My Foolish Heart: Journey Through The Real Book

A jazz piano lesson to help you learn jazz standard “My Foolish Heart,” by Victor Young and Ned Washington.

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One of the all-time great ballads 0:08
The Real Book, Volume 1, 6th Edition 0:12
Understanding the historical context of each jazz standard 0:43
The tune’s association with Bill Evans 1:00
The history of “My Foolish Heart” 1:15
Many of the popular songs of the pre-rock era are now known as jazz standards 1:58
The musical form of “My Foolish Heart” 2:20
The overall musical “arc” 3:21
A slowly rising melodic line 3:26
Rising harmonies to parallel the melody 4:31
Delayed gratification 4:55
The parallel between “My Foolish Heart,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Begin The Beguine” 5:10
Similar to “My Funny Valentine” 5:25
Planning the beginning of the performance 5:36
Seeing where the music takes us 5:55
Starting rubato, up the octave 6:17
Left-hand countermelodies 6:28
A slightly arpeggiated texture 6:37
Chordal texture 6:39
Easing into tempo 6:45
Arriving at a jazz ballad tempo for the high point in the melody 6:54
Hinting at a classic, slow stride feel 7:30
Loosening up the rhythms a bit 8:05
More 8th note-based again 8:21
A chromatically-descending “alto” voice 8:26
Beginning the improvised solo 8:39
Continuous motivic development 8:51
Polytonality 10:08
Bebop 10:20
Playing with the melody’s repeated note 10:23
Improvising on the tune’s melody 10:45
Trills and tremolos 10:53
Double-time feel using block chords 11:05
Fun! 11:57
Back to the groove 12:01
Contrary motion 12:04
Reprising the melody, while continuing the double-time feel 12:08
Returning to the original jazz ballad feel 12:40
Playing trills with the left hand 12:43
Look at the right hand here a few times 12:47
Relaxing the groove 12:50
Rubato 12:58
Continuing the RH alto line with the LH 13:00
Some LH motion in triplets 13:04
Adding a tag 13:08
Bell-like voicings, a la Art Tatum 13:11
Reflective 13:16
Bringing back the melody one more time for the ending 13:31
Looking for the right voicing to end on 13:49
Bbmaj13 – LH: Bb D G/ RH: C F A D 14:02
“So What” voicing – LH: D G/ RH: C F A 14:09
A coincidence? 14:25
Musical inspiration 15:08

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Enjoy the journey, and "let the music flow!"
Ron