“Hymn for Crow” solo and live

In 1994 a musician friend named David “Crow” Levine who lived and worked near my place in Montpelier sickened one day and died a few weeks later, leaving behind his wife Diana and his daughter. He was a young man, and I thought about him a lot in the weeks that followed. About 3 weeks after his death I was walking home from work playing the harmonica, and the theme and structure of this solo piece flowed to me in about 20 minutes. I didn’t set out to write it for Crow, but I wrote it in a period when I thought about him all the time, so the piece is titled “Hymn for Crow”. It was included in my CD “The Act of Being Free in One Act,” released in 1995. Crow’s daughter wrote a song titled “A Blue Horse Made of Sky” about her father to my music, which is a fitting use.

This is my first performance of the piece in a while; I think it’s aged well. Certainly the counterpoint holds up. Regarding that, for anyone who doubts it, the piece is played on a single instrument in real time without editing or overdubbing.

Enjoy.

Harp junkie info:
The instrument is a Seydel Session Steel in A customized by Tom Halchak. The audio for this piece was recorded via the video recorder built in mic, and was processed with EQ and reverb via Cyberlink Power Director 13.
The piece demonstrates just about every interval you can play on a diatonic, including 3rds, 5ths, 6ths, 10ths, 12ths, and double octaves.