Blue Moon Rising

Originally written as a solo piece in Adventures for Lever Harp Book 2, and featuring on Lauren's debut album, Beyond the Horizon, Blue Moon Rising has been included in BBC Introducing and Apple Music playlists and has had nearly a million streams online to date! 

Blue Moon Rising for ensemble is now available as a 3 part harp ensemble piece and is approachable for late beginner to intermediate standard players. The solo version is advanced but approachable by intermediate players once you have worked out how to play the extended technique demonstrated below.

This piece is based on the same structure as a Haiku; a Japanese poem which consists of 3 lines. The 1st line is 5 syllables, 2nd line is 7 syllables and 3rd line is 5 syllables. The piece has a a recurring 3 bar/measure pattern which is in 5/4 7/4 5/4 .

It was written during a very (rare) hot period in the summer of 2018 in the UK, which coincided with a supermoon. You could almost see the heat rising off the hills in the stillness of the night.

Another hot day
Reaching for the cooler air
A Blue Moon rises

The piece consists of an undulating bass line, and on top sits a simple melody (the blue moon) which gradually rises. When the moon reaches it's highest point you then can hear the heat rising by use of an unusual special effect on harp which Lauren demonstrates in the videos below.

Listen to Blue Moon Rising on Spotify below

"Blue Moon Rising" is also known as "A Blue Moon Rises" which was it's original name when it was first published!

Blue Moon Rising ENSEMBLE version available here

Blue Moon Rising SOLO version available HERE