"Moon River" – The C Section
Welcome to our 3rd lesson on the jazz standard "Moon River" for beginners. So far in this course we have covered the 1st 16 bars of the tune which is also known as the A and B sections.
In this lesson we will add the final section, the C section, we will deepen our understanding of these terms, and we will consolidate the overall structure and form of "Moon River".
The Structure & Form Of Lead Sheets
Lead sheets from the Great American Songbook most commonly follow a 32-bar form and are divided into four sections. The tune "Moon River" can be broken down into 4 sections: the A section, the B section, the 2nd A section, & the C section.
We observe that bars 17-24 (2nd A section) are identical to the 1st 8 bars (1st A section) and this is a common feature of jazz standards. Understanding this repetition helps us to reduce the amount of information we need to memorise the song in its entirety.
C Section Chord Voicings
We apply chord voicings and arranging techniques to the C section of "Moon River" (bars 25-38). It’s important to understand that the C section for ‘Moon River’ is 14 bars long, unlike the previous sections which are all 8 bars long.
We focus on playing simple chord voicings and we examine the role of ‘slash chords’ which are commonly used to create smoother transitions between the chords.
We stress the importance of visualising the different sections to keep track of our position in the song. We finish by playing through the entire tune, indicating when we change sections to reinforce this understanding.
Related Lessons
In this lesson we are going to start learning the tune "Georgia On My Mind" using 3-note spread voicings on the A Sec...
Lead sheets are a useful tool when starting out with jazz, but by learning tunes by memory, it will benefit your play...
Slash chords contain 2 bits of info, the 1st letter indicates what chord should be played & the 2nd letter specifies ...
Practice Tips
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Use the repetitive structure of jazz standards to your advantage in memorising the form and visualising the repeating sections. This greatly speeds up the memorisation process.
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Understand that slash chords such as A-7/G are most often used to imply a specific bass line movement, in this case connecting A-7 to F#-7b5 in bars 25 to 27.
- Make sure that you are comfortable with these basic spread voicings before moving onto the next module where we introduce lower bass notes, chord extensions, and melodic embellishment.
There’s so much info in just these three lessons and I’m having lots of fun trying to decipher/practice everything. Thank you for your clear and well guided instructions
Hi there, amazing lesson ! I do have a question on the bars 6 & 7 of this section, are the B7 and the A7 on the second part of the beat 1, or are they on th beat 2 ? Thanks !
Hi there, amazing lesson ! I do have a question on the bars 6 & 7 of this section, are the B7 and the A7 on the second part of the beat 1, or are they on th beat 2 ? Thanks ! (i think this post belonged in the section B part of this lesson)
Hi Guillaume,
Yes I play the B7 and the A7 on beat 2 of the bar.
I’m sure there are other ways to do this, but that’s how I like to play it.
I count 1-&-2-&-3-& and notice that my left hand plays on beat 1, and also I ‘stab’ my thumb on the & of 1, and I find this helps me to keep the time solid. Watch the video at 9:20 to 9:25 and look at my left hand.
I hope that helps and I’m glad you are enjoying the lessons!
Have a great weekend and talk soon.
Cheers,
Hayden
Around the 4:40 mark, when discussing the Am/G in bar 26. Is the norm to replace the root with the bass note of the slash chord? I figured it would just mean playing an inversion (I would’ve expected it to read C/G with the notes played in the video). Or is it that in this case, with both the G and A so low in the register, it’d sound too muddy so you just make a judgement call to omit the A and prioritise the falling bass note throughout the progression?
Thanks again for all the videos! Great to hear your methods on how you decide to work through lead sheets like these.
Hi Mick,
Great question.
Yes in this case I would see this as replacing the root with the minor 7th, which is G. This is a common movement for minor chords and you can see more here: https://pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-minor-line-cliche-tutorial/
In the Moon River arrangement, we are using the A-/G to create a smooth bass note transition to F#-7b5 in the next bar.
You are correct that if we play the A- triad to A-/G in the lower registers it will sound muddy, so in that case I would probably just stick on the A-7 chord. Alternatively we could just play the bass notes A and G descending, but for my ears I prefer the A- triad to A-/G in the middle register.
A-/G can also be seen as A-7 but with the 7th in the bass and the root omitted. Check out the lesson referenced above for more information.
Talk soon,
Hayden
p.s. thanks for the feedback and I’m really glad you are enjoying the lessons.
Awesome, really appreciate the clarification there Hayden. I haven’t checked out the line cliche video, but will do so now!
My pleasure, Mick.
If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Talk soon,
Hayden
I’m now able to play this section and the entire song to this point – still not perfect but practising. This took me a very long time but glad I’m here.
Two questions:
The tempo – is this dynamic in the sense that you express yourself, so can take say section A slow with intro of B moderately fast and then C slow to finish off?
How do you suggest I continue my path – finishing one song first before moving to the next. So now after this which one should I aim to do.
Also, not sure if you get direct messages and emails from me 🙂
Thank you and hope to hear from you.
Gideon
Hi Gideon 👋
Congratulations on working through the entire song.
My recommendation for you is to start some of the other beginner jazz standard lessons whilst also revisiting Moon River.
Learning jazz standards is an ongoing process and so as we learn new theory we are continually developing the arrangements that we have already learnt.
For now I’d suggest that you learn some of the beginner jazz standards in different keys, choose 2 or 3 of these tunes depending on which ones you like best:
Tenderly:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/tenderly-for-beginners/ – this tune in the key of Eb Major.
Autumn Leaves:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/autumn-leaves-for-beginners/ – this tune is in the key of G minor.
My Foolish Heart:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/my-foolish-heart-for-beginners/ – this tune is in the key of Bb Major.
In A Sentimental Mood:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/sentimental-mood-for-beginners/ – this tune is in the key of D Minor.
The most important goal for you now is to learn more jazz standards. Set a goal to learn 10 jazz standards and after that I guarantee you will have a much stronger understanding of jazz harmony and you will be much more confident playing from lead sheets.
It’s normal to forget some songs as we learn new ones, so don’t worry if that happens. Over the years some songs will stay in your repertoire and some will drop out. That’s normal.
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For your tempo question, yes when playing jazz ballads, I often slightly speed up or slow down in certain places as this can add a little more expression to the performance. When playing solo piano we have the freedom to do this so it’s a nice thing to experiment with.
Do try to keep a general pulse when playing through jazz standards, but certainly slowing down or speeding up can help to build towards a climax and create a more expressive performance.
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It’s possible that I missed your emails as I don’t handle all of the customer support directly. My apologies if your emails were not answered.
If you post questions on the lesson pages like this that always pings me a notification – so generally that’s the best way to ask questions or ask for guidance and recommendations from me.
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Again congratulations again with your progress on Moon River.
Don’t worry that it’s not perfect right now, keep revisiting the song over the coming weeks and months, but make sure you are starting to learn new songs and set the goal to learn 10 jazz standards, starting with some of my tune recommendations above.
I hope that helps Gideon and let me know if you have any follow up questions.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hi Hayden – Thanks for the detailed reply – much appreciated.
One more question – whilst learning the next songs is there a specific exercise/daily practice that you would recommend as a start – at the moment I’m doing the 2-5-1 beginner not sure if I need to incorporate more. Thanks.
Will be in touch as I progress.
Kind Regards,
Gideon
My pleasure, Gideon.
Yes here are some theory recommendations:
1) 251 Drill with 3 Note Voicings:
Spend 10 or 15 minutes on this 251 drill everyday: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/251-progression-with-3-note-voicings/
When playing this drill, make sure that you are visualising the 7ths falling to 3rds in each 251 progression.
Don’t just read the music, as you play through each chord try to consciously identify the 7ths falling to the 3rds and visualise that movement. This movement is really the core of jazz harmony.
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2) The Essentials Practice Guide
Again spend 10 or 15 minutes on this drill each day:
https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/essentials-practice-guide-simplified/
You can start by picking 2 or 3 keys, for example the keys of C, F, and Bb, and spend 10 or 15 minutes on those 3 keys.
the next day or the next practice session, pick 3 different keys, for example Eb, Ab, and Db, and spend 10 or 15 minutes on those 3 keys.
I explain this in the lesson, that you can break this down into groups of keys.
After a week or 2, perhaps you can get through 4 keys in the same 10/15 minute session. Then soon after 6 keys etc…
and the final goal is to get through all 12 keys in the same 10/15 minute practice session.
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3) Dip into the Chord Extensions theory
I’d also suggest that you spend a little time pushing forward into the next course which is “Chord Extensions”.
Start by watching the theory lessons in the course: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/extended-chords-voicings/ (the first module contains 4 theory lessons).
Watch the lessons first, and then spend maybe 15 minutes per day working on the 3 chord voicings (So What Voicing, Herbie Hancock Voicing, Kenny Barron Voicing) – the exercise is to build the voicings in all 12 keys.
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So a 1 hour practice session could look something like this:
30 minutes of learning the jazz standards I outlined previously
10 minutes on the 251 drill with 3-note voicings
10 minutes on the essentials practice guide
10 minutes on the chord extensions drills
If you have more time, for example 2 hours, then you can repeat this sequence for example once in the morning and once in the evening. Or alternatively double the time on each of the above elements for a 2-hour practice session.
I think splitting it into 2 x 1 hour practice sessions is better.
Always remember to roughly split your practice time in half (50% jazz standards, and 50% theory studies) and that way you are learning new songs and new repertoire, whilst also ‘chipping away’ at the theory each day.
I hope that helps Gideon, and if you have any further questions just let me know.
Best,
Hayden