The jazz standard “Someday My Prince Will Come” in root position

Let’s have a look at what’s probably the most played waltz

in jazz: Frank Churchill’s “Someday My Peince Will Come”. First of all its structure. It’s a 32 bar structure, but it’s not AABA, it’s ABAC where each section is 8 bars long. In fact we met it in the last session with “How Deep Is The Ocean” which was also an ABAC 32 bar structure.

Let’s play the tune first of all so that we know how it goes. I’ll play it in root position, although I’m mostly interested in playing it in voiced position with a playalong, but just in case you want to play it as an Intro let’s discuss how to do it. It goes like this.

The ending, first of all, just playing a B flat triad there, nicely spaced out, with an Amen - so we’re just raising the third to the fourth and a fifth to the sixth. If you want to go further on the scale - or even chromatically.

Now the chords. The first chord I’m actually playing the root, the fifth, the sixth in the left hand. I’m playing with the thumb 2 notes there - the ninth and the tenth - then the fifth is the tune. There’s D7 without the fifth in root position there in the left hand. The third is doubled. There is the note B flat which is in the tune and it is the sharpened fifth of D7.

That’s E flat major, but that’s E flat major7, but it’s got an A natural in it. That’s called a sharpened eleventh. We will discuss it in more detail later on,

but if you really want to know at this stage: if you take the scale of E flat and make this an octave higher - 8,9,10,11 - and you sharpen it you get A natural. This is known as the Lydian mode where you sharpen the eleventh, but we’ll look at that later.

This is G7 with a sharpened fifth, then C minor7.

As before, G7 sharp5, C7, F7, D minor7, then D flat diminished and then - however you want to play it, I don’t know. - as before

Then the first A is the same as before

Then F minor7,

E flat7, E flat major7 probably - can’t manage the - (I’ll) play a fifth-tenth and then, we’re on dominant pedalling here so there is the dominant and then.