Volp\u00e9 Bligh explains, “A spider emerges from its hiding place in a wall of the harp studio. It wanders around the room, distracting the harpist, who then tries to trap it in a tissue, drops it, shrieks, then gets it into the tissue, goes upstairs and puts it outside, where it scuttles off to safety, or to be eaten by a bird. We just don\u2019t know.”<\/p>\n
The technique of muffling with the second finger in bar 70 is accomplished by playing the first note, then immediately placing onto the one above it, using the front of the finger to muffle the previous note, and so on. In bar 72, muffle the last notes by placing the chord of bar 73 very quickly.<\/p>\n
I wrote this piece for the summer when I taught at the Island Mountain Arts Festival in Wells, BC, and premiered it on the opening faculty recital.<\/p>\n