Sixteen Solos for Meditation, Ritual, or Sacred Dance

composed by Dorothy van Joolen Barth
for flute or recorder or violin

Edward Robert Hughes: Twilight Fantasies (1911)

What better way to celebrate my ninth collection of music than to write a song for each of the nine muses? This volume is named in honor of Euterpe, the Muse of Lyric Poetry, usually seen carrying a flute. 

An interlude entitled Pegasus leads to the second half of the book. Island Gaia offers six songs with a meditative quality inspired by a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.

Belly dancers: Four of the Muses' songs (Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Thalia, and Melpomene) can be adapted for use in belly dance by playing with a drummer and/or finger cymbals. These pieces can be played on flute, alto recorder, violin, or any C instrument. Three tunes incorporate Middle Eastern modes.

Melpomene is a sword dance with taxim/chifte telli sections
Polyhymnia is  a lyrical veil dance
Thalia is in 2/4 and can be used as a fast beledi; it does not use a Middle Eastern Mode
Terpsichore incorporates 4/4 and 9/8 Karsilama rhythms.

Songs from Euterpe is now available. This music is intended for flute or recorder. The adaptable recorder player will between switch soprano, alto, and tenor  instruments according to preference and the range of the piece. The samples below are recorded with soprano and alto recorders. The four dance numbers also work well on violin, as they are performed in the audio gallery below. 

Songs from Euterpe Table of Contents

Muses' Circle
Calliope
Erato 
Clio 
Euterpe
Terpsichore
Polyhymnia
Thalia
Melpomene
Urania

Interlude
Pegasus
 

Island Gaia
Morning 
Labyrinth    
Crater Credo 
Rain Tree 
Akaka Falls  
Blue  Temple  

Purchase the SHeet Music