Day 20 - A Fenland Fantasy

Saturdays are often the day for visiting the more senior members of the family so this afternoon was spent travelling around various parts of Northampton drinking lots of cups of tea and eating biscuits. Due to a late breakfast and a bit of last minute preparation for a rehearsal tomorrow I only managed half an hour on the harp this evening. After playing through a few pieces I had a good look at the other orchestra piece, A Fenland Fantasy which I think has been written especially for the Grade-1-a-thon orchestra. For any performance I agree to take part in I generally try to find out a bit more about the piece, or at least listen to just in case I need to be aware of potential solos or trouble spots. Websites such as YouTube, Spotify and Naxos contain anything you may ever need to listen to and while Fenland Fantasy must be a new work it is based on a hymn by Kenneth Naylor called Coe Fen. There are two bars that are particularly difficult. It would be easy on the piano (R.H. first inversion G major arpeggio repeated to root position C major arpeggio also repeated over L.H. tonic notes - I'll demonstrate it when I can play it) but on the harp I find it tricky. It is then followed by simple dotted crotchet notes but because the two hands move in opposite direction it needs practise. Tempo markings are not that clear so I realised I needed to hear it.  A version of the original hymn was on YouTube so it gave me some idea of how the main tune might go. Unfortunately the main tune is not the bit that concerns me most. Not to worry as I'll be in the same boat as everyone else. A few people have commented that they can play their exam pieces but the orchestra pieces are less manageable.  If all else fails us harps will just have to dazzle everyone with the two glissandi on the second page. I can play those!