Faible is the result of a commision by Victor Salvi to compose a piece for the newly developed Salvi electric harp, for performance at the World Harp Congress in Vienna in 1987, where the instrument was being launched. The relationship of the instrument to an orthodox harp can be likened to that of the electric guitar to an acoustic guitar - the body of the instrument is solid and the signal from it needs to be amplified. I wanted to exploit the features of the "new" instrument as well as using techniques associated with the orthodox instrument; percussive sounds derived from hitting the body of the electric harp in a number of ways (knuckles, nails, fingertips and palms) are frequently offset by glissandi and arpeggiated chords. An even wider palette of sounds is made available by the incorporation of a signal processing device running reverberation, delay and pitch change programs.