Composition & Improvisation: Case Study: Part 2 of 24: Reading the Lead Sheet

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There’s a lot more to understanding and interpreting a Lead Sheet than just decoding the dots…

Let’s take a closer look…

Tonality

Based on at least 5 things: 1) Key signature has no sharps or flats, 2) Song starts and ends on a C Major Triad, 3) Melody emphasizes the notes in a C Major Triad (C, E, G), 4) Melody starts and ends on the note C, and 5) The note C sounds and feels stable and resolved… it’s a pretty safe bet that we are in the key of C Major. In other words, the tonality is “C Major”.

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-reading-the-lead-sheet-tonality

Play and sing out loud to see if your ears agree with the analysis…


Meter

The time signature (4/4) indicates that each quarter note receives one beat, creating an underlying feeling of four-ness in each measure…

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-reading-the-lead-sheet-meter

Count out loud as you play in order to deeply internalize the feel…


Form & Melody

The form is eight bars long, and the melody is broken into two almost identical 4-bar Phrases. The only difference between the two phrases is the last three notes (more on this in the next lesson)…

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-reading-the-lead-sheet-form-melody

Play and sing along to internalize the idea that the melody in this 8-bar piece consists of two coherent and interrelated 4-bar phrases…


Form & Harmony

The C chord establishes the home key and major-ness of the piece and the G7 chord provides harmonic tension that craves resolution back to the C chord in two harmonically identical four-bar phrases.

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-reading-the-lead-sheet-form-harmony

Sing and play the melody while playing a C chord and G7 chord in your left hand–feeling how the harmonic tension is created and then released in each four-bar phrase…


learn more… Composition & Improvisation: Case Study: Part 3 of 24: Melodic Analysis