Today we’re going to be talking about ways to improvise or arrange a left-hand accompaniment.
For the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume that you already have your chords either decided or written down for you somewhere. This is what to do with your chords once you’ve got them.
1. Start simple and get more complicated.
This applies to the piece itself but also to the process of learning how to arrange or improvise a left hand. Sometimes you can just start with the melody. You don’t even need an accompaniment for the first line or maybe even the whole first verse. Don’t throw all the really exciting, complicated stuff right at the beginning. Let the arrangement build.
In terms of the process of learning how to do this, pick a pattern like a triad (three notes stacked in thirds)
Triads in the left hand
and then just move that around. Or try an open fifth (the same shape, but omit the middle note). Only use that one shape for every chord and see how beautiful it is.
Once you can move your hand comfortably from chord to chord in that same shape, then you can start thinking about “What if I arpeggiate this?” or “What if I do a different shape sometimes?” Be patient with yourself; master the basics before you try to be fancy. Harp itself is so beautiful; it doesn’t need to be fancy.
2. If the right hand is fast and complicated, simplify the left hand.
When your right hand is doing a lot, it doesn’t need a lot of support from left hand, maybe just an occasional chord.
A complicated melody such as this (The Banks of Spey) only needs a chord every so often in the left hand.
And if you’re having a very simple, beautiful, open right hand, then you want to add more notes in your left hand to fill in that space.
3. Use left hand to fill in any empty gaps on Beats 1 and 3.
Beat 1 is always the most important beat in every measure so it’s good to have something there; it’s comforting for somebody listening to be able to tell where the pulse of the piece is. However, when you’re filling that down beat with your left hand, it doesn’t always have to be a root position chord, like a big chunky chord; it could be the end of an arpeggio – just one simple high note to mark that rhythmic space. I would (in most cases) apply the same principle to beat 3. If you’re in a 4/4 time signature, beats 1 and 3 are the pillars of your rhythm. Between the two hands you should always have something on beat 1 and 3.
4. A faster harmonic rhythm requires an easier or shorter left hand pattern.
Harmonic rhythm is the speed at which you are changing chords. If you look at a hymnal, you’ll see that there is often a different chord on every single beat of the measure. With a different chord on every beat, you’re not going to have time to do an arpeggio on every single one of them.
If you do want your chords to change very frequently, choose the simplest pattern you can. Single notes work really well. And the opposite is true: if you have one chord that lasts for three measures you can pick a longer pattern in your left hand: a longer arpeggio perhaps.
Here the arpeggios fill every measure. You’d also have the option of making an arpeggio last even longer than one measure.
5. Set up a pattern and then break it.
If you have a pattern that keeps repeating, try breaking it at the end of a phrase, to give the music a little bit more room to breathe. When I’m arranging or improvising, I keep up the same pattern until I get tired of it. Then I try to change a little bit before that point. You never want somebody listening to feel bored. Ask yourself, “How long can this pattern be beautiful and enjoyable and simple?” and don’t take it any longer than that.
Notice that the last measure of each line uses a different pattern than the rest of the line.
How to use these principles in your music-making
My recommendation is to find any music that has chords written in already, and that you can either hum the melody or play a recording of the piece. Perhaps a fake book that comes with a recording, or any of Sylvia Woods’ books that come with recordings, would be excellent for this purpose. And then play along with the recording or your humming. Don’t play the right hand for now; work on getting your left hand moving from chord to chord, reading those chord symbols, using the same simple triad or open fifth each time until it’s easy, and then you can progress to something more complicated like an arpeggio. And with practice, it will start to come.
Happy improvising and arranging!
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Twin-Cities harpist Stephanie Claussen invites audiences to explore new locales and eras through her music. Influenced by her love of fairy tales, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the world music section at her local library, she performs a unique mixture of Scottish tunes, J.S. Bach, and anything rich in medieval or French harmonies. Sign up for her e-mail newsletter to receive notifications of upcoming performances and other announcements.