The easiest way to start to improvise

Lately I've been working on transcribing into Sibelius notation from my not-so-legible handwriting my Op. 2 composition - A Theme and 4 Easy Variations on Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht (2007). Here's the video, if you're curious how it sounds. My work is almost done - I'll post the score for anybody who's interested to learn and share it very soon.

So today I thought I would give you an exercise in counterpoint on this lovely tune. You will need to play note-against-note two-part counterpoint with the intervals of thirds and sixths in alternation and vice versa. It's best to start and end with an octave.

By the way, this is the easiest way to start to improvise on any hymn tune. It seems simple but to do it fluently will take a bit of practice. But don't worry - even if you haven't improvised anything before, with a few minutes of practice you'll do just fine. Improvisation can be as complex as you want but this is the first step. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Play this counterpoint exercise of hymn tune Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht. Here is the PDF score for printing. Repeat it until you can do it 3 times in a row slowly but fluently.

When you're done practicing, post your time to comments.