Harpist, Flutist & Pianist

Monday, December 31, 2018

Fanfare in F for Flutes, Frogs, & Fast Food Cart

Fanfare in F for Flutes, Frogs, & Fast Food Cart
by
Kitty Allen


 Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

An original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flutes, midi-keyboard, laptop, analog synthesizer, & melodica. 

Three part tune in form ABCA. Parts B & C include a twelve tone row performed forward & in retrograde by flutes & melodica.

Additional sounds are contributed by various species of frogs & toads found in New England & the Midwest. Examples include:
 - Southern Leopard Frog
 - Bullfrog
 - Eastern Spadefoot Toad
 - Crawfish Frog
 - Fowler's Toad
 - Green Frog
 - Pickerel Frog
 - Spring Peeper
 - Wood Frog
 - Western Chorus Frog
 - Northern Leopard Frog

Please also enjoy the bullfrog serenade shown below.



© - Kitty Allen  2019

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Ictus Pileactus

Ictus Pileactus
by
Kitty Allen




Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

Original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flutes, midi-keyboard, laptop, & analog synthesizer. 

Additional sounds of nature within the tune include a variety of calls contributed by numerous pileated woodpeckers. The birds were observed & recorded throughout wooded areas located within Mackinac Island, Michigan & Easton, CT.

No woodpeckers were injured or harmed in any way during the recording process for this tune.






© - Kitty Allen  2018

Friday, July 6, 2018

Croatian Crustacean

Croatian Crustacean
by 
Kitty Allen



Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

Original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on alto and C flutes, pedal harp, midi-keyboard, laptop and analog synthesizer.

Sounds of Croatia within the tune include:

- Dubrovnik clock tower chimes
- Pula cathedral bells
- Forging blacksmith at Pula Roman festival
- Croatian cicadas at Plitvice Lakes National Park
- Croatian sea organ


No cause for worry or alarm. Some of the effects you're hearing in the second and fourth minutes of the tune are sounds of the Croatia sea organ. For more information, please click on the link shown below. Enjoy!


Please also enjoy the sight and sound of the waterfall shown below. It's located in Plitvice Lakes National Park - Plitvicka jezera, Croatia.



Or enjoy the crustacean shown below, though it was not found near the sea organ nor in the national park. 



© - Kitty Allen  2018 

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Risque Toupee

Risque Toupee  
A Musical Poem for Your Dome
by
Kitty Allen

 Preview

Full tune available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

Original instrumental blues-ish tune   comprised of many moods. Composed and performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp with effects, midi-keyboard, flutes, implements, tap shoes, laptop, analog synthesizer, melodica, and jaw harp. Inspired by an acquaintance who shall remain nameless. Very audacious and certainly shameless.

Harp Heels
For the harpist needing a very portable instrument...one with a kick!

© - Kitty Allen  2018

Friday, April 27, 2018

Taking the Plunge


Taking the Plunge
by
Kitty Allen


 Preview
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores. 

Original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, analog synthesizer, midi-keyboard, laptop, & flute. Dove coos provided by  white doves.

An alternative wedding march processional for the poly-rhythmically inclined bride. One who's in a hurry.

Inspired by a visit to Mercati di Rialto alongside the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. On a rainy & cold late Saturday afternoon in March, there they were by themselves. Surrounded by history & beauty, they only had eyes for each other.


Amare il momento.

Overheard from  mother of the bride a slight distance away: "Tomorrow she'll be washing his socks."

© - Kitty Allen  2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

Globetrot


Globetrot
by 
Kitty Allen


Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

Original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, flutes, chromatic harmonica, didge box, Yamaha analog synthesizer, midi-keyboard, & laptop.

To represent the photo, background, & title of this piece, it seemed fitting to write &  perform the music as a three-part round (or canon). The canon is performed by three flutes with instrumental accompaniment. Embellishments occur during & between three melodic segments that are performed by the three flutes in round form.  

This Sphere Within Sphere, also known as Sfera con Sfera stands tall as the centerpiece of the Courtyard of the Pinecone at the Vatican Museum. A bronze structure that appears golden when the sun shines down on it, the statue is slightly over 13 feet in diameter. It is also one of a series of sculptures created by Italian sculptor, Arnaldo Pomodoro. Depicting an enormous metal sphere with a cracked surface that reveals another cracked interior sphere, Pomodoro originally created this piece for the Vatican Church in the 1960s. He later began building additional versions for other organizations. They can be found in prime locations all over the world. Examples include the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, Trinity College in Dublin, Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Columbus Museum of Art, & Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Additional information on the artist and his work can be found at multiple websites. One  such example is the video interview shown below. 





© - Kitty Allen  2018

Friday, February 16, 2018

Fenestration

Fenestration
by
Kitty Allen



 Preview
Available on Spotify, Pandora Plus & in most digital music stores.

Original instrumental tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, midi-keyboard, & laptop. For all those who enjoy harp glissandi & special effects, this tune offers an abundance of each.

Fenestration - When used as an architectural term, it  refers to the design, construction & presence of openings in a building. This may  include windows, doors, louvres, vents, wall panels, skylights, storefronts, curtain walls, etc., many of which were observed when I strolled by the building pictured above. Thus, this tune was inspired by a visit to Helsinki, Finland, where one downtown building under construction (among many)  caught my eye - probably because of the multi-colored panels as shown in the photo above.

Actually, this may be a better song title than the closely related term - defenestration, which refers to the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. So, should the tune not appeal to your listening ear, you may certainly  choose to defenestrate it.

Helsinki, Finland construction site. Photographed in September, 2017.

© - Kitty Allen  2018


Thursday, January 4, 2018

Romp for Recycled Rainbow

Romp for Recycled Rainbow
by
Kitty Allen


  Preview
Full tune can be heard on Spotify, Pandora Plus, & is available in most digital music stores.

Up-tempo tune composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, alto (altered) & C flutes, melodica, midi-keyboard, & laptop.

This piece was inspired by a visit to New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
www.newhollandsp.ru/en/

New Holland Island is a  triangular island within St. Petersburg that was created in 1719. Due to canals & shipbuilding activities, its name evolved because of a similarity in appearance to Amsterdam. 

Though the island has experienced significant  historical transition,  its latest incarnation began in 2010, under the direction of Roman Abramovich with help from Daria Zhukova. The island opened to the public in 2011.   While still under development, New York architectural company, WORKac, is  currently instrumental in combining commercial & residential properties to the project. UNESCO monuments are also being restored. A branch of the Centre for Contemporary Art (based in Moscow) is planned for the future.


The aerial artwork shown in many of the photos above is titled "Firebird Descent."  It was created by artist Patrick Shearn of the firm, Poetic Kinetics, based in Los Angeles, CA.
Firebird Descent Build

© - Kitty Allen  2018