Goose Creek Stephen Dunstone

Goose Creek For - Pretty Easy 4-part harp ensemble (or trio, with Harps 3 & 4 combined in separate part) Please click the "About this work & Performance Notes" heading below for further details This book is supplied as a score and set of 5 parts   Buy this music now £10.00 +p&p

Artist Profile and catalogue of works - Stephen Dunstone

Goose Creek

There are 5 parts as follows::-

Harp 1
Harp 2
Harp 3
Harp 4

Harp 3 & 4 (Harp 3 & Harp 4 parts combined into one part for Harp Trio or 3-part Harp Ensemble)

 

Goose Creek is the result of my attempt to create something that’s really easy to play, but great fun as well. All of the four parts in this ensemble are technically very simple, the only thing remotely tricky about any of the music being the syncopations that permeate the piece - and once you’ve got the feel for those, the whole thing can dance along at an exciting pace, the thrill coming not from individual virtuosity but from the sense of interacting with the other players and being of an exhilarating whole.

There are three sections: A, B then a Da Capo to A again, with a Coda where everyone gets to drum on the soundboard. Harp 1 has the melody at A, but Harp 2 takes over at B. Harps 3 and 4 share the slightly lower notes of the chords at A, then pass a walking bass line back and forth between them at B - so there’s variety for everyone too.

So that the music is also playable by smaller groups, I’ve provided an extra part that combines Harps 3 and 4, effectively turning the piece into a trio.

The title has absolutely nothing to do with geese (although an animation of geese dancing to the music would be quite entertaining). It’s to do with the syncopated rhythms of the melody, which are a key ingredient of the Charleston. The melody came to me while I was out walking one day (I was probably subconsciously moving in time to the music, so I don’t know what other walkers must have thought). When I got home I looked up maps of South Carolina, searching for a catchy place name not far from Charleston.

Title:	Goose Creek
Composer:	Stephen Dunstone
Instrumentation:	4 (or 3) Lever or Pedal Harps
Level:	Slightly Mixed Ability but not difficult
Format:	A4 stapled score and set of 5 A4 parts
Weight:	160gm
ISMN:	979-0-57046-295-7
Our Ref:	SD1057
Publisher:	Creighton's Collection
Printer/Distributor:	Creighton's Collection
Edition/Year:	2018
Origin:	UK