Intermediate to Advanced – Lever Harp

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Are you looking for a gorgeous, challenging piece of music that expands your technical abilities and lets your musicality shine?

Are you looking to a piece with more technical challenges without having to transition to Pedal Harp?

Lever Harp Excerpt

Enjoy these wonderful ‘Taste Test’ videos from some of the first 50 players to ever play the solo version of this piece:

In 2022 when we released the first editions for both the lever harp and the pedal harp versions, we invited harpists around the world to choose a few measures and play them – releasing the music from the paper for the first time.  Some of the players in the “First 50 Players” project sent us ‘taste tests’ of longer sections of “Merceditas”, where they’re reading or rehearsing the piece and you can get a sense of how it sounds.

In this composite, we share these wonderful words from nearly 60 harpists who took on playing the very first edition.

Now ANY harp player can play it – and here are the first 50 to ever do it (well, one second of each of them)

Lever harpists – the new Lever Harp Version is here or sign up to watch the REPLAY of the Aug. 20 “Merceditas” (Lever Harp Version) UNDER the HOOD at the top of this page.

Mercedes and I had each recently fallen in love, and I dreamed we could each dance – in our separate kitchens thousands of miles apart – with these men we’d given our hearts to. This was the waltz I created for those dances.

So it’s a piece that grew out of love, friendship and partnership in many facets: my deep musical friendship with Mercedes, the romances we two shared with each other like schoolgirls and my growing relationship with CAMAC Harps which would eventually lead to the development of the “DHC Harp.”

As a composer, I was excited about the expanded chromatic possibilities of composing for two harps. By alternating between them – with each set in a different key – and using the Symphony as harmonic support, I could create lush harmonies and emotional chromaticism.

But how often do you get to perform a double-concerto?

After the premiere there was very little chance to perform the piece, and I loved it so much that when I created the ‘Invention & Alchemy’ project – which went on to win a Grammy Nomination – I re-invented “Merceditas” for solo harp and symphony orchestra – and combined it with different first and third movements.

Transforming a double-concerto to play on a single harp meant there were several complex pedal change sections – but to my joy, it was wonderfully playable! Suddenly the piece existed as a solo harp concerto with orchestra or chamber ensemble, and harpists started playing and recording it.

But how many harpists have a Chamber Ensemble or Orchestra to play with??

So when harpists Sally Walstrum and Verena Jochum suggested creating a solo version, I said let’s adapt it together, as a team. We heard rumors that Eleanor Turner had played it as a solo, and she sent us her notes. Sally and Verena, along with Jason McKinney – who consolidated the changes into the manuscript – took on the task of adapting all the purely orchestral sections for solo harp. Then Heleen Vandeputte joined as our First Reader. We had a team!

Our little team committed to creating a solo adaptation of the piece so that pedal-harp players all over the world could play the piece whether or not they have an ensemble or orchestra to play with. That meant that all the sections originally for orchestra had to be transcribed and reinvented for solo harp. 

This piece is the first publication of my 7-year Legacy Project – a project to release all my concert works into the hands and voices of others. And thanks to the Legacy Project team, the piece can now be played in three dimensions: as an orchestral concerto, with chamber ensemble – or on solo harp. This allows access to this music to every pedal harpist in the world – and takes us one step further on a journey to bring the harp out from the back of the orchestra to the front.

And yes, lever-harp players – I’m working on an adaptation for lever harp too.

The “Merceditas” transcription and publication is part of my 7-Year Legacy Project.

The Creative Team of harpists for the “Merceditas” project was:

Composer

Deborah Henson-Conant

Arrangement Adaptors:

Eleanor Turner
Verena Jochum
Sally Walstrum

Make-it-Happen Team:

Jason T. McKinney – Music Copyist
Heleen Vandeputte – Very First Reader
Mary Robinson – Copy Editing
Tammy Halun – Meeting Coordinator

Special Thanks for this Edition

In Addition to the Legacy Project Team for Merceditas

OUR FIRST READERS

Special Thanks to these harpists who read our first draft and suggested the changes – we weren’t able to add all the wonderful suggestions but what we did made all the difference!

Shelley Fairplay
Robyn Gordon-Cartier
Josh Layne
Heleen Vandeputte
Pumehana Davis Wadsworth
Rebecca Fay Squire
Vera Stern

FACEBOOK FRIENDS

Thank you for your help – on a moment’s notice – weighing in on the details of harp manuscript conventions!

ANYONE WE’VE FORGOTTEN!

To anyone we’ve forgotten – please let us know and we’ll add you to the Second Edition!

Just go to the contacts page at HipHarp.com to send a message.

For future changes and errata – check this page for updates – and make sure to REFRESH your screen to see any updates.