I've Got the World on a String, Harmonic Analysis

Introduction to Jazz Piano Skills and New Tune Study

Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, hello, May. A new month. And a new month of jazz piano skills means one thing. A new tune. How fun is that? Every new month we begin a new tune study. And every new tune study means a new harmonic analysis, a new melodic analysis, a new improvisation development, and new solo piano development. But you know, every single month when we begin a new tune study, I hear the same concern from many jazz piano skills members. I'm not ready to move on. I still need to work on the voicings. My melody isn't solid. My improvisation still feels a little weak. And I get it. I really do. Because we all want to feel like we've completed something before moving on to the next thing. But here's the problem. That mindset, that mindset actually works against your growth as a musician. Let me explain. Progress in music does not come from staying in one place until everything feels perfect. In fact, if you stay in one place too long, you stop growing. I say this all the time. You cannot let grass grow under your feet when it comes to studying jazz piano. You have to create forward motion. And this is where this is where the misunderstanding happens. When we move on to a new tune, many students feel like they're leaving something unfinished behind. Like they're surrendering instead of succeeding. But that couldn't be further from the truth because moving on to a new tune is not moving on from your development, it's continuing it. And here's the key. Tune change, changing tunes doesn't change the skills. The skills remain the same. Let me say that again. The tunes change, but the skills remain the same. The harmony you worked on, the melody you practiced, the improvisation concepts you explored, they don't disappear. They just because a new tune begins. They show up over and over again. And again, and again. And that's the whole point. Every new tune validates the importance of the essential skills you are developing. And at the same time, every new tune illuminates the common ground that exists from tune to tune. Different melody, same motion, different chords, same harmonic function, different tune, same musical truth. So instead of thinking, I didn't finish I Got Rhythm. I want you to start thinking, I'm taking everything I learned from I Got Rhythm and applying it to something new. Because that's progress. The goal is not to complete a tune. I'm gonna say that again. The goal is not to complete a tune, the goal is to complete more with each new tune. More clarity of thought, more control, more understanding. That's how growth happens. And that brings us to this month. This month we begin our study of the beautiful jazz standard by Harold Arland. I've got the world on a string. And just like every tune we study, it's going to ask you to use the same core skills harmony, melody, rhythm, organized, clearly, and intentionally. How cool is that? So don't think of this as starting over. Think of this as continuing forward with more awareness, more experience, and more musical understanding that you had just a few weeks ago. Because real progress in jazz piano, again, is not about finishing a tune. It's about developing the skills that allow you to play any tune. And the reason that's true is because music itself doesn't change. Tunes change, keys change, tempos change, styles change. In in other words, all the window dressing. But the fundamentals, the things that actually make music work remain exactly the same. And that's what we have to anchor ourselves to. Not the tune, but the truth behind the tune. And at jazz piano skills, we define that truth very clearly. Every single week. We define that truth very clearly through what we call, say it with me, the seven musical facts. And these seven facts, these seven musical facts, these are simple. But they are everything. Because every tune you play, every phrase you hear, every idea you develop is built on these same principles. So before we dive into I've got the world on a string, let's ground ourselves once again in what never changes. The seven musical facts. At Jazz Piano Skills, we organize everything that we do around these seven musical facts. Everything we practice, everything we play, everything we hear. Now, again, these are simple, but don't confuse simple with insignificant, because these seven ideas, these seven musical facts, govern everything in music. First, fact one, music is the production of sound and silence. And again, we are dealing with our primary sounds, major, dominant, minor, half diminished, and diminished. Fact number two, sound is produced in two ways, harmonically and melodically. Fact number three, when sound is produced harmonically, we're playing chords or voicings. Fact number four, when sound is produced melodically, we are playing arpeggios and scales. Fact number five, when we are playing scales and arpeggios, we're moving in one of two directions, up or down. Fact number six, we decorate or we camouflage or enhance that ascending-descending motion with tension or chromaticism or notes that fall outside of the harmony. And finally, fact number seven, to make all of this musical, to make all of this expressive, to make all of this interesting, we add rhythm. So think about what we just said. Think about this. And when you do, you quickly discover that this is the exact reason why tunes really do not matter as much as you think they do. Because every tune, no matter the style, no matter the key, no matter the tempo, is built on these same truths harmony, melody, motion, tension, rhythm, musical fact. And this is exactly why we move from tune to tune each month, not to abandon what we've done, but to see it again in a new setting, in a new context, a new musical situation that demands the exact same skills. So if things ever feel unclear, which I know they do from time to time, come back to this and ask yourself Am I hearing harmony? Am I shaping the melody? Am I controlling direction? Am I using tension appropriately? Am I playing with rhythm? Because if you can answer those questions, you you can organize your playing. Those are the questions. And when you can organize your playing based on these questions, everything changes. Your confidence improves, your phrasing improves, your understanding of music improves, and most importantly, your ability to make music becomes consistent. And consistency through tune study is exactly what we do at Jazz Piano Skills every single month. Okay, so before going any further with today's lesson, I want to take just a moment and welcome all of you first-time listeners to Jazz Piano Skills. If you're new to the Jazz Pianel Skills podcast, you're new to Jazz Piano Skills, welcome. I'm glad you're here, and I want to invite you to become a Jazz Pianel Skills member. Because everything we talk about here, the clarity, the structure, the organization, is fully supported inside the Jazz Panel Skills membership. As a member, you get access to the complete podcast episodes. The first half of every podcast episode is free for everyone to enjoy. The second half, including all the demonstrations and lesson content, is for members only. As a member, you also have access to the downloadable podcast packets. These are the illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play alongs that I produce for every single podcast episode. And I always encourage you to have this material in your hands when listening to the episode to get the most out of it. And of course, to have this material sitting on your piano when practicing throughout the week. As a Jazz Panel Skills member, you also have access to a full library of courses designed to be sequential and practical and sound-based. And those are located at the Jazz Panel Skills website. You also, as a member, have access to the weekly masterclasses that I host every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. I know not the best time for everyone. However, those masterclasses are recorded so you can watch the video of the class at your convenience and as often as you wish. As a jazz panel skills member, you also have access to the private jazz piano skills community for discussion, questions, and support. And as a member, you also have direct access to me whenever you need some additional guidance. So everything is designed with one goal in mind to help you discover, learn, and play jazz piano in a very clear, very structured, and meaningful way. So you can learn more about all of this at jazzpianskills.com. And if you're not already receiving the weekly Jazz Pianel Skills blog, I encourage you to take a minute and join the email list, which you can do at the Jazz Panel Skills website. Every weekend I publish a recap of the week's lesson designed to help you stay organized and continue building forward momentum in your plane. And with that, let's move on to the question of the week. And this week's question comes from David Miller, living in Portland, Oregon. And David asks, Dr. Bob, how do I know if I'm actually improving in jazz piano? I often feel like I'm running in place. Never completing a tune. Right? Just talked about that. Never completing a tune or capable of remembering a tune. So I'm not sure if I'm making real progress. Is this normal? Well, David, yes, it is normal. It's a fantastic question. And yes, you're normal. And honestly, uh, this is something every serious student wrestles with. And this is why I selected your question this week. It tied in exactly to what I was just talking about. Because improvement in jazz piano, David, doesn't what you're experiencing, right? It doesn't always feel obvious. Improvement just doesn't always feel obvious. We wish it did, but it doesn't. And in fact, a lot of times, instead of feeling obvious, it feels like you're stuck. And here's why. Most students measure progress the wrong way. So listen to this. Students typically measure progress by asking, have I finished this tune? Or can I play this, whatever this is? Can I play this perfectly? And that's where things break down because music doesn't work that way. So let's redefine this. Okay? We're gonna just kind of reframe how we think about progress. Progress in jazz piano is not about, as I just talked about, for ten minutes, it's not about developing uh or it's not about finishing a tune. It's it's about developing skills. That's really what progress is about. It's about developing skills that do what? That transfer from tune to tune. So how do you know if you are improving? Simple. You know because you ask better questions. Instead of asking, am I done? you ask, can I play my voicings in time? With clarity, with consistency. Can I play melody fluently, without hesitation, uh, with musical shape? Can I move through the harmony using scales, using arpeggios, with control? Up and down the keyboard. Can I play my ideas rhythmically, intentionally, and not just randomly? See, these are really these are the questions that get really get to the heart of progress. Because if those things are improving, then you are improving. Even if the tune doesn't feel finished. And this is precisely where most students get stuck. They stay on one tune, waiting for it to feel complete, but in doing so, they stop exposing themselves to new musical situations, new harmonic movement, new melodic shapes, new rhythmic challenges. And without that exposure, growth slows way down. So the goal is never the completion of a tune. The goal is expansion. Each new tune gives you another opportunity to apply the same skills, but in a new context. And that's where, honestly, that's that's where real learning happens. So, David, here's how I want you to approach your practice. Number one, keep moving forward. Do not wait for perfection, and instead, measure your progress by your clarity of thought. I've said this a million times, right? Your conceptual understanding is what actually drives your physical development. So measure your progress by your clarity of thought, your control of the skills that you are working on, the consistency of that control. And as you move from tune to tune, as we do every month here at Jazz Piano Skills, pay attention to what feels easier, what feels more natural, what feels more musical, because that's progress. And at the end of the day, you're not trying to master one tune. You're trying to develop the ability to play any tune. And that only happens, that only happens through forward motion. And that's exactly what we're gonna continue to do today. Exactly that. So, David, thanks for your question. Yes, you're normal, so uh no need to worry. And I hope your I hope my answer helps you and helps provide some some clarity. But if uh but if some more clarification is needed, by all means, please, please let me know. I'm always happy to help. All right, so we've got a ton to get get through today with our harmonic analysis. So here's what's gonna happen today. You are going to discover the 1932, wow, 1932 standard I've got the world on a string. You're gonna learn the form, chord changes, harmonic function for I've got the world on a string. And you're gonna play I've got the world on a string using my suggested voicings plus common harmonic progressions that we are going to use for ear training development. So, as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you consider yourself a seasoned and experienced professional, you're gonna find this jazz piano skills podcast lesson exploring I've got the world on a string to be very beneficial. Okay, when studying any tune, right, we approach it the same way here at Jazz Piano Skills. And again, I always stress that genre makes no difference. I know we're studying jazz here, however, if we were learning a rock tune, a pop, country folk, RB, we would go through the same process. Okay. Number one, we listen. The most important skill of all, listening. And we open ourselves to welcoming everyone who's working on the tune that we are studying. So we'll listen to professional musicians perform the tune, amateur musicians, vocalists, instrumentalists, pianists makes no difference. I encourage us always to do heavy doses of listening to help us, not only with the tune that we're currently studying, with just our whole um understanding of jazz, the art form itself, um, that's going to spill over into our development and the way we approach the instrument, the way we approach the tunes that we play. Okay, so listening, so important. Number two, we we turn our attention to harmonic analysis like we're going to do today. We study the form, we look at the changes, harmonic function, common harmonic movement found within the progression, voicings, traditional block voicings, inversions, uh, traditional 379-735 shell voicings, contemporary shell voicings, two-handed voicings, very thorough harmonic analysis, again, that we will be doing today for I've got the world on a string. Then we'll turn our attention to a melodic analysis. We'll transcribe the melody, we'll identify the phrases, the target notes within those phrases. We'll explore various treatments of playing that melody. You know, uh typically we stick with the standard jazz treatments, ballad, basa, swing. We follow that up always with improvisation development. We'll look at chord scale relationships, arpeggio and scale movement, the development of melodic power. Pathways and melodic motifs, the use of tension and rhythm, of course. So it's a very thorough breakdown, a study that we utilize with every new tune that we turn our attention to. So this week, harmonic analysis again will have us listening, determining form, learning chord changes, harmonic function and voicings for I've got the world on a string. Next week, melodic analysis, two weeks improvisation development, three weeks, we'll spend some time with solo piano development. It's a fabulous outline that we utilize every single month. And again, this illuminates and magnifies the development of our consistency. Alright, so with that being said, the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we're going to listen to definitive recordings of I Got the World on a String. Number two, we will discuss the form of I Got the World on a String. Number three, we will discover, learn, and play the chord changes for this beautiful standard. Number four, we will discover, learn, and play the harmonic function for I've Got the World on a String. Number five, we will discover, learn, and play my suggested voicings. Again, block voicings, traditional contemporary shells, and two-handed structures. So if you are a jazz piano skills member, I want you to hit the pause button. I want you to take just a few minutes right now to access, download, and print your podcast packets. Again, these are the illustrations, the lead sheets, the play-alongs that you have access to. Your membership grants you access to this premium content for every weekly podcast episode. So be sure to take advantage of it. Okay, so now that you have your podcast packets in hand, I want you to grab your lead sheets. We'll talk about the illustrations and the lead sheets, uh, illustrations and the play alongs a little later, but grab your lead sheets. You should have eight lead sheets in your packet. I just want to kind of talk through them first before we dive in. Lead sheet number one outlines the form of I've got the world on a string. Lead sheet two identifies the unique chord changes found within this tune, and we'll talk about why that is important here shortly. Lead sheet three gives you a clean lead sheet, the chord changes for I've got the world on a string, and lead sheet four does the same thing, however, the lead sheet is notated using harmonic function, which is so important for us to have a command of. And again, we'll talk about that here shortly. Lead sheet five highlights the common harmonic progressions or common harmonic movement that is found within this tune that actually show up in tune after tune after tune. We identify those progressions so that we can use them for ear training development. Then finally, we get the lead sheets six, seven, and eight that all deal with voicings. Lead sheet six presents the block voicings and inverted shapes that I use when playing I've got the world on a string. Lead sheet seven, uh the the um contemporary, the left traditional shell voicings 37975, as well as the contemporary shell voicings that I utilize when playing this tune. And then finally, lead sheet eight deals with the two-handed structures that I utilize when playing I've got the world on a string. So it's a fantastic packet that is going to uh require us to get busy because there's a lot to get through. So, okay, so before going any further, I want to encourage you again to take some time and enjoy the listening list that has been assembled that's posted in the Jazz Panel Skills online community. As always, it is an amazing collection of various artists performing the standard we're studying. Of course, this month I've got the world on a string. As always, Lisa does a fantastic job scrubbing the internet to find the best treatments of every tune that we are studying. So be sure to take the time to tap into this amazing resource. Again, not only will it enjoy it in listening to the tunes, but you will also discover that they have a profound impact on your musical development and growth as well. Okay, so let's get busy. Let's do our harmonic analysis of I've got the world on a string. We're gonna start with lead sheet one. Let's look at the form of this classic jazz. Thank you for listening to Jazz Piano Skills. The remaining premium content of this episode is available to Jazz Piano Skills members at Jazz Pianoskills Podcast.com. Visit jazzpianoskills.com to learn more about membership privileges and become a Jazz Piano Skills member. Thank you.