Persian Holiday

Sam Cleaver

Timeline

Sam Cleaver (born 1982)
  1. Born in New Zealand. At the age of 10, he played the title role in Oliver Twist. Since then he has been involved in more than 30 different theatre productions. He studied at the University of Waikato, Hamilton and holds an Associate Diploma in Voice from Trinity College London.
  2. He has toured Australia with various successful performance groups.
  3. Sam Cleaver now teaches music in and around Hamilton, New Zealand

Style

Sam Cleaver is a CONTEMPORARY  composer. Much of his work has been involved with musical theatre. Here he is with the band from one of the shows he has worked on: Legally Blonde

With Persian Market Sam Cleaver captures the spirit of a busy market in Persia. Today, Persia is today called Iran and is a large country in the Middle East. In this piece he uses an unusual Arabian scale with the added flat notes giving it a special character. There is no key signature but the tonal centre of the piece is F.

Interpretation

  • Look at this picture and try to capture the spirit of this bustling market in the Middle East:
  • In the left hand, the second note of each slurred pair could be a little shorter – almost a quaver in length. This will give it some lift:
  • Let the right hand accents like the one in bar 4 punch through the texture a little:
  • In bars 9-10 and 13 -14 there could be a crescendo and diminuendo to give this phrase some shape:
  • At the very end observe the diminuendo carefully and do not be afraid to make the final accent short and strong to finish off the piece. Try to slow down a tiny bit too with a poco rall:
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