Rituals, Improvisation, and Dance Like Nobody’s Watching…

On January 3rd, 2016, I was working on some sort of project (I can’t remember what!) and had my mic and recording software all set up. After I was finished doing whatever it was I was doing I sat down and recorded a free improvisation:

(still one of my favourites!)

I liked it and posted it, paired with some still images, as a video on YouTube and ever since I’ve filmed an improv on New Year’s Day. (Technically that very first one wasn’t a new year’s improv – I recorded it right before midnight on January 3rd).

This ritual has entered its second decade! It got me thinking about how nice to can be to create a few rituals for oneself – this one has been something I value a lot. It feels like a great way to mark the start of a new year, with that wonderful feeling of untrodden snow and new possibilities.

I don’t actually end up doing a lot of free improvisation the rest of the time but the new year’s tradition is something I look forward to every year! It’s been the perfect “size” – it doesn’t require a bunch of prep beforehand (in fact the very nature of it in a sense forbids doing any preparation) and it’s just one single take from one single camera, rather than editing together a bunch of takes and camera angles as I would do for a music video.

Of course sometimes it comes easier than others – some years I’ve sat down and on my first attempt I’ve played something I’m happy with and that is that! Other years I’ve had to make multiple attempts, sometimes spread out during the day.

The fact that I can sit down and do a free improvisation at all (i.e. not an improv based on anything, just making up everything in the moment) still comes as a wonderful surprise to me. I never did any improvising when I was studying the harp and yet somehow at some point, after having heard and played so much music, I found that I could!

Still, it’s not as if I’m guaranteed to get a result I like…  Many times if I’m trying to do a free improvisation I’ll be listening to myself as I play and think, hmm, this is not so good…

Of course one of the keys, I think, to improvising is to not to get too critical of oneself – it’s a fine line to try and tread between listening critically to make adjustments and improvements, and listening judgmentally and giving up right away.

To me, the most wonderful feeling is to get lost in the moment and BE the music, to, as the phrase goes, dance like nobody’s watching!

It’s a bit tricky in this case because someone IS watching – I am filming myself! And I know I have an outcome that I want to achieve (an improv that I am happy with and feel good enough about to post). So there can be a certain feeling of a performance…

This year on the 1st I thought I would do the improv first thing. After setting up my camera and mic and warming up a bit, I gave it a try – quite a few tries, in fact! But nothing stood out; I felt rather unsatisfied with all the improvs.

I recognized that I just wasn’t in the zone and stopped for the moment. Instead I went about my normal practice. Later, as I was taking a walk, I got thinking about that idea of dance like nobody’s watching and that feeling of not being too caught up in the results and instead throwing oneself into the process.

That evening I finished off my day’s practice with the third movement from the Gliere Harp Concerto (a wonderfully stirring and joyous piece!). Fired up and inspired by that, I felt ready to try an improvisation again and right away the first attempt went quite well! I did one more try and was even happier with it – and that’s what I posted!

Do you have any rituals you enjoy to welcome in the new year? And if you feel like experimenting a bit with improvisation yourself, I’ve done a few Harp Tuesday episodes on the topic (and have another one planned).

Wishing you the best in 2026!

Cheers,
Josh