Cheesy Whiskers Learns To Play The Harp
Cheesy Whiskers Learns To Play The Harp is a magical story for children, introducing them to harp playing. They need no prior knowledge to enjoy its magic, with the story narrated thought, illustrated by glorious harp glissandi, plenty of nice tunes, and spiced with not a little mischief on the part of Cheesy Whiskers!
That narration would ideally be read by a separate narrator, but could equally be adapted so a solo player could work around this, to take this enchanting story and music into schools, libraries, children’s concerts and the elementary harp lesson: the possibilities are endless!
There are even pages which can be easily scanned in and printed, of little Cheesy Whiskers, for the children to take home, to remind them of their magical time, as well as places where the harpist can involve the children.
Personally, I have has a wonderful time creating it, and working with harpist Danielle Kuntz in discovering things like ‘the best possible way to make a cat meow’, on the harp, and how to achieve the sound of a ‘big bang on the bottom’ for Cheesy Whiskers!
There is a programme note and a little insight on how ‘Cheesy Whiskers’ came about at the bottom of the page.
Watch him on Youtube…
You can also access the Youtube video of Cheesy Whiskers Learns To Play the Harp here. Played by Danielle Kuntz.
View inside the score:
Description
Cheesy Whiskers learns To play The Harp…
The story behind the music
Cheesy Whiskers Learns To Play The Harp, was written after harpist Danielle Kuntz invited any composers who wished to, to collaborate on something with her. It was a wonderful opportunity, as I had already been consulting Danielle about various harp scores and parts, trying to improve my harp writing…and I LOVE the harp!
That same evening I received an email from Danielle saying “yes!” I set to work and wrote the story: Cheesy Whiskers Learns To Play The Harp was born. A couple of days later, and the score was outlined, although there was much detail still to be worked out with Danielle, who had the harp expertise that I did not! I asked her how could we achieve a ‘mewing’ sound of a cat, and we discussed the best sound for Cheesy Whiskers to get a ‘bang on the bottom’ among other things! I then had the idea to make a video, so set to, on about 34 illustrations… there were more needed than I thought!
Danielle then recorded it for the video, sending though many sound files, which I then pieced together with the pictures. What a fun project! The video can be seen on my Youtube channel.
…and the name?
Well, that came from a period when our house had, as folks’ do from time to time, mice! One evening, I was munching on a late night cracker and cheese, leaning with my back to the worktop and happened to turn around. A little fellow stood there on his hind legs, looking at me! A little field / wood mouse, with tiny black eyes and a white tummy! The softy I am, I instinctively held out a tiny piece of cheese, and he took it in his tiny paws, me still holding the other end, and began nibbling. Of course, I spoke to him…no, maybe not many folk would, but I have always liked mice, and had a pet one myself… at that point, my husband came in, and in a slightly perplexed voice, asked who I was talking to! “Cheesy Whiskers,” I said. Well, that was his name; he told me!
That little name made so may people smile and laugh over the months, it was only right that he should find his way into a story!
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