After playing just the melody notes through once, I like to play this a second time with twice as many strokes... it fills the song out somehow.
See below for an MP3 of this arrangement.
Note that this is in 3/4 time, with the first beat of each line held over from the previous measure.
Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings
Note that this is in 3/4 time with the first beat of each line held over from the previous measure, so that you should start counting time with the word "say."
I like to play this with the more rollicking rhythm of the original song, "To Anacreon in Heav'n." Click through for a recording of my arrangement... it took two takes, so there's a hiccup in the middle.
By Carolyn McDade
Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings
For some reason when I play this ordinarily sedate hymn as an instrumental, I like to use a sort of calypso rhythm. Don't ask me why. Click through for a recording.
Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg.
Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings.
Click through to listen to this arrangement.
by John Phillip Souza
a.k.a. the theme song of Monty Python's Flying Circus
autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings
This tune has no lyrics, but here's the fully orchestrated tune in case you're unfamiliar. Note that this recording is in the key of F while the transcription below is in G... unless your 'harp has an A#7 (Bb7) chord button, you won't be able to hit all the melody notes in F. But you could practice playing backup along with the music, if you like.
by Mario Lanza
autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings
see below an MP3 of this arrangement
This is a good warm-up piece before attempting the Liberty Bell March, since it uses some of the same chord progressions. Click through for a recording of this arrangement.
When I was first teaching myself to play the autoharp, I got to feeling pretty cocky about my ability to play by ear. I brought it along to a church youth conference I was chaparoning and asked a teenage boy to pick a tune so I could demonstrate. I was expecting him to choose a rock song, I guess, but hearing a rock song butchered on the autoharp was not his priority: much better to make himself look smart and take me down a notch! He asked for "Greensleeves," and I was stumped... it took me about 5 years to work out this arrangement, and I don't ask teenagers for requests anymore.
lyrics by Peter Mayer
tune ("Hyfrydol") by Rowland Prichard.
Peter Mayer's tune differs from the traditional hymn in that the last three notes are drawn out to three beats apiece; traditionally they get only one. Additionally, in the last verse during the words "sky my sailor song" he holds the Em chord while singing G for the entire line.
I play this in C because it's easier for me to sing. Your harp may sing it better in G.
Jessie and I are both sick with a cold right now. The last time this happened was over six months ago, just at the time we moved to Emporia. In the intervening six months I didn't get sick even once, even though Jessie brought home a variety of ailments from the University, especially in January... but back to last August. It was a cold of truly marvelous speed and severity and contagiousness, and it hit us at a pivotal time in our lives, and the story has not yet been properly told. So here it is, based on the notes I took at the time.
Planning an economical/simple/green wedding is easier said that done. Some parts of that have been easier than others. We are by no means experts at this but we are giving it our best!
Here is what we have accomplished so far: