Moon River Harmonic Analysis
In this lesson we conduct a harmonic analysis of the tune Moon River to understand how each chord functions in relation to the key of C Major.
After studying the previous 2 lessons in this course we now have an understanding of common voicings and progressions in the key of C Major and we will use this information to gain a deeper understanding of the harmony in Moon River.
Harmonic Relationships
We will identify the common progressions such as 251 and 36251s which help us to group together multiple bars into easy-to-remember chunks of harmonic information.
We will also analyse progressions built around the diatonic 7th chords of C major, for example 251 to the relative minor, 251s to the IV chord and other common harmonic cadences.
Related Lessons
Learning chord voicings is an important skill for the jazz pianist. In this lesson we cover a 5 step process for learning any chord voicing.
In this lesson we’ll analyse the harmony of “There Will Never Be Another You” to help memorise & internalise the chord changes and song sturcture.
Lead sheets are a useful tool when starting out with jazz, but by learning tunes by memory, it will benefit your playing in a number of ways.
Practice Tips
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Analyse the form of the tune to understand which sections are repeated. This tune follows an ABAC form and so the A Section repeats twice.
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Annotate the score with numerical harmony to help to to memorise and internalise the function of each chord in the tune.
- Group together blocks of harmony such as 25s, 251s, and 36251s to speed up the memorisation of the harmony.
This a great lesson! I remember in one of the earliest seminars on this site, Memorizing Jazz Standards by Tuomo, he mentioned it was all about where the chords resolved to. That always stayed in the back of my head but I could never fully quite grasp what it meant until this lesson which really hit the nail on the head. This also clarified to me why many times certain notes and chords can often have keys outside of the songs main diatonic scale.
I hope to see more analyses on other Jazz standards in this fashion. Keep it up!