My Favorite Things: Bill Evans Style
Welcome to this Jazzy Christmas song tutorial focusing on the beautiful waltz ‘My Favorite Things’.
In this lesson we will reharmonise the A section of the song, incorporating Bill Evans style voicing techniques such as quartal harmony and drop two voicings.
Throughout the tutorial you will see the original chords in black and reharmonisations have been added above in red.
Moving Voices & Reharmonisation
You will learn how to reharmonise the A section using moving voices which connect the chords in the harmony. These moving voices enhance the song with more sophisticated harmonies and chord voicings commonly found in jazz.
Bill Evans Style Chord Voicings
Next we explore quartal harmony which is chord voicings built predominantly from 4th intervals. Quartal voicings create a modern and spacious sound which breathes new light into an old holiday classic such as this tune.
We then explore drop 2 voicings which are a technique often used by Bill Evans to create interesting voicing possibilities for step-wise melody lines.
We also apply complex jazz rehamronisation techniques such as tritone substitutions, upper structure triads to create a harmonically rich and sophisticated arrangement.
Related Lessons
Upper structure triads are complex altered dominant chord voicings that are widely used in solo jazz piano performance.
This type of passing chord is a dominant chord built a half step up. Dominant chords always have a strong pull to resolve a half step down.
In this lesson we explore how you can navigate over the minor line cliché using bass lines, two-handed chords and left hand voicings.
Practice Tips
-
Begin by playing through with the original changes, focusing on understanding the basic structure and melody of the song.
-
Tackle each reharmonisation technique separately. Try out the suggested changes and notice how they alter the colour and texture of the harmony.
-
Pay close attention to grace notes, melodic decorations, and the moving voices to add character to the melody and the harmony.
-
Explore the different registers and try playing the same section in different octaves.
-
Familiarise yourself with the drop 2 voicing technique as it's a staple sound in jazz piano and a characteristic feature of Bill Evan's playing.
Hi Hayden,
There is a wonderful affinity between this Bill Evans version and the opening phrase of Chim Chim Cherie (sp)? I’ve been thinking about ways to incorporate the latter into either intro or ending, or even into the body of the song leading into “when the dog bites”. Also using it while accompanying the female vocalist in my group.
More generally I want to say how delighted I am with all that you offer in your various reharms. As a player for over 70 years, I often fall back into what is comfortable for me, so much so that my playing has become a little cliched. It is great to be challenged and to dispense with bad habits that creep in over time. The proverbial old dog with new tricks to work on!!
I don’t comment much, but it’s not because I don’t appreciate all the various lessons and seminars from blues to Bossa, and your reimagining of old jazz standards. I also love your eye opening insights, (e,g. on the connection between Chopin and Jobim’s “How Insensitive.”) Worth the price of admission! I just wish I had been able to access such a great teaching program many years ago when I began playing jazz piano.
Thanks,
Colin
Hi Colin,
Thanks so much for the comment and sorry for the late reply… the last few days of the month are always a little hectic with planning and scheduling.
I’m really happy to hear that you are enjoying the lessons – I plan to further develop this Xmas/My-Favourite-Things course later this year. I will cover the 2nd section of the tune with some interesting reharms, and also some improvisation studies.
Yes it’s interesting that Jobim based “How Insensitive” on Chopin’s Prelude in E minor. Both are lovely compositions – and by 2 of my favourite composers! On a related note, Jovino is covering How Insensitive later this month in his vocal accompaniment workshop.
All seminars and workshops in June are vocal accompaniment focused which will be fun – I’m covering some harmonic ideas for the song “Nearness of You”.
You can add the events to your calendar, or watch the replays here: https://www.pianogroove.com/live-seminars/
Thanks again for the comments and the kind words – it’s much appreciated! :–)
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hello Hayden,
I love this arrangement of Bill Evans and am very glad to be able to learn it thanks to you. Just a quick question, I cant seem to find the rest of the lesson (bar 33 of the transcription)
Is it there somewhere that I just didn’t see or is this the section that you mentioned in the previous comment that you will publish later.
It just seems when you mention it at the end of this video that the next lesson already exists.
Thanks a lot!
Simon
Hi Simon,
Thanks for the message and I’m glad you like the arrangement. It’s also one of my favourite Xmas songs to play.
Yes I had planed to add more lessons to this course, but it seems I was sidetracked with something else. With Christmas time approaching I will definitely swing back around to this course to add more lessons.
I do cover the 2nd section elsewhere on the website, please see this seminar starting around 38 minutes into the seminar: https://www.pianogroove.com/live-seminars/2-jazzy-christmas-tunes/
I also covered the tune many years in a different tutorial which you can find here: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/favourite-things-tutorial/ – please see the final chapter “Final Section”.
I had planned to create some improvisation studies on this song to develop this new course further, and so leave that with me and I will add more lessons asap.
Please let me know if I can help further, and enjoy the lessons.
Best,
Hayden
Brilliant! Thanks a lot Hayden!
I hadn’t seen this previous lesson and the seminar! I think I found the lesson using the search bar, but I didn’t find the previous one because it is spelled “favourite” and I must have used “favorite”. The reason I am saying that is that sometimes I do the things a little backwards, I am first looking for the standard or song I would like to play and then go through all the related lessons, it’s probably not the best method but it really helped me stay motivated and I have had a lot of fun with this tutorial and related lessons.
This brings me to make a quick little suggestion if I may.
On the dashboard, in the section where are listed all the jazz standards, I didn’t find My favorite things in it, which makes me think maybe others are missing that I might want to play when I go through all the list.
Thanks again I can’t wait to see the rest and explore other topics!