Drunken Sailor (a Celtic Rondo)
Start with Harps Tuned in C
[HTL-67-210325 – HARP TIME LIVE #67– Thu. Mar. 25, 2021
In which we learn to play a Celtic-Inspired Rondo based on “Drunken Sailor” – with a funky improv section.
We played in Aminor and the form was:
- Intro with ‘pedal tone’ A in the bass and chords above it: Am – G – F – G
- The ‘setup’ (playing the bass groove with the Left Hand 4 times)
- ||: Melody – Setup – Blowing (Improv) ending with a Bluesy “Fill” :|| Repeat as desired, ending with the Melody and end with a 3x turnaround at the end of the Melody
- The Blowing (Improv) section has a static bass (the A minor groove), with these chords over it:
Am Am G G F F G G Am Am G G F G Am (Bluesy Fill)
Here’s how to take what you learn in this session much further:
Join “Hip Harp Academy” …
or check out “Blueprints for Creativity”
where you’ll learn other Blueprints like this Rondo Blueprint
Please add your own insights, revelations, and takeaways below in the comments, even if someone else already said the same thing! Just say it in your own way or say it again the way they did.
- To start the replay, just look for the little arrow in the lower left-hand corner of the videos.
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67A: Meet Somerset’s Kathy DeAngelo & Learn About our Field Trip to “Somerset [Virtual] Square” on Thu. April 1st
67B: A Celtic Rondo using “Drunken Sailor
The Chat Feed (click to open)
16:32:46 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : looking great glowing
16:34:58 From Lauri J Craig to Everyone : same time next week??
16:38:44 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : I get lost easy, find me in the washroom
16:39:15 From Kathy DeAngelo to Everyone : I gotta run to another event–see everybody next week!
16:39:39 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : Kathy your always running somewhere
16:40:12 From Tara to Everyone : Hello to everyone, newbie or not!
16:40:26 From Melinda Ostrander-Aviles to Everyone : Hello from New Mexico
16:41:08 From Sally to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/academy/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/celticswing_drunkensailor_wkshp_handout.pdf
16:42:08 From mary to Everyone : Hello from Winnipeg!
16:42:39 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : Got ot
16:42:45 From Lauri J Craig to Everyone : got it – printing
16:43:28 From Carol Booth to Everyone : Yes, I’m not in the Acadamy and have it to.
16:53:15 From Joke Verdoold to Everyone : Just don’t play the coloured strings on the way down
17:00:45 From Vera Stern to Everyone : Slower please!
17:01:47 From heatherflinn to Everyone : A touch slower please to enable brain synapse co-ordination!
17:09:51 From Carol Booth to Everyone : Thank you so much, we have had floods here in northern NSW and I’ve been feeling so flat and down hearted this last few days; this lovely melody is so heart lifting…
17:09:56 From Carol Booth to Everyone : Many thanks
17:10:31 From heatherflinn to Everyone : Are we getting faster or is my brain frying?
17:11:10 From heatherflinn to Everyone : Ok I think my brain is fried …there is smoke coming out of my ears
17:12:28 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : here come the harmonica
17:12:59 From Vera Stern to Everyone : Why D?
17:13:26 From Betty Herloski to Everyone : It’s fun!
17:14:27 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : trains
17:14:41 From Tara to Everyone : This is great practice in picking out just a few important notes.
17:16:16 From Terri to Everyone : please can you post harp time lives to the website , I have to work this morning this year and can only tune in while I get ready 🙂.
17:17:10 From Sally to Everyone : Terri,
17:17:23 From Terri to Everyone : thank you. today looks so fun !
17:17:24 From Sally to Everyone : Terri, here’s the HTL pager. https://www.hipharp.com/academy/htlwdhc-harp-time-with-dhc-live-main-page/?inf_contact_key=5e957844f4f1ca72e36e9a27d05661c9
17:18:21 From Joke Verdoold to Everyone : To fats was the combination of both hands together
17:19:12 From Joke Verdoold to Everyone : fast
17:20:07 From mary to Everyone : the little run at the end g e d b sounds great with a grace note (or what ev the heck the irish name is) on the d. And even though this tune is probably the BOTTOM of the list of tunes I’d choose to play — turns out I can sink in and have fun and learn things! Like fitting the fingering for the grace note at sort of speed
17:20:56 From Sally to Everyone : Terri, here’s a better link. https://www.hipharp.com/academy/htlwdhc-harp-time-with-dhc-live-main-page/
17:23:47 From Anne Horton to Everyone : Can someone please post the link to the handout/music again (I can’t access the part of the chat that happened before I got here)
17:24:05 From Melinda Ostrander-Aviles to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/academy/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/celticswing_drunkensailor_wkshp_handout.pdf
17:24:17 From Anne Horton to Everyone : Thanks Melinda 🙂
17:24:22 From Melinda Ostrander-Aviles to Everyone : : )
17:24:57 From Helen Wright to Everyone : Had a lovely time— fun class fun framework— must go, farewell for now. ❣️
17:25:53 From Vera Stern to Everyone : Does the bridge start on first beat??
17:27:06 From heatherflinn to Everyone : Can you run over the form/ arrangement
17:28:27 From Anna Bosanquet to Everyone : what do you mean G over a, and f over a etc
17:29:48 From heatherflinn to Everyone : INTRO – VAMP-MELODY-SET-UP -BLOWING
17:30:06 From Tara to Everyone : Into
set-up
melody
set-up
blowing
melody
set-up
17:30:23 From Tara to Everyone : blowing
17:30:34 From Tara to Everyone : set-up w repeated ending
17:31:29 From Tara to Everyone : Anna, “over A” means that LH is playing an A in the bass no matter what the right hand is doing.
17:35:13 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : you alway make it fun and easier than reading music
17:35:16 From Anna Bosanquet to Everyone : Thank you!
17:35:32 From Cherrie Mooney to Everyone : Fun to experiment with different combinations
17:35:44 From Lynne Lapidus to Everyone : I could do EITHER the left or the right hand, so the coordination was my challenge
17:35:47 From Joke Verdoold to Everyone : That was great! Hard was to combine all things. But the fun overcomes everything
17:35:56 From Vera Stern to Everyone : Combining rhythms of LH and Rh was not easy…
17:35:56 From debra Sawyer to Everyone : Love the setup. It just took a couple of times to get coordinated to do both hands in rhythm.
17:35:59 From heatherflinn to Everyone : The bass was tough to put together with right hand improv
17:36:17 From heatherflinn to Everyone : But practice practice practice
17:36:25 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : that set up sounds like it could be used with lots of other music
17:36:26 From Susanne to Everyone : This was really cool and fun! I only have to watch out to put the D sharp back again after the break before playing the melody or else it sounds really horrible.
17:36:28 From Tara to Everyone : I had a hard time improvising melodies that I liked, but I had fun trying. Working on the two-hand coordination was a good challenge.
17:36:32 From Tammy to Everyone : I like the idea to loop part of it
17:37:09 From debra Sawyer to Everyone : you good do just a slap bass
17:37:21 From Anne Horton to Everyone : Looping that bass line is exactly what I was thinking! 🙂 it would sound so awesome! And actually be so much easier too! hehe
17:37:33 From Anna Bosanquet to Everyone : I’m really tempted to get a looper after this ! as can’t manage both hands / rhythms together..
17:37:39 From mary to Everyone : Yup – Lol I said earlier that I don’t like this song lol! BUT – I got to practice triplets and make my fingers fo a fingering and play with chords and hang out with it and listen to how it’s easily morphed into a ton of other tunes I do like. So – don’t judge till I dive in and give it a chance? 😀
17:38:05 From Sarah to Everyone : Love the rhythm, the variations, the 9th, the keep in time with both hands was hard to me. Great tune to improve
17:38:11 From janeilmola to Everyone : finally understood which note jazzes up when the piece isn’t in major – I just have to remember the blues scale with the note between 4 and 5 so I get the right note in
17:38:12 From Anne Horton to Everyone : Anna … do it Anna!! Get a looper!! 🙂
17:38:12 From Carol Henley to Everyone : I see the possibilities! My hands just were behind my brain.
17:38:20 From Gabry to Everyone : Love the rhythm of the left hand – once getting comfortable with it, it will be fun to improvise
17:38:38 From kirsti Kaldro to Everyone : The embellishment on the melody you did at the beginning was cool, what was that?
17:38:47 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : What is a looper
17:39:12 From heatherflinn to Everyone : Oh connie you are doomed if you fin out
17:39:12 From Anne Horton to Everyone : Connie – a looper records things and plays them back in a loop which you can play over the top of
17:39:17 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : jigsaw puzzle
17:39:55 From kirsti Kaldro to Everyone : Thank you!
17:40:09 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : if the pieces don’t fit get scissors and cut the pieces
17:40:19 From Evelyn G to Everyone : i improvised against the melody after awhile tho it may not be part of the structure
17:41:04 From Gail to Everyone : Great and fun ideas. Love you, Mary and Gail
17:41:34 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : Thank you Deborah. Your always spunky, spontanious
17:42:06 From DHC to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/bfc
17:42:09 From DHC to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/bfc
17:42:12 From DHC to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/bfc
17:42:35 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : will you email those blueprints
17:42:37 From Joke Verdoold to Everyone : Goodnight everybody
17:42:56 From DHC to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/academy/htlwdhc-harp-time-with-dhc-live-main-page/
17:43:02 From DHC to Everyone : https://www.hipharp.com/academy/htlwdhc-harp-time-with-dhc-live-main-page/
17:43:08 From Connie Loporto to Everyone : bye
Share your takeaways and 'aha's' below.
What are the principles and concepts in this session? If you had to remember what you learned, or someone said, "Quick! I have to do an improv! What did you learn in this 'Harp Time Live!' session that I can use??" - What would you tell them?
The pdf for this session is the holiday greeting card handout. I am looking for the handout for the drunken sailor session as this session was great! Would like to have the music that is shown on the video. The info that Sally submitted to get the upload does not work. Please help!
Jennifer Cordier