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Easy listening/smooth jazz/”elevator music”

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Home › Forums › Repertoire › Easy listening/smooth jazz/”elevator music”

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  • #62267
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hello everyone,

    I’m looking for sheet music for some vapid, easy listening/smooth jazz-type music. I know there’s sometimes a stigma against music that isn’t musically complicated and technically challenging, but I still enjoy it, haha. I’ve been working on some more difficult (for me, at least) pieces in lessons lately, and I’d like to find something fun just to relax. I’m including a couple of youtube links for the type of music I’m thinking of, and if you’ve ever played the game The Sims, the music that plays in the background is the sort I’m looking for. I don’t know if any of it would really work well on the harp, though, so I’m wondering if there’s anything out there written specifically for harp. I’d love to hear any recommendations you have. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdv7NlztX6A
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdlsAnR52T0

    #62268

    Ben, it’s useful if you post what kind of harp you are playing: pedal or lever, and if lever, how many strings and if you have full levers or less. That said, you could make a personal list of titles of favorites you want to find, and then search harp music catalogs such as those from Vanderbilt, Lyon and Healy, Melody’s, Sylvia Woods, or Pilgrim Harps (England) and so on.There you may well find published favorites of pieces on your list. If some still cannot be found, look in piano catalogs (Alfred Publishing, Mel Bay, etc.) and if you are near a large music store, go and see if you or a helpful clerk can find some from your list that, before buying, you decide whether you could adapt them easily for your harp. You may not find any of your favorites that are composed later than about 1924, because of U.S.copyright restrictions. In Canada and other countries the laws for publication or recording are different. Naturally, living composers, and estates of recently died composers have rights to royalties from sales of their compositions. Anything in Public Domain (give a look to see what a large amount of composed music is there) is legal, however. If you never perform music for profit, don’t worry; you may play anything you like to relax and enjoy. You may need to change the key signature, leave out a few notes, or use enharmonic spelling (with the pedal harp), adapting from printed piano music that employs ten fingers instead of eight.
    Good luck, and let us know how your search is going!

    #62269

    Ben, first of all, I don’t think there is a “stigma” about playing any music you enjoy. The reason you learn what you do in lessons is for skill and repertoire building. But it is not the be-all end-all of music. You should discuss this with your teacher, too. Perhaps he/she has some other music you would enjoy on your own that isn’t lesson-related. Or maybe there is more enjoyable contemporary music you could use for lessons that would still help develop your playing skills.

    That said, you may like playing pieces from Frank Voltz’s Celestial collection. You can listen to clips on his website http://www.frankvoltz.com. Most are not difficult pieces but he uses a lot of jazz influence in his music. He has some new pieces, Mosaic and Reflections are two that come to mind, that you might enjoy. I use his music for the 20 minutes I need to play prior to church services. It is relaxing and easygoing but not boring. Also look into music written by William Mahan. I like his Colors of Italy book. He has another French Impressions you might enjoy. If you go onto some of the music vendor websites, you can find a sample page of music.

    The music above can be played on lever or pedal harp.

    #62270

    Ben, you might want to check out Cindy Horstman’s “Angelica.” It is a PDF download available from the Harp Column music store. You can listen to it first. I just bought the music and love it.

    #62271
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks for the helpful replies. Sorry I took so long to reply – I was out of town for a little while.

    Patricia – I play a concert grand pedal harp (Style 30). And thank you for the suggestions! I only have a few pieces that I know by name (which I will look for in the places you mentioned), I was just wondering if anybody had other recommendations for similar music that they had played on the harp. I appreciate the tips for adapting piano music for harp as well – that will come in handy, I’m sure.

    Gretchen – I guess what I meant about the ‘stigma’ is that a lot of students in the music department when I was in college would heavily criticize and look down upon music from composers like Yiruma and Ludovico Einaudi (and similar music). I do still really like the music I’m working on in lessons, I just wanted to add some more relaxing stuff to my repertoire. Thanks for all of the great recommendations – I’m listening to the Frank Voltz right now and I quite like it. 🙂

    #62272
    Lynne Abbey-Lee
    Participant

    Hi Dawn, I performed this a few years ago. I will look for the program so I can check if what I remember about it is accurate!
    Lynne

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