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!

SEA ORGAN - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_organ

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 

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

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

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

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

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.

www.poetickinetics.com

Firebird Descent Build

© - Kitty Allen  2018

Rainy Daze Rag for Self-Willed Windshield Wipers

Rainy Daze Rag
for
Self-Willed Windshield Wipers

by

Kitty Allen

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

Semi-traditional rag composed & performed by Kitty Allen on pedal harp, midi-keyboard, & laptop. Special effects of rain showers & mixed windshield wipers are added throughout.

This tune was inspired by an October road trip from northwest Ohio up through Michigan to Mackinac Island and back. In fact, this trip has become an honored & very enjoyable tradition for me & a variable number of college girlfriends.

This year, for the first time, unsavory weather  ruled the week as torrential rain & high winds preoccupied both of our drives & much of our days on the island. We received a generous rendering of rain, sleet, wind, & one afternoon of spotty snow showers.

Mind you, the enjoyment of the trip was not diminished. In retrospect, the rain & wind prompted a rather relaxing & hypnotic rhythmic accompaniment to our road experience. We  listened to steady rain, light rain, slow windshield wipers, quick wipers, intermittent wipers, & one moment of turbulent near-trajectory wipers. Once we even went without wipers...for 10 minutes. I missed their cadence & almost suggested that we leave them on for the beat. For added entertainment along with the rain & the wipers, we also joined bumper-to-bumper traffic slow-downs & entered major visibility challenges. After this, a long ride on a sunny day would surely be dull.

So, as a result of this vacation, I have new respect for a basic tool of driving in inclement weather - working automobile windshield wipers. See  how far you go without them. To all sets & styles of wipers gracing auto front ends everywhere, this tune is for you. Wipe on & drive safely!

Photos of the town center during an October 2017 rainy adventure to Mackinac Island.

A note of special thanks to Diane Sullivan, who navigated through this soggy week & never once lost her composure behind the wheel. Nice work, Diane. Another great trip...every day an adventure!

© - Kitty Allen  2017