In our level 3: Advanced arrangement of Someday My Prince Will Come, be on the lookout for some
more techniques being implemented. Things like: borrowing from minor, setting up an
introduction, (uh) a more advanced rhythmic grid, and all sorts of other cool stuff. And
be sure to stick around to the end of the video, to see how to get access to
today's arrangement, and all of the other arrangements in today's series.
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of Music resources..." So, as you can see at the top of the page, here we have some suggestions for
playing at the level 3 level. We're going to be embellishing the melody more. You're going to,
maybe see, some more enclosures. Again, we're still building off the techniques we used in level one
and level two. (You're) So you're still going to see those, and some other things, peppered in as
well. Things like: creating an intro and an outro, and using modal interchange cords to do so. We're
going to further define our rhythmic grid down to more of an eighth-note subdivision. Last time
we talked about using more of a quarter-note pulse to define our grid. Now, you're going to
see that (kind of) ramped up to an eighth-note sort of level. And again, more broken chords
on the left hand, and more layers in general, and more clearly defined (uh) bass lines -- as a
result of that. So let's take a listen to this intro we've created, and then talk about it...
So, what's going on in this intro? Well, one thing -- definitely worth starting our conversation off
with -- is our use of the dominant pedal point. This is a really a great way to build the
tension into the piece, and therefore, it's a great implementation -- or a great way to implement it (I
should say) is: in an intro. So, the dominant of our key or key is Bb: is F. So, that's why you see
this incessant use of the F on the bass, and that's why these are all slash chords. And you can see in
this first line here, we're just using chords from the song on top of that F. These are all chords -- if
you look through the chart -- that you can find in the chart. But a really cool thing about this pedal
point -- when you have such a (uh) clearly defined sort of anchor underneath you (uh) as this (this)
dominant pedal point serves as -- you can kind of do whatever you want, on top of it, and you can start
taking chords that aren't in the key, and introduce them into the intro --like we have here with this Db/F
and then -- following it -- this C/F. That pedal point really kind of allows for
anything to happen. It actually serves our purpose of (of) building the tension to establish the key
of the song, and (uh) send us off on our head, in a nice fashion. Something else worth noting (uh) -- with
the bass -- is how it's not playing on 1, is how it's kind of filling out the spaces offered up
by the right hand. And we talked a little bit about this in level two -- about (like) avoiding playing on
1. And then you start to see that eighth-note grid -- that we talked about -- start to get defined
(uh) in places like: measure 2. You have 1 2 and 3. All right? So the eighth-note subdivision is
going to become more and more prevalence. (uh) The left hand is filling in the spaces, offered up
by the right hand. We're getting more... here it is again in measure six: 1 2 and 3 (uh)
1 2 and 3. So, we're starting to get more and more eighth-notes, and be on the lookout for
that later on in the piece, because -- like we said (um) in the suggestions -- that eighth-note grid, is going
to be a really an important aspect of what makes level 3, level 3. At the end of the intro
we have this upper structure chord -- this D/(F#) I'm sorry -- this D/F7. And we have a
whole course (surprise) on upper structures. So check that out, if you want to learn more about them. But
basically, what this offers us, is a means of (like) highlighting some of the tensions in the chord,
and having it sound like its own separate entity, and it brings a new color to the voicing when you
use upper structure. So, that's what's going on in our last measure of the intro. You might also
notice -- with this last chord of the intro -- using our dominant pedal point this whole time -- we've ended
on a V7 chord. So, we've ended on a chord that really establishes the key (um) to the song. S,o this
whole intro is a great way of illustrating how to use the dominant pedal point to: establish the key,
build the tension and, have that culminate on the V7 chord (uh of the) of the key. And then, you'll see
on the next measure: boom! We're right on the Bb -- the 1 of the key. So let's do this: let's listen
to the intro, and then, (uh) maybe the first eight bars of our head, and then talk about that...
So this first measure really highlights some elements that we should lean into in level
3 -- and probably moving forward into level 4. And that's this perspective of well.. The
keyboard -- or the piano -- is at the end of the day, it's a percussion instrument. What would
a drummer do? Or, how would a drummer think? Or, (what is the) what is the drummer going
to do here, right? And that's what we're doing here, between the left hand's bass note, and the
right hand's chord tones, that aren't the melody. So adopting the mindset of (of) a drummer -- so to
speak -- Not to mention, you see some of the things we talked about on level 2 going
on here: This anticipation note this F#; this rhythmic displacement -- the G -- is now kind
of -- that was on 3 -- is now on the end of 2. All the things we talked about in the
last level. Remember, we're still going to be using those moving forward and, just sprinkling on top
other stuff as well. So let's (one more time) let's listen to those 4 measures (we did)
we just talked about, and then: the 4 after -- so we can talk about what's going on there too...
So ,with those 4, let's back up here to measure 17. So, here you're going to continue to see those
layers, that we were talking about, and that drum drum player mindset. But also, we're really kind
of taking the whole rhythmic displacement thing to the extreme here. The G that lands on the down-beat
of measure 17, is technically being continued through the first two beats of the next measure,
to make room for this little nice chromatic ornamentation -- that we've put in there. And
you don't really get to the Eb that was on the downbeat, until the third beat of that measure.
And then the B -- that was on the third beat -- is now on the "AND" of 3. So, we have a really good use
-- a really extreme use -- of rhythmic displacement here, And (and) yet, it still works, because we're
all kind-of lining up on the D -- in that next measure, right where we're supposed to be...
So, we've got this really cool use of dotted quarter-notes in 3/4, and these measures
over here. So more of the same right we're just kind of like uh breaking cords on the left hand
there's some really cool chromatic ornamentations on the right nothing new there let's take a look
at what's going on on this next line well here you can see a much more clearly defined
representation of our layers that we were talking about earlier four different pieces of our of our
drum set right a clearly defined base some Harmony notes on the left hand some Harmony
notes on the right hand and the melody so this is that perspective we were talking about more
clearly Illustrated here when we were talking about it before you can see in measure 26 The
Melodies present and accompanied by other notes in the chord we talked about that again in level
two but what's really cool is what's going on on these last two bars here we have this just
static F note in the melody and we've just kind of created this really cool mixolydian
line out of it and we switched to even eighth notes while doing so we've been swinging the
eighth notes all the way to this point and we're just going to switch gears uh because we want to
thank you
all right so let's talk about these lines here so basically every note in this line is from an
arpeggio a scale or is functioning as an approach tone to either a chord tone or a scale tone that's
all this is and furthermore we're using the melody the old Melody F sharp b as a sort of scaffolding
to build these lines from and you'll find the melody embedded into these lines like right off
the bat you can see measure 29 that have Sharps right there the B and measure 30. uh this F sharp
is on the and so it's really displaced over to earlier in the measure and we have the a from
the next measure is actually in that measure two so if you look closely you're going to see all the
notes that are in the original Melody inside of our line and again they're just arpeggios
scales and approach notes so you see the same thing happening in this next line that we're
creating these these lines through the arpeggios and the scales and the approach zones and we're
embedding the melody into the lines and but now we're going to expand like we said earlier on that
um that dotted coordinate Rhythm we introduced and now pairing it with these quadruplets on the
right hand which really turns the meter from 3 4 into 2 4. so now we're really playing uh now
we're playing with that rhythmic grid not only are we kind of making it more complex but we have this
really hardcore like hemiola effect occurring here between the dotted quarter notes on the
left hand and the quadruplets on the right embedded into a three four grid really cool
and this whole shifting of the meter thing kind of occurred gradually it sort of evolved over
a free measure they didn't just jump into the quadruplets with the dotted quarter notes kind
of set up the DOTA quarter notes against the even eighth notes a couple measures before uh
to sort of evolve that idea make it a little more palatable also a little make it a little easier to
play because now you have a sort of a subdivision of sorts to work with on the left hand so that
when you do want to switch to the quadruplets on the right it's a little easier foreign
something else that happens here is we sort of start to obscure
that eighth note grid that we were talking about and uh it's been it it's in the listener's ear
now right so we've already kind of beat them over the head with it and it's embedded into them so
now we can kind of use this space by obscuring the grid even though it's still kind of there we can
use that as an opportunity to stretch things out introduce some Roboto and have some more
flexibility and fun with the timing of the piece and this is all kind of informed or launched if
you will by this this this one two again that sort of drummer perspective that's totally something a
set player would do this Rhythm that we have going on here in measure 38. all set up by that foreign
things going on with our outro here one of the things you might notice is uh with these dominant
cores like this F7 here and measure 42 and the one at the end we're altering them we're introducing
an altered tension a flat nine here and the sharp nine here so something worth doing or
at least considering when you're looking at the real book and you see a dominant chord altering
it or using an altered tension is a really cool thing to do another thing is that how this altered
chord resolves in an unexpected place to the flat two of the key not its expected Target of B flat
we're sort of well I guess I guess a perspective is like we're going to get to that B flat we're
going to get to it at the end and we're just kind of delaying the arrival to that chord but this uh
F7 flat 9 directly is followed by the flat 2. and for this last uh this last little three measure
snippet of the song we just have a basic arpeggio on our one chord uh using an upper structure here
at the end this F over B flat major seven to highlight the major seven and the nine of the
chord so again that F chord the F A and the C has the fifth of our B flat chord the major seven and
the ninth so these upper structures again are a great way to sort of highlight some of these
tensions and introduce a different sort of color and texture to your chords and that's what's going
on here just within the context of an arpeggio alright so now that we talked about everything
let's let's run it back and be on the lookout for all the things we talked about today foreign
thank you foreign
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