Moss, Wood, and Thicket: a description

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All throughout high school, as I was waiting for the morning school bus, I would look east as the sun rose above the trees and sharp hills of the local golf course. In my Middle Earth-infused mind, the clouds along the horizon would blur into mountains while the fences, street signs, and telephone poles simply faded away. Instead of boarding the school bus, I longed to shoulder my backpack and march off into The Wilds, bound on some dire mission.

My composition Moss, Wood, and Thicket: “That feeling you get when you think about The Lord of the Rings” emerged from this mental atmosphere. The opening measures suggest a wistful (and perhaps naive) desire for adventure. The theme enters at measure 11, indicating that an adventure has indeed begun. The second page speeds up, reflecting that the adventure has exceeded expectations – and perhaps ceased to be quite so enjoyable. Gradually the tension fades and we end up back at home in the Dorian mode, drinking a nice cup of tea.

Moss, Wood, and Thicket is an intermediate-level piece which utilizes multiple harp techniques such as PDLT, flat thumb, and playing with the left hand above the right. The composition visits the entire range of a lever harp, as well as both the Dorian and Aolian modes. With many subtleties of tempo and dynamics, Moss, Wood and Thicket makes for an ideal recital piece.