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Over the Rainbow...an intermediate solo piano arrangement of a timeless classic

12/7/2020

3 Comments

 
One of the many blessings of being a Dad is rediscovering music I've loved in the past while introducing it to my son.  He's just about two years old now and "Over the Rainbow" is one of his new favorites.  His mom started singing it to him recently for a lullaby.  He even interrupted her while she was singing a lullaby the other night and said "Want Rainbow."  Haha.  What can I say, he knows what he wants!  While I was finishing up editing this video, he heard the first few bars and said to me, "Hear Rainbow."  My heart just about melted.

So anyway, this beautiful song has been in my head recently and I thought I would work out an intermediate piano arrangement of it for you all.  I hope you enjoy it.  The arrangement has some classic solo piano techniques that work great for ballads.  The left hand is mostly arpeggiating roots, 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths while the top of the right hand covers the melody and the some chord tones and tensions below it.  I stuck with mostly the original harmony on this one, aside from a few tritone substitutions in measure 6 of the A section (or subV7s as we like to call them at Berklee!).  There's also some interesting chord tensions -- check out the b9 on the Bb7 and the #11 on the D7 in the A section.  In the bridge check out the 9 on the G-7 and the 9, #11, 13 on the C7 in the bridge.  

When your practicing this one, really try to bring out the melody and let the chords and bass sit underneath it in volume.  Be as expressive as you can with dynamics, it makes all the difference!  

Happy shedding!  
Buy the sheet music!
3 Comments
Derek Snutch
12/23/2020 05:38:46 am

Love this arrangement of ‘ over the rainbow ‘ determined to learn and memorise it ‘ thanks Derek

Reply
Jeff D
3/19/2021 08:44:30 am

Excellent, Derek! I'm glad you like the arrangement and I hope you had fun learning it! It's a beauty...

Reply
MckimmeCue link
3/11/2022 12:45:05 am

Great article! Thank you for sharing this informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.
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