More on À la Mode
À la Mode began as an occasional series of tunes arranged for HarpLight magazine. This collection contains all 6 tunes published in HarpLight plus 4 brand new tunes. I was originally inspired by a book called "Sketches on Scales", written for piano by Frank Metis, which introduces players to a variety of scales and modes from around the world. At the same time, I was curious about modes myself, and was wondering why it was so hard to find information on them, since modal music is so prevalent in folk music and harp music in particular. So I began researching modes, and writing tunes to illustrate them when I didn't have an appropriate traditional tune on hand. While I was at it, I thought I would spice things up by introducing some odd time signatures as well - from the better known but not always easy to play 6/8 and 9/8 through to strange odd-numbered time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4. Detailed notes are included for each piece, to help novices, students and teachers navigate what may be unfamiliar territory. Since many of the pieces were written for HarpLight, they are all playable on harps with a medium to small range, and will fit on any harp that goes down to the C below middle C (most will also fit on smaller harps).
Beginners may want to enlist the help of a teacher for this book. Early intermediate players should have little problem with the notes themselves, but may want to talk to their teacher if they encounter any difficulties with the rhythm in some of the trickier time signatures.
Bulk pricing is available for retailers and large orders..
À la Mode is also now available through Melody's Traditional Music.

Why Another Fakebook? More on the Busy Harper's Fakebook Series
Why Another Fakebook? There are many fakebooks of traditional tunes, however none of them were compiled specifically with the folk harp player in mind. Most other fakebooks arrange tunes by title, and many of the tunes either contain unwieldy accidentals, are in a non-harp-friendly key, or do not lie easily under the fingers. The Busy Harper's Fakebook series was designed from the beginning for folk harp players. While each book contains an index in order of title, all of the tunes are arranged in key order, allowing for easy play-through. In the Trad Tunes books, all of the tunes can be played on a harp with F & C levers only. Each book contains only one tune that requires a lever flip, and both are O'Carolan tunes originally written for harp; otherwise there are no lever flips in the pieces (any accidentals can be set ahead of time). In addition, while most other fakebooks contain little or no notes on the tunes themselves, all of the books in the Busy Harper's Fakebook series contain interesting and useful notes on the tunes, as well as several helpful appendixes (see below for details).

Free Catalog & Music Samples from Chubby Sparrow
2015 Update: Note that our catalogue is now available in PDF format which can be sent by email.
To order our free catalog, complete with samples from our books and ensemble collections, either call us at (705) 748-3750, e-mail us at ordering@celticharper.com, or write to us at:
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