Classics at Your Fingertips, Book 2

Excellent supplementary material and also great for teaching more advanced beginning students to sight-read.

“Classics at Your Fingertips for pedal or lever harp may be used in conjunction with Technique at Your Fingertips. It may also be used with any harp method as supplemental repertoire.

The goal of these books is to provide expressive, artistic music for the beginning through early intermediate levels of development on the harp.  All pieces have been adapted to be playable on lever harps as well as pedal harps.  In choosing the repertoire for these books emphasis has been placed on including themes and excerpts from the classical harp repertoire as well as classical music in general.  There are also traditional folk songs from various cultures and original compositions inspired by harp music from around the world.

The arrangements are graded in difficulty.  The fingering coincides with concepts introduced in Technique at Your Fingertips.  The first half of book one uses only finger 2 while the second half introduces fingers 1, 3, and 4.  Book two introduces playing two to four notes simultaneously in each hand.  Book three introduces replacing fingers on the strings when changing direction and special techniques.  Book four introduces cross-overs, ornamentation, frequent pedal and lever changes, and stretches.  Some of the same excerpts recur with added complexity to aid in the learning process by introducing new concepts in familiar contexts.

The second edition includes twenty new pages of repertoire, including more pieces by historical women composers.  The illustrations and layout have also been updated.  It has been a joy to create these books, and it is my wish that the harp student will derive as much pleasure from these selections as I have.” J. Rabens