition), I created two distinct versions: a duet and a 3-part ensemble.

For anyone interested in harmony it’s worth pointing out that while a huge amount of music is built around copious use of tonic and dominant chords (there’s even a lovely piece by Schubert that uses nothing but tonic and dominant harmony throughout), Waking Early only has one tonic chord (an E flat major 7), and that is the very final chord of the piece. It also has no dominant chords whatsoever. In fact if you try to include one anywhere it sounds strangely crass and out of place. Instead, the music is made up entirely from the repeated use of F minor 7, G minor 7, A flat major 7, and, later, C minor 7.

Title:	Waking Early
Composer:	Stephen Dunstone
Instrumentation:	2 Lever or Pedal Harps
Level:	Intermediate
Format:	A4 stapled score and set of 2 parts
Weight:	84gm
ISMN:	--
Our Ref:	SD1039 Pink Edition
Publisher:	Stephen Dunstone
Distributor:	Creighton's Collection
Edition/Year:	2005
Origin:	UK