Okay guys, I've been working on "Someday My Prince Will Come" and I want to explore
the song in depth and learn it by heart, like really learn it. I want to play it in any key,
at any tempo and know the harmony and the melody in all keys and also be able to
improvise over the progression. Let's work on the first four measures. To save time
I'm going to use the "50 Essential Jazz Standards Progressions in all 12 keys" book because it has
Someday My Prince Will Come fully analyzed and in all keys. The song is originally in Bb
in the Real Book and the first measures sound like this...
All right first let's play
the chords in these measures in all keys by reading from the book. So in Bb major it's...
and in B major...
Wow these dominant #5's are not that easy
in C major...
in Db major...
in D major...
So now that I've tried the song in all keys, Ihave a better feel for the progression. So I know it
really well in Bb major so I don't even have to think about it when I'm playing it in that key.
But when I change to B major, I'm having a hard time with these
7 #5 chords. Of course B major is usually a nasty key, at least for me anyways.
One thing I like to do is to move back and forth from the original key to the next. So the song
starts on the one major7 and the melody is the fifth of the chord. In Bb that's
Bb major7 with an F on the melody. Then in b, I have to play B major7 with an F# as the melody.
By the way not having the melody in the chart is essential when you're trying
to learn these songs by heart because, as I'll show you, it will make you look
at the melody from many different angles, forcing you to really hear it and learn it!
Now the next chord is a D7#5 which it says here is the five of six.
That's right the six is G minor7 in the key of Bb, that means that the five of G minor is D7.
That's why this chord is paired with the Mixolydian b9 b13 scale. Let's play it!
So I have D, Eb -- the flat 9 -- then F#, G, A, Bb -- or flat 13 -- C and then back to D.....
This is actually very interesting, the harmony is reconsidering the flat 13
Bb, as a #5 -- A# -- but we can still play a Mixolydian b9 b13 as the scale!
This is actually very cool, in fact the melody is that #5, or b13 note -- the Bb --
which by the way is the one of the key. So now I'm gonna have two ways of looking at this melody,
one way is this: it's just a V-I in our key. So that would be F to Bb, giving us this...
So when I go to the key of B, I just think the same thing V-I, but now I have F#
to B...
In Db it will be: Ab to Db. And the other way to see this melody is a fifth on
the one chord and the #5, or the flat 13, on the five of six. So right now you might be thinking,
"how is this point of view even helpful?" Well, when combined with the first perspective, this
second point of view will reveal many properties of the melody and the harmonic progression in the
song. It will help you improvise better and to learn the harmony even faster! Let me show you!
So the melody in Bb goes F on the Bb major7 and then Bb to F# on the D7#5.
and then A on the Eb major7, which resolves down to G
on the G7#5. As we said before the D7#5 is the five of six, but instead of
resolving to six it resolves deceptively a half step up to Eb major7 -- the IV chord --
and the next chord is a G7#5, the five of two, also paired with the Mixo b9 b13 scale
and also an augmented chord, which reinterprets the flat 13 -- Eb -- as the #5.
And as expected, this 5 of 2 will resolve to 2 -- C minor7 -- So there's a harmonic sequence here:
1 major7 to 5 of 6, 4 major7 to 5 of 2. Notice how the five of six -- D7 -- is a
major third above the one major seven -- Bb major7 -- This is the same movement we find from the
four major7 to the five of two: Eb major7 to G7#5. So the harmony starts
on the one and then it moves a major third up to a 7#5. This dominant chord resolves
deceptively a half step up to a major7, which is also followed by a 7#5
a major third up. So we have a bit of a harmonic sequence going on here: this one to five of six
and then four to five of two is exactly the same formula. So a sequence basically just
a pattern that moves and that's what we're seeing here, the relationship of the first two chords is
exactly that of chords three and four, let me show you what I mean! So we have our one chord moving
up a major third to our five of six and then we have the same exact thing occurring on our four
to the five of two right after, it moves up a major third. So there's your sequence: up a major third
and then again, up a major third. So now if we wanna play in C major, we just think the one
-- C major7 -- up a major third -- E7#5 -- resolves a half step up to F major7. And then
up a major third again to A7#5, which will eventually resolve to D minor7 as expected.
In B major, that would be B major7 up a major third to D# 7#5,
resolving deceptively up a half step to E major7 and then another major third
up to G7#5, which will resolve to C# minor7 -- the two in the key --
The melody is a V-I, right: F on the Bb major7 to Bb on the D7#5.
So in the key of C major, it'll be G -- the fifth on the C major7 -- to a C -- the one
of the key on the E7#5 -- which is actually the flat 13 or the #5
of that chord. So the one of the key is a flat 13 of this chord, the five of six. This piece of trivia
is not only very important, but also essential for your oral skills! Listen to how the C note
in the melody changes its color entirely when we move from a C major chord to an E7#5...
it sounds like two completely different notes! On the C, it's functioning as the
root and on the E7#5 it's functioning as the flat 13 or the #5.
Let's try it in the key of Bb...
In the key of B...
and if we move to the IV chord, keeping the same note, it changes color once again...
In C...
Key of Bb...
and in B...
Now the melody in Someday My Prince Will Come has a few twists. Instead of
staying fixed on that one note, the melody actually approaches the third of the four
chord with the third of the five of six on the previous measure...
but the resolution to that note is actually delayed
with an appoggiatura -- the #11 -- which finally resolves on measure four...
The original chord on the fourth measure was probably still a IV chord at first,
but it's now re-harmonized with the 5 of 2, which turns the melody note into the root of the chord...
Let's try these concepts in C major: C over C major changes to C over E7#5 and then we
approach the third of F major7 -- A -- from below with the third of E7#5 --G# -- and
we delay the resolution to A with an appoggiatura B, a whole step above. This is the #11 of the Fmajor7...
And don't forget the #11 of the 4 is what makes the 4 well the 4. Notice
how we could have stayed in F major 7 instead of moving to A7 #5, a third up to the five of two.
Let's do the entire melody and progression in B major...
A one five melody over one major seven -- B major7 -- to the five of six, which is a third up -- D#7 #5 --
This chord resolves a half step up to E major 7. The melody approaches
the third of E major7 -- G# -- from below with the third of the D#7 #5 -- G --
And then we delay the resolution with that note a whole step above that G#, in this case A#,
which is the #11 of the E major7. When we resolve the G# note, we actually need to
change the chord to a G#7 #5, which is the 5 of 2, also a third above the previous chord.
In the key of D major we get this...
And in A major...
G major...
and Db major...
This approach will not only help you learn the song in all keys,
but it'll also help you develop all these concepts, harmonic progressions and oral skills, which will
change the way you play and understand any and all songs. Remember, this is a method to practice
and learn any song! But once you've learned it in all keys, you'll be playing the song from a
completely different and more intuitive place. The cool thing is that you'll have embedded all these
concepts into your playing which will come out without you ever having to even think about them!