“Thistledown” is based on a simple but beguiling chord sequence that I was familiar with even when I was a schoolboy: pupils who didn\u2019t want to do their \u2018official\u2019 practice would happily bang it out on the piano, in all kinds of different rhythmic manifestations, sometimes as a duet which non-pianists could join in with using just the index finger of each hand to play a descending scale sequence that suited the harmony.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve used the harmonic pattern in a gentle combination with my version of the descending scales motif which means it\u2019s easily manageable for inexperienced harpists, and easily memorable. What gives the piece its extra magical quality, though, is the melody that I introduce in bar 15. This soars above the other parts, developing and changing in every \u2018verse\u2019, like a story carried on the gentle breeze, drifting with the thistledown across the landscape.<\/p>\n