Unlocking Lead Sheets: "Fly Me To The Moon""
Welcome to module 3 in our beginner-friendly jazz piano lessons. In this lesson we continue our focus on reading lead sheets now using another jazz classic standard: "Fly Me to the Moon".
"Fly Me to the Moon" shares a structural kinship with our previous tune "Moon River," as both tunes follow an A-B-A-C form and are written in the key of C major.
"Fly Me to the Moon" Song Structure
"Fly Me to the Moon" begins with an 8-bar A section, followed by an 8-bar B section which introduced different melody and harmony. We then have a repeated A section which is identical to the 1st A Section, and the tune concludes with a C section which similar to the B section but with a unique ending. Understanding this A-B-A-C form allows us to internalise the tune’s flow and greatly speeds up the memorisation process of jazz standards.
"Fly Me to the Moon" – Building Harmony with Triads
We start by simplifying the chords into basic triads, beginning with an A minor triad and progressing through D minor, G, and C triads. We highlight the importance of identifying and recognising 2-5-1 chord progressions which are the cornerstone of jazz harmony.
We then voice the chords using roots, 3rds, and 7ths so that we can clearly visualise the voice leading of the 7ths falling a half step to the 3rds which occurs in 251 progressions.
Smooth Transitions Between Chords
We focus on creating smooth transitions between our chord voicings, often only changing 1 note and reducing our hand movement to a minimum. This technique is important for connecting the chords smoothly and cleanly without unnecessary jumps.
"Fly Me to the Moon" B Section
We finish by exploring the B section which introduces new harmonic and melodic elements and provides further practice for the 2-5-1 progression. We discuss melodic phrasing and the creative freedoms that we have as arrangers to create more expressive variations of the melody compared to what is written on the lead sheet.
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Practice Tips
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Memorise the A-B-A-C Form: Understanding the tune's underlying structure greatly speeds up the memorisation process of jazz standards.
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Simplify with Triads: Start by playing through the chord progressions using basic triads before adding additional complexity with 7th chords.
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Identify 2-5-1 Progressions: Identify and drill these progressions separately to grasp their importance in jazz harmony. Annotate the lead sheet with "ii-V-I" to jog your memory as you play the tune.
- Always Analyse the Melody: Pay attention to how the melody interacts with the chords, particularly when the melody note is one of the primary chord tones (1-3-5-7).
Do you have a lesson with an up-tempo arrangement for “Fly Me To The Moon?” I tried searching the site, but I couldn’t find it.
Hi Ray,
We have 2 tutorials on this tune in the course on “Block Chords & Drop 2 Voicings”:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/block-chords-drop-2-voicings/
This arrangement is more rhythmic than the lesson here, but I wouldn’t say it’s up-tempo, more-so ballad tempo with rhythmic injections though block chords.
I agree that it would be great to cover this tune at a faster tempo and so I have added a medium/up-tempo arrangement of this tune to our upcoming lesson schedule.
Let me know if I can help further and talk soon.
Hayden
Hi, Hayden, coming to the lessons after a break. You’re a marvelous teacher, but the videos load so slowly and spend so much time buffering that it’s really painful which is one of the reasons I havent beem as diligentas I’d like. Do you think you could talk to your host or your tech team to get this sorted? Thanks
Hi Rangraj,
Thanks for getting in touch and sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues.
I just tried watching this video and it’s working fine for me – no buffering whatsoever.
Also I haven’t received any other reports of slow loading from other students which is unusual.
Please send me an email to hayden(at)pianogroove.com and I will assist you further.
Some things we should try are:
1) Different connection, ie does the issue persist on WIFI and on 4G? That would be the first thing to test.
2) Different browsers to see if the issue is browser-specific
3) Different device to see if the issue is device-specific
(2) and (3) will tell us if something in your setup is interfering with the video, such as a browser extension for example.
Please email me and I will assist you further. If you can check the above 3 points and send me the results that will allow me to troubleshoot better.
Please include in your email what device and browser you are using and we will get this fixed for you :-)
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hi, Hayden, thanks for your prompt reply. I was using a Samsung android tablet. I’ve switched over to my laptop which seems a bit better. Sorry for the bother.
Hi Rangraj,
No problem at all and glad to hear that switching devices has helped.
Next we can try updating your browser on the Samsung tablet (if an update is available). Sometimes an outdated browser can cause issues like this.
We can also test a different browser on your Samsung tablet as the interference could be caused by a specific browser-device combination.
The developers of the video player recommend to test with “Brave” browser when video player issues are experienced. So you could try to add Brave Browser on your Samsung and see if that helps also.
Alternatively you could continue using your laptop. Personally I find watching online piano tutorials on my laptop a little more user friendly as we can hit the forward and back arrows to skip forward and back by 5 seconds. We can also press the [space] button to pause and resume playback instantly which I find much easier than pausing on touch screen devices.
If I can be of further assistance please let me know, and enjoy the lessons!
Cheers,
Hayden