The Lost Songs of St. Kilda by Laura Zaerr PDF Download

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$12.00

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For lever or pedal harp.

These five hauntingly sweet tunes were snatched from oblivion by a happy coincidence. (See more information below.) Laura Zaerr is presenting them here in simple lead sheet notation, and also in her fully fleshed out solo arrangements that can be played on lever or pedal harp. Ranging from intermediate to advanced, each piece has a unique style, incorporating arpeggios, harmonics, prés de la table, and rich harmonies. The pieces range from 1 flat through 1 sharp, with three pieces in the key of C. Hirta is the only piece that requires lever or pedal changes within the music. No fingerings are included. This PDF has 19 pages, including 5 lead sheet pages, and 12 pages of harp arrangements.

Here is more information about this unique music, from Laura's introduction to this collection. Also, check out the fascinating video below.
The craggy archipelago of St. Kilda, with its jagged cliffs and boiling seas, is the most remote island outpost of Great Britain; 52 miles west of the Outer Hebrides. Inhabited for over a thousand years, this windswept group of rocks yields up a scant living. There was one asset, however, that St Kilda possessed in extraordinary abundance: seabirds. Three-quarters of a million of them came every year to nest on the islands and on the sea stacs: gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, puffins, great skua, razorbills, guillemots and petrels. The St Kildans lived on these birds, catching them by lowering themselves on ropes from the clifftops or climbing up the sea stacs from boats. The men became expert climbers, learning their skills as children. The community of once over 180 exceptionally lively and musical people dwindled over time. The last hearty handful of inhabitants were evacuated in 1930. Since that time much of the music of St. Kilda has been lost.

Flash forward to 2008, Edinburgh. A grizzled man in a nursing home delicately caresses a piano as if in a trance. His music is haunting, elegiac, unknown, and yet strangely familiar. Seventy-year-old Trevor Morrison, as it turned out, studied piano as a young boy with one of the last evacuees of St. Kilda. Fortunately for us, Trevor's friend and computer guru, Stuart McKenzie, facilitated the recording of these gems, nearly lost in time.

Each of these five tunes are named after parts of the islands. Hirta makes up the main part of the islands, where the bay and old settlements can still be visited. Dùn and Soay are close islands. Green slopes can nurture a hearty breed of sheep. Stac Levenish and Stac Lee are basically rocks jutting up out of the ocean. These cliffs were once a rich food source for the islanders. St. Kilda is now a wildlife preserve.

Click on the "Audio Tracks" button above to listen to the music.

This product is a PDF file, to be downloaded to your computer. We do not sell it as regular printed music. It is only available here in this PDF download format.

Click on the blue titles below to see a sample of the first few lines of music.

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Lost Melodies Beautifully Arranged

By June

The story of finding these is fascinating, and the songs are absolutely beautiful. Laura's arrangements fit the tunes perfectly, adding just the right amount of layering while still letting the melodies shine.

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