Images from Cracow consists of 29 miniature pieces for beginners. Most of the compositions are short and quite easy. The repertoire is varied, with calm, atmospheric works, such as Ballad and Remembrance, dynamic, cheerful pieces (Dance of the Bears, The Ball, A Holiday Adventure) and majestic compositions (The King’s Retinue), and some of the tunes lead us around a mysterious The Old Tenement. New aspects of technique are introduced gradually (including playing with two fingers, double stops, playing with three fingers, triple stops, playing with four fingers, changing the direction of the melody, crossing the fingers). I attach considerable weight to tone colour and enrich the compositions with various techniques typical of the harp (such as glissando, xylo, prés de la table, étouffé, lever/pedal glissando, thunder effect), making them more attractive for pupils, who work on them more readily. The pieces are varied in terms of both content and texture, which results from the technical issue being addressed. I employ different ways of leading the melody, such as playing with the right and left hands in alternation, parallel voice leading, playing a melody with a simple accompaniment. The compositions are also varied in terms of rhythm, including dotted rhythms, syncopations and triplets; some are written for pupils with disfunctions, such as dyslexia (repeated rhythmic and melodic patterns help them to master the material).
From the outset, I focus on developing the technique of playing with both hands. All the pieces are meticulously fingered, taking account of the manual capacities of children, who are beginning to learn the harp at an increasingly young age.
Images… can be performed on both lever harp and pedal harp. I use Italian performance markings, to get pupils used to the professional terminology from the start. The titles ‘suggest’ to the children the atmosphere of the works through reference to Cracow and to the world of play and imagination. The compositions develop young performers’ technical skills and sensitivity and acquaint them with the instrument’s capabilities.

Agnieszka Grela-Fedkowicz
translated by John Comber