Play Nice (1997)

When Elizabeth Panzer asked me for a harp piece, I came up with an idea for a big piece based on a poem by Linda Norton (the poet of Landscaping for Privacy) about knitting and the Aran Islands. I still plan to make that piece, but as the deadline neared, I realized I will need more time to write it, so instead I decided to work with a sweet redemptive pattern I had written as an underscore for an audiobook production of Gerald’s Game, one of Stephen King’s more horrific novels. The resulting piece is totally diatonic, doesn’t even require two octaves, uses standard minimalist variation techniques, and in virtually every way plays nice.

I think it’s actually a mean little thing.

There are two recordings available:

A toy piano version (played by two people) is the title cut on twisted tutu’s CD.

And the harp version is recorded on Elizabeth Panzer’s CD, Dancing in Place.

.mid

Here is a midi version of the piece. The beginning is quite slow, so please be patient.

Here is a score (.pdf) of the solo version.

Here is a score (.pdf) of the duo version.

The graphic is based on a drawing by Emma Grady Pawl.

And you are warmly invited to support this very low-key way of publishing: