Amanda Whiting
Jazz theory and improvisation
What’s your sound? Have you ever just sat there and played some chords you really like? Let’s be free and find our sound.
What’s your sound? Have you ever just sat there and played some chords you really like? Let’s be free and find our sound.
We’re pleased to welcome jazz specialist Amanda Whiting to Harp Column Academy! Amanda started classical harp at the age of 6 after being mesmerised by Harpo Marx. At 16 she was awarded a specialist scholarship to Wells Cathedral School. She gained her BMus and LRSM with Caryl Thomas at Cardiff University, and her Masters in Jazz at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She has since become a freelance harpist all over the world; from recitals in London’s Southbank to touring jazz festivals with trumpeter Matthew Halsall in Hamburg, London, Helsinki, Johannesburg and Belgium to name a few. In 2015, with her trio The Whiting on the Wall, she headlined at the Edinburgh Harp Festival.
In addition to her studio at Harp Column Academy, Amanda Whiting is the jazz harp specialist at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in Cardiff, and at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Amanda’s compositions can be found in the Trinity Harp syllabus (2020-2023), which contains 22 of her compositions featured in Pedal Sliders Harp Books. Her publications can be purchased at Harp Column Music.
Amanda’s recent projects include work with numerous DJs including DJYoda, Rebecca Vasmant, and Jazzanova, as well as being on flautist Chip Wickham’s new album Blue to Red. She was also signed to Jazzman Records as a jazz artist, releasing two albums in September 2020 and February 2021.
Explore lessons with
Amanda Whiting
HCA master teacher Amanda Whiting answers questions about learning to play jazz, playing evenly, shoes for the harp, and more!
Amanda Whiting teaches how to find your personal sound and begin improvising on a lever or pedal harp.
Amanda Whiting teaches how to start improvising using the key of C Major.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting expands on learning to improvise using the key of C Major, along with how to identify chord tones and scale degrees.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to identify chords that are found in the key of C Major, along with how to improvise with those chords.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how make the basic chords found in C Major jazzier by adding the 7th.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows the modes that occur in the key of C Major, along with how to use modes for improvisation.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to create improvisational "soundscapes" using modes.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to take your knowledge of modes and soundscapes to build the basic "blues" chord progression.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to create the blues scale and use it for improvisation over the blues chord progression.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting explains how to understand and play swing rhythm.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows more ways to understand and play swing rhythm.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to create and practice the dominant 7th chord.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows explains the ii-V-I chord progression and how it is used in jazz.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting explains why voicings are important, along with how to create smooth voicings.
In this lesson Amanda Whiting shows how to play the major blues. (To get the most from this lesson, watch Amanda's lesson on Dominant 7th Chords in her HCA studio.)
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