All Weather Friends – Jazz Waltz – Intermediate (Grade 4)

Description

Friends shouldn't just hang out in fair weather, so here is All Weather Friends, a gentle swing waltz ideal for established intermediate players at about the Grade 4-5 standard (ABRSM).

The melody and accompaniment is based upon a classic jazz waltz rhythm, so to get into the feel of this piece, you may find it useful to first practice clapping this rhythm:

Remember that the quaver eighth notes are swung.

The trick with this piece is to let the melody sing out above the jazz waltz accompaniment, so keep an ear on the melody at all times.

In bar 21, the semiquaver 16th notes can be played a little faster than written, which will create more of a 'turn' ornament. Have a listen to the performance recording clip (above) at about halfway through to get the idea.

This jazz waltz piano sheet music provides excellent practice for working on phrasing and sustain pedal technique. Occasionally, you may find a couple of hand position changes that risk disrupting the flow of the melodic phrase. In these instances, try a touch of sustain pedal to smooth out the transition. An example of this can be found in bar 31.

After the repeated opening melody, the middle section moves into the key of G minor, featuring a rising arpeggio-based accompaniment with sustain pedal. There is a lot of quaver eighth-note movement in this section, so be sure to keep this rhythm smoothly swinging in the usual triplet manner:

This middle section reaches a crescendo at bar 37 with a rippling chord effect between both hands. Try experimenting with different ways of splitting up these chords - you could ripple up from the left hand to the right hand, or try rippling both hands at the same time. Stick with whatever sounds good to you!

After a poco rall the original melody returns via a D.C. al Coda. As is the convention for first and second time repeat bars, take the second time bar on the D.C. and then to the Coda.

This piano sheet music comes with three MP3 audio tracks:

• Performance recording
• Play-along backing track (featuring upright bass, drums and strings)
• Slow tempo practice backing track

I hope you enjoy All Weather Friends, whatever the weather!