During renaissance & baroque times it was normal to improvise a prelude, partly to get the player and the listener into the right mood and in the same mood as one another, partly to check the tuning within the instrument. There are plenty of descriptions of how it was done, as well as examples written down afterwards, and my next web-site will show how you can do it today.

For now you can read a basic description, and see and hear examples played on four different models of celtic harp, on DVD and CD, with a foretaste at a lower resolution, compressed for quicker delivery via the WWW, if you click on the topic 'improvising' after starting here.