On the High Seas
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1986
- Publisher
- Canadian Music Centre (unpublished; CMC print, call no. MI 3213 R539on; RSN 13952)
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About this piece
One of three teaching pieces for cello and piano that Sylvia Rickard wrote in 1986 [1]. It is a sea picture in 3/4. The piano opens alone and returns between phrases, and the cello part moves from long notes into a faster section of accented quarter notes on the low strings. The harmony is modal and full of flats and sharps, which makes it a good first piece for a student learning to read accidentals outside a plain major key. The student also has to count through the piano introduction and interludes.
Technical overview
3/4 at quarter = 96 in first position across all four strings, mostly dotted half, half and quarter notes. Frequent accidentals (B flat, E flat, A flat, C sharp, G sharp) call for half-position or extended fingerings. There are accented quarters on the low strings in the più mosso, and tempo changes (più mosso, meno mosso, ancora più mosso). Dynamics run from mp to ff, and there are rests to count under the piano.
Technical focus
- A String Notes
- Accidentals
- Bow Control
- C String Notes
- Collaboration with Piano
- D String Notes
- Detaché
- Dynamics
- Extensions
- G String Notes
- Hairpin Dynamics
- Rhythm
- Tempo Changes