Ep. 312 – how to improvising around a tune (Shepherd’s Cradle-Song)

A month ago I uploaded a video on how to play a lovely short piece called “Shepherd’s Cradle Song”. At the end of that video I ended up doing a short improv on the piece, and I had a request to do a guide on how to go about doing something like that – so here it is!

I’ve done various episode on the past that tie-in with this:

Episodes on improvising.
And some basic theory – knowing what key you’re in.
And what makes a chord major or minor on the harp.

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Ep. 148 – How to improvise on the harp: two suggestions


Happy 2019 everyone! I’m busy finishing my annual New Year’s Improv video, and I thought what better subject for today’s Harp Tuesday episode than a look at improvisation. I offer two concrete ideas to spark your creativity and get you improvising in 2019 🙂

You might also enjoy episode 70

And here’s a playlist of my various improv videos

Ep. 114 A new Harp + improv!

In this special episode of Harp Tuesday I’m very excited to show off my new Excalibur lever harp! (Made by Camac Harps and purchased from the Virginia Harp Center). It’s a super fun harp to play – I do some live improv to give you a chance to hear how it sounds!

Will be doing a lot more videos featuring this harp on locations around beautiful Victoria, BC.

The Virginia Harp Center can be found at https://www.vaharpcenter.com/

Camac Harps: https://www.camac-harps.com

Ep. 70 Accompanying and improvising

In this episode of Harp Tuesday I talk about creating simple accompaniment patterns for the left hand based on chords, and offer some ideas on improv. Both draw heavily from a firm knowledge of chord structure – I did an episode on chords that might prove useful.

I use Auld Lang Syne as the demonstration piece for this episode. I’m reading from a handwritten lead sheet (chord symbols + right hand tune). Download the PDF here.

The section on improvisation starts at 10:22

Note that since this episode I’ve done quite a lot of free improvisation – for example every new year’s day since 2016: