The Children's Album is dedicated to Tchaikovsky's favorite nephew, Vladimir Davydov. On 12/24 December 1878, Tchaikovsky wrote to Lev Davydov: "Tell Bobik that the music has been printed with pictures, that the music was composed by Uncle Petya, and that on it is written Dedicated to Volodya Davydov. The silly little fellow will not understand what dedicated means... Even so, Bobik is an inimitably delightful figure when he's playing, and he might look at the notes, and think that a whole symphony is dedicated to him?.

In a letter of 30 April/12 May 1878 to Nadezhda von Meck, the composer wrote: "A while ago I thought that it would not be a bad idea to make a small contribution to the stock of children's musical literature, which is very modest. I want to create a series of little individual pieces just for children, and with an attractive title, like Schumann`s.

Some months before this letter was written, while staying in Florence on 14/26 February, Tchaikovsky told Pyotr Jurgenson that he wanted "to write a number of easy pieces, like Kinderstück?. Evidently, the idea of creating a collection of pieces for young people had not been abandoned by the composer, and after his return to Kamenka in April he decided to begin composition. In the aforementioned letter to Nadezhda von Meck, he informed her: "Tomorrow I shall start working on my collection of miniatures for children".

On 1/13 May the composer wrote to Anatoly Tchaikovsky: "I'm working well and have done rather a lot". On 4/16 May the sketches for all 24 pieces were ready. Shortly afterwards, Tchaikovsky accepted an invitation from Nadezhda von Meck to stay at her Brailov estate until the end of May/beginning of June, before spending a few days in Moscow; from there he went to spend five days with his friend Nikolay Kondratyev at Nizy, and in mid/late June he called at Kiev, before returning to Verbovka. In the days following his arrival, he began to put the finishing touches to all the pieces written in April and May. The fair copy of the Children's Album was begun, it seems, on 13/25 July.

By 20 July/1 August the copying out was completed, and on 21 July/2 August the composer told Nadezhda von Meck that he was working on the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

On 29 July/10 August the manuscript of the Children's Album, along with a number of other compositions, was sent to Pyotr Jurgenson in Moscow. In October, after the proofs had been corrected, the album was published.



P.S.- Other than a modest suggestion for an interpretation, this arrangements remain absolute faithful to the original composition.

The first version is in the original key of g minor, the second is transposed to ?a minor?, the third one is intended for a little lap harp and transposed to d minor. It sounds better in the original key of g minor. I used a lot the d minor version and performed it with my little harp very often, always experiencing a very deep musical feedback.

A little nuance was added to the arrangements, thus obliged by its minimal use on the original manuscripts.

I included the original long and expressive leggato bows and left out the staccatos for the left hand between the bars 17 and 20. I felt somehow awkward when applying this technic on the harp myself.

May be the staccatos suites you best, and you should try it.

The score was written on Finale.

The sound file was produced with samplers from Garritan,

intended as an audio support for the presentation of the score.

A reproduction of Tchaikovsky`s original manuscript is added to the file as a reference to the original sources of this composition, it is an extra bonus intentionally didactic and obviously not included in the price of the arrangement itself.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read this text and to listen to the file.

I hope you enjoy the music.

Early-intermediate for big and small harps. The song was written by Simon and Garfunkel in 1964, but it's become a meme in recent years, so it?s still very relevant today! Christy-Lyn?s intermediate arrangement is reminiscent of the finger-picking guitar in the original version of the song, with broken chords and some harmonies in the left hand and a right hand melody that's been adapted to sound best on the harp. If you learn this piece from the Video Course, you?ll get essential practice tips on how to make the piece flow and sound musical, much faster than learning on your own!..........DIFFICULTY LEVEL and SKILLS REQUIRED: Early-intermediate. This piece has a simple melody in the right hand, with a left hand accompaniment that is a step up in complexity and variation from late-beginner pieces. There are parts of the piece where the two hands play the same notes straight after each other, which can be a challenge for placing without buzzing. There is quite a lot of syncopation ? a rhythmic challenge! The left hand jumps around a fair bit, and the right hand has to place some tricky 4 finger chords. ..........TYPE OF HARP: Big and small harps, including 22 string (C to C) and bigger. ..........RANGE: Lowest note is C an octave below middle C, highest note is B almost 2 octaves above middle C...........LEVERS/PEDALS: It is in the key of G major, with no lever changes. Harps without levers can tune their F strings to F sharps. ..........WHAT'S INCLUDED: PDF download of 4 pages. Fingering and bracketing are included.

This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard?s global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.

This is a unique book, because the arrangements are distinctly gospel and are delightfully accurate in their feel. Lyrics are included, as well as personal notes from the arranger.Please note that there are two versions of Amazing Grace; gospel version and a modern pedal harp version with embellished chords. Lever harps need to be tuned in Eb, C or F. Lever changes are indicated by diamond shapes placed exactly where the left hand needs to change the lever. Pedal changes are placed below the staff. Vertical brackets are indicated where all fingers are played at once, rather than rolled as most harp chords are played. Harmonics are marked where they are played, not where they sound.
Contains: Down by the Riverside, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Shall we Gather by the River, Lord I want to be Christian, Little Church in the Wildwood, Amazing Grace. Please note that there are two versions of Amazing Grace; gospel version and a modern pedal harp version with embellished chords.