Still Beating - 2020 edition

Top: The tuning mechanism found on Ruth Wall's 'Mark Norris' model. Bottom: Ruth in rehearsal at Wapping Power Station. Photos by Christopher Best

Still Beating is an intimate piece, which draws warmth and subtlety from the pulsations - or 'beats' - caused by the slight de-tuning of selected harp strings (an effect inspired by Indonesian gamelan instruments). It was composed in response to a call for works from the SPNM, as part of their 'Solo Spotlight' concert series, and was premiered by Ruth Wall on 6th March 2007 at Wapping Power Station in London.

Though I was a newcomer to this instrument, I had had an idea for some time to write a piece for the larger orchestral harp, involving the microtonal de-tuning of adjacent strings. The opportunity to try out this idea on a lever harp was too good to miss, though it required a considerable re-think due to the instrument's radically different design and range. Working with Ruth was hugely rewarding. She took a little persuading before she would agree to meddle with the finely poised tuning of her instrument, but after a number of exploratory workshops and much rehearsal, our efforts began to reap great rewards.

The revision, made over the summer of 2020, recognises that the number of lever changes originally required was prohibitively large. The new version has allowed the changes to be reduced in number, re-grouped or given more time to be affected. It has also afforded the work more breathing space, being around a minute longer than the original 2006 version.