This will be a deep dive into the four modes most commonly played in Celtic music. We’ll explore the scales, chords, common chord progressions, and melodic structures used in Celtic tunes, building a strong foundation for playing beautifully within these traditions. Open to harps of all kinds (must have C# and F# capabilities).

10am Pacific / 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern / 6pm Ireland / 7pm France.

$35 USD general / $25 USD for current private students. Class is 75 minutes.

Send a message through the Contact page for Zoom link and payment info. (Check your Spam folder for response email - sometimes it’ll be there!)

Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.

The New Orleans Chapter of the American Harp Society presents an afternoon of workshops for all harps, followed by a matinee concert featuring New Orleans-area performers as well as special guests from afar. Workshops are open to all harpists in Southeast Louisiana. Family-friendly, wheelchair accessible venue.

Jesse Autumn’s workshop will be learning cross-rhythms and syncopation under a traditional Scots Gaelic tune.

To participate, sign up to become a member of the New Orleans Chapter of the American Harp Society. Send me a message through the Contact page for more info!

In this workshop we’ll learn a classic Irish jig that utilizes chromatic notes, exploring how to shift between sharps and naturals using the double rows of strings and alternate tunings on each side. Class will be taught partially by ear, with sheet music provided but not strictly enforced. (Must be familiar with basic chords/reading chord symbols in order to have the most fun in this class.) Double-strung Harp Only.

10am Pacific / 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern / 6pm Ireland / 7pm France.

$35 USD general / $25 for current private students. Class is 75 minutes.

Register by messaging through the Contact page, then check your email (including Spam folder!) for payment info and the Zoom link.

Pay with Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal.

In this class we’ll explore the basics of playing cross-rhythms on the harp - a type of polyrhythm where two distinct meters intertwine. Cross-rhythms are beautiful in improvisation and arranging, or as a backdrop for singing. Playing them can also strengthen your ability to play complex left and right hand parts, managing more musical ideas both mentally and physically.

10am Pacific / 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern / 6pm Ireland / 7pm France.

$35 USD general / $25 for current private students. Class is 75 minutes.

Register by messaging through the Contact page, then check your email (including Spam folder!) for payment info and the Zoom link.

Pay with Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal.

This class series was rescheduled from fall 2025, to coincide with Fun-A-Day 2026. Expand your creative vocabulary with this fun improvisation class for harpists of all kinds!

This is a 4-week class designed to challenge and boost creative abilities in improvisation, arranging and composition on the harp. We’ll explore musical creativity from the angle of melody, chords, rhythms, and form. Each class can be taken individually, but attending the full series is highly recommended.

10am Pacific / 12pm Central / 1pm Eastern / 7pm Ireland / 8pm France

January 17, 24 31, & Feb 7.

General Fee: $35 USD per individual class / $120 USD for complete series.

Private Students’ Discount Rate: $30 USD per individual class / $100 USD for complete series.

THIS SERIES HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 2026. For more info, send a message through the Contact page.

This is a series exploring improvisation from three different directions: chordal, melodic, and rhythmic. Participants will learn techniques for creating new music on the fly and having fun in the process! For advanced beginner / intermediate / advanced intermediate harpists, on harps of all kinds.

This is a repeat of the summer series, for those who missed it! For those in Europe, class will take place in the evening (please convert my local time of 12pm CST to your time zone for exact class time. For example, workshop will be at 6pm in Ireland, 7pm in France.)

Class is 75 minutes. Fee is $35 USD general / $30 for current private students for the month of November.

THIS CLASS HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED - details TBA! Sorry for any inconvenience.

In this ear training class we’ll learn a tune without sheet music, utilizing musicianship skills that help pull notes out of the ether and into your fingertips. Learning tunes by ear develops a different part of your musician mind, and will help you understand music and harp playing in a deeper way. Also, the original tradition of Celtic harp was an oral tradition, so learning by ear is a great way to connect with and appreciate that tradition more fully.

(After class is over, a PDF of the tune will be sent out, so you don’t forget it!)

Class fee: $25 USD. Message at least 24 hours prior to class to sign up and get the Zoom link.

This workshop will be a masterclass in how to adapt music to the teeniest, tiniest of harps! The limitations of fewer notes and zero levers can be a portal to creativity and ingenuity - there’s no reason to shy away from exploring the possibilities a tiny harp can offer - you can make your tiny harp sing and play it like a true instrument. I’ll be using my 15-string harp as an example. Please bring your tiniest harp to class, tuned (or levers set) to C Major.

General $35 / Current Private Students $30 . Workshop is 75 min. Handouts provided.

To sign up, send me a message through the contact page & I will send payment info and Zoom link.

How do you improvise on the harp? How do you build a song out of nothing? Many harpists don’t know where to begin when first exploring the art of improvisation. This series will offer improvisational techniques and musical ideas to help develop your creativity and a sense of fun and freedom while playing! Each class may be taken individually, but attending the entire series is highly recommended. Current private students may attend classes for a discounted rate.

Sundays, August 10, 17 & 24 - 5pm PST / 7pm CST. Workshops are 75 min.

General: $35 per individual workshop / $95 when you sign up for all three classes.

Current Private Students: $30 per individual workshop / $80 when you sign up for all three classes.

How do you improvise on the harp? How do you build a song out of nothing? Many harpists don’t know where to begin when first exploring the art of improvisation. This series will offer improvisational techniques and musical ideas to help develop your creativity and a sense of fun and freedom while playing! Each class may be taken individually, but attending the entire series is highly recommended. Current private students may attend classes for a discounted rate.

Sundays, August 10, 17 & 24 - 5pm PST / 7pm CST . Workshops are 75 min.

General: $35 per individual workshop / $95 when you sign up for full series.

Current Private Students: $30 per individual workshop / $80 when you sign up for full series.

How do you improvise on the harp? How do you build a song out of nothing? Many harpists don’t know where to begin when first exploring the art of improvisation. This series will offer improvisational techniques and musical ideas to help develop your creativity and a sense of fun and freedom while playing! Each class may be taken individually, but attending the entire series is highly recommended. Current private students (month of August) may attend classes for a discounted rate.

Sundays, August 10, 17 & 24 - 5pm PST / 7pm CST

General: $35 USD per individual workshop / $95 when you register for all three classes.

Current Private Students: $30 USD per individual workshop / $80 when you register for all three classes.

Work on your ear training in this dynamic group class for intermediate harpists. We’ll learn a tune by ear and discuss methods to develop our abilities outside of the written page. (Sheet music will be provided after class, so you don’t forget the tune you’ve worked on.) This kind of training can only be done live, so don’t miss out on this fun workshop!

12pm Pacific / 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern

$25 / Zoom / message for link and payment details

For lever harps tuned in E Flat (three flats).

This is a streamlined class to help lever harpists learn all the keys on their harps. We’ll move through all the scales from Eb to E, learning a useful order of movements to memorize all our keys and get accustomed to fully utilizing the levers on the harp.

This class is on Zoom and it’s FREE! 12pm Pacific, 2pm Central, 3pm Eastern.

The final workshop of the series, Session 4 explores the Lydian scale - warm-ups, tools and tricks to strengthen musicianship skills and deepen our understanding of our music. Great for those who want to feel more “free” in their playing, or become more bold in their arrangements and improvisations. Double-strung harp is featured but single-strung harpists are welcome to join. Intermediate level.

Suggested donation $30 USD. (You can send a donation with Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.)

Email through the contact page for donation info and Zoom link.

Session 3 explores the Mixolydian scale, with warm-ups, tools and tricks to strengthen musicianship skills and deepen our understanding of our music. Great for those who want to feel more “free” in their playing, or become more bold in their arrangements and improvisations. Double-strung harp is featured but single-strung harpists are welcome to join. Intermediate level.

Suggested donation $30 USD. (You can send a donation with Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.)

Email through the contact page for donation info and Zoom link.

This is Session 2 of my new series, and this week we will focus on the Dorian scale. Each session explores warm-ups that train your hands and your brain to use shapes, patterns and tones that are useful in daily playing, arrangement, and improvisation, helping to develop a kind of background programming in the musician mind. Double-harp featured, but all harps included! Intermediate level.

Suggested donation $30 USD. (You can send a donation with Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.)

Email through the contact page for donation info and Zoom link.

I’m beginning a series of slightly informal creative workshops for Double Harp (single-strung players are welcome to sit it, but double harp will be in focus). The first session explores warm-ups that train your hands and your brain to use shapes, patterns and tones that are useful in improvisation, so we develop a kind of background programming in the musician mind. This will be fun and experimental! Each session with use a different key/mode as our jumping-off point. Intermediate level.

Suggested donation $30 USD. (You can send a donation with Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.)

Email through the contact page for donation info and Zoom link.

A Day Camp intensive exploring improvisation, accompaniment patterns, and playing tunes in 3 blocks of group classes. Bring your harp, tuner, music stand, and whatever else you may need to be comfortable. Open to intermediate and advanced lever, pedal and double-strung harpists.

1pm-5pm in the Fireside Room, St Philip’s Episcopal Church, Scotts Valley, CA.

The “book ends” to our harp camp are two concerts I highly recommend:: Grammy-nominated jazz harpist Brandee Younger’s concert Friday, March 28, 7pm, and internationally-acclaimed kora player Sona Jobarteh’s concert Tuesday, April 1st, 7pm. Both concerts are presented by Kuumbwa Jazz Center and concert tickets should be purchased in advance at kuumbwajazz.org

Schedule:

Friday, March 28, 7pm - harp “field trip” to Brandee Younger’s concert

Saturday, March 29, 1pm-5pm - group classes

Sunday, March 30 - harp re-stringings available

Tuesday, April 1, 7pm - (extra credit!) join me at Sona Jobarteh’s concert

Fee for Ensemble Class Day $75

Zoom Workshop for Double-Strung Harp Students only. This is a casual harp workshop to work together doing some basic exercises to strengthen our double-strung skills. We’ll warm up together and play through exercises. I will demonstrate some Double-specific techniques.

3pm Pacific / 5pm Central / 6pm Eastern. Message me for Zoom link.

Santa Cruz Harp Festival returns for a beautiful matinee concert celebrating the harp in its many forms. Featuring soloists Calvin Arsenia on vocals and folk/soul pedal harp, Jennifer Cass on classical pedal harp, Shelley Phillips on Celtic harp and Jesse Autumn on double-strung harp, the all-ages Community Music School Harp Orchestra, and an instrument “petting zoo” for curious concert-goers. Jesse Autumn returns as artistic director and harp orchestra conductor. Proceeds will benefit Community Music School, a non-profit educational organization serving Santa Cruz County.

This year we are overjoyed to present Calvin Arsenia as our special guest soloist. Calvin is an internationally-acclaimed musician and performance artist from Kansas City, MO, who seamlessly merges his soulful voice with agile harp accompaniment. His songs blend influences from R&B, soul, folk and quirky pop, and he brings an inimitable magic to all his performances.

Tickets $20 door/$15 adv, available at the link below. Kids under 18 get in free!

NOMA is excited to present Music in the Garden, a new outdoor music series this spring. Encounter the sounds of local New Orleans musicians while strolling through the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden on select Sunday afternoons beginning at 2 pm. Jesse Autumn will play Double-strung Harp for this event on Sunday, May 14.

No registration is required. The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public seven days a week.

An all-Irish livestream concert to benefit my upcoming trip to the Dingle Peninsula. Tune in at 11am Pacific / 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern at my Facebook music page, Facebook.com/JesseAutumnSongs for a live, interactive online concert. I’ll be playing my vintage Lyon & Healy pedal harp for this one. Song requests welcome!

Featuring soloist Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang on pedal harp. The New Orleans chapter of the American Harp Society presents its 11th annual concert extravaganza highlighting harpists from across Southeast Louisiana, including Jesse Autumn on Double-Strung Harp. 2pm, East Jefferson Regional Library, Metairie, Louisiana. This concert is kid and senior friendly and wheelchair accessible!

There will be Music on the Porch once again following Krewe of Barkus! Stay posted for more details.

I’ll be jamming with New Orleans legend Amzie Adams on my porch before Krewe du Vieux! This is part of my informal Music on the Porch Carnival concert series, hosting duets around the Marigny parades during Mardi Gras. We will tentatively play about an hour before each parade. Amzie Adams is a well-known artist, musician, and French Quarter character, a creative force in New Orleans since the 1960’s. He makes music on guitars and electric mountain dulcimers. We will be jamming in a folk and blues kind of way on my porch on Dauphine Street, near Nonno’s Cajun Cuisine. You can hear us around 5pm ish. Performance time is totally subject to change. We will livestream on my Facebook music page.

Krewe Boheme rolls this Friday, and that begins my special porch music series for Mardi Gras 2023! I’m hosting very informal, short performances on the porch on Dauphine Street, to play before each neighborhood parade in the Marigny. Roll by Dauphine near Nonno’s Cajun Cuisine and you’ll find us. Music is tentatively scheduled for the hour before each parade begins. This is subject to change if there is other loud music going on in the neighborhood.

Friday the 3rd will be a duet - Harp and Saxophone - with my partner Scott “Scojo” Johnson, playing world music. We will livestream on my Facebook music page.

Santa Cruz Harp Festival returns with an in-person concert of Celtic, Classical and Double-strung Harps, a Harp Orchestra and Harp “Petting Zoo”! Sunday, January 22, 3pm at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, CA. Tickets $15 general, $10 students / seniors. More info at communitymusicschool.org

Jesse Autumn (double harp) and special guest Shelley Phillips (flute) will play two sets of world music at Flora Gallery & Coffeeshop in New Orleans! Music from Ireland, Wales, Sweden, Bulgaria, Zimbabwe, France, Japan, Cuba, and contemporary composers. This event is FREE and kid-friendly! Weather permitting, we will be playing outdoors for covid safety. Please bring your mask and vax card for entry to the café. Homemade Persian dinner by Ali. Flora is located at the corner of Royal St and Franklin Ave in the Marigny.