I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face, Harmonic Analysis

Dr. Bob Lawrence (00:32.866)
Welcome to Jazz Piano Skills. I'm Dr. Bob Lawrence. It's time to discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Well, here we are. February, 2025, the start of a new month. And the start of a new month at Jazz Piano Skills means we begin studying a new tune. I was just thinking about this earlier today and it struck me. Tunes change.

but the essential jazz piano skills remain the same. Give that some thought. Tunes change, but the essential jazz piano skills remain the same. You know, this little revelation is quite telling, isn't it? Understanding that it makes no difference what tune you are studying or what tune you are playing. You will always be confronted with the task of executing

essential jazz piano skills. Skills like harmony, your ability to play the sounds of music using various voicing approaches, blocks, shells, two handed structures, and your ability to recognize and understand function. Skills like melody, your ability to hear, determine and properly articulate

melodies and phrases, which of course requires mature technique, which of course requires good fingerings. Skills like improvisation, your ability to correctly determine chord scale relationships so that you can play the sounds of music using the correct arpeggios and scales with ascending and descending motion. And finally, skills like rhythm.

your ability to play authentic, real jazz rhythms, which of course is dependent upon your command of the most important skill of all, time. Yep, makes no difference what tune you want to play. If you're incapable of executing the essential jazz piano skills that I just rattled off with proficiency, you don't have to worry about playing tunes. You know why?

Dr. Bob Lawrence (02:58.222)
Because you can't play tunes. Why worry about something you can't do? Now, some of you listening may be thinking, ouch, man, that's a little harsh. And to that, I would respond, no, I'm just being brutally honest. I mean, let's be completely truthful. If you do not possess the skills needed to play tennis, then you're going to suck at tennis.

right? Would a professional tennis coach instruct you to simply, hey, just play the game, and you'll eventually get good? Would the tennis coach say, playing the game will teach you how to play the game? I don't think so. You likewise, if you don't have the skills to play golf, would a golf instructor tell you to just continue playing rounds of golf and you'll eventually

learn the game and play at a high level? Heck, would a golf instructor say playing the game will teach you how to play the game? I don't think so. If that were true, if that were the case, we would have thousands of professional golfers in the city of Dallas alone. There are guys here playing golf every day and have been doing so for years, and they still suck. Why?

because they never focus on developing the skills of golf needed to improve. And if they do focus on some of the skills, I guarantee it, they don't focus on the grunt work skills, know, skills like fitness and strength training. no, not that. You know, my point is you're not going to learn how to play jazz piano by simply playing tunes. And that is why at Jazz Piano Skills, we use tunes to illuminate the skills.

especially the grunt work skills, right? The grunt work skills needed to play jazz piano. And then we attack those skills. We start with a new tune every week or every month, I should say, in order to gain a new perspective of the essential jazz piano skills. Different tune, same skills, new perspective. A new perspective of essential jazz piano skills.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (05:24.942)
through a harmonic analysis. We gain a new perspective of the essential jazz piano skills through a melodic analysis. And we gain a new perspective of essential jazz piano skills through improvisation development. And of course, the inclusion of a rhythm challenge within each of these new harmonic, melodic, and improvisation perspectives. And

Most importantly, we see, we understand the essential jazz piano skills in relationship to the seven facts of music. What are the seven facts of music? Thank you, I'm glad you asked. Here they are again. Number one, music is the production of sound and silence. And sound, of course, being major, dominant, minor, half diminished and diminished.

sound, number two, sound is produced harmonically and melodically. Shapes. We have harmonic shapes, we have melodic shapes. Fact number three, when produced harmonically, we're playing chords, right? Voicings. Fact number four, when produced melodically, we're playing scales and arpeggios. Melodies. Fact number five, when playing scales and arpeggios, we are moving in one of two directions. Up or down. That's it.

fact number six, we decorate or we camouflage scales and arpeggios with tension, you know, notes outside the key, call that chromaticism. And finally, fact number seven, to make facts one through six actually interesting, we add rhythm. Right? So those keywords again here, sound, harmony, melody, chords, scales, arpeggios, up, down, tension, rhythm. That's it. Seven.

facts of music and everything we do needs to plug into these seven facts. Everything we do should be framed by the seven facts of music. In fact, if you are unable to see the essential jazz piano skills framed by the seven facts of music, then there is a high probability that you're running in place. In other words, if you are not

Dr. Bob Lawrence (07:51.87)
seeing the seven facts of music, right? The skills framed within the seven facts of music, you're not accomplishing what you think you're accomplishing when practicing. You know, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Let's say you are playing, practicing a scale, starting on the note C, and you play ascending motion to the note C, one octave higher. Sound familiar?

right? And then you come back down the scale, returning to your starting note C. And you repeat this exercise over and over and over again. Of course, this sounds familiar because this is how everyone's taught to play the C major scale. And I have to ask, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? What are you hoping to gain by doing this? How does doing this

make you a better jazz musician? What specific jazz piano skill are you trying to improve upon? Too funny, right? Who gets asked those questions when practicing a scale? Have you ever been asked when playing a scale, are you doing? Why are you doing this? What are you hoping to gain by doing this? How does this make you a better jazz musician? What specific jazz piano skill are you trying to improve upon?

No, of course not. But most people, if asked those questions, most people would answer by saying, well, you know, I'm working on improving my technique. That's it. I'm working on improving my technique. To which I would respond, that's it? I love that you want to improve your technique, but...

But surely you are using this melodic shape to gain a deeper understanding of harmony, melody, improvisation, and rhythm, right? Surely you're doing that. Please tell me that you haven't reduced this timeless, classic, age-old pattern of playing the C major scale to a one-dimensional, mindless exercise under the guise of technique development. Please tell me that you're not doing that.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (10:20.078)
That's what we do at Jazz Panel Skills. We take an essential skill and examine it harmonically and melodically. We use it to develop our improvisation and rhythm, our time. We see it and practice it governed by the seven facts of music. And in doing so, we avoid falling into the trap of running in place.

of being one dimensional with our understanding and application of the skill. Yep, that's what we do. We do it every week, we do it every month, every year. So today we continue. We continue with our process. We continue our study of harmony, melody, improvisation, and rhythm using another classic tune.

another classic jazz standard. And as always, we will begin today with a harmonic analysis. So today you are going to discover one of the most beautiful tunes, least in my opinion, one of the most beautiful tunes of all time. I've grown accustomed to her face. You're going to learn form, chord changes, and harmonic function for I've grown accustomed to her face. And you're going to play

I've grown accustomed to her face using my suggested voicings, my left hand shell voicings, my two handed structures. Plus, we're going to examine common harmonic progressions, common harmonic movement for ear training development. And of course, you're going to be given a rhythm challenge to develop your transcribing and comping skills.

So as I always like to say, regardless of where you are in your jazz journey, a beginner, an intermediate player, an advanced player, or even if you consider yourself a seasoned and experienced crusty old professional, you're going to find this Jazz Panel Skills podcast lesson exploring I've grown accustomed to her face to be very beneficial. But before we dig in, before we get started, I want to, of course, as I always do,

Dr. Bob Lawrence (12:45.386)
Welcome our first-time listeners to Jazz Panel Skills. And if you are indeed a new listener to the Jazz Panel Skills podcast, or you're just simply new to Jazz Panel Skills, welcome. I want to invite you to become a Jazz Panel Skills member. And your membership grants you many perks. For example, as a member, you have access to what I call premium podcast content access, right?

In other words, you get to hear the entire podcast. The first half of the podcast is always free for everyone. We deal with an examination of the goals for today. Of course, we have the question of the week. I lay out the educational agenda and the lesson rationale. The second half for members only, lesson content, demonstrations, weekly assignments. You also as a Jazz Panel Skills member have access to the weekly

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containing interactive learning media, video demonstrations of the skills in all 12 keys. You'll find it to be, the course is to be very, very helpful. You also have, I like to call a reserved seat in the weekly online master classes that I offer. Those are held every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. Central time. And of course, if you can't make it, if that's not a good time, depending on where you're located around the world,

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Dr. Bob Lawrence (15:08.424)
is available as well. And finally, as a Jazz Panel Skills member, you have unlimited educational support, private, personal and professional. You can access me throughout the week, a variety of ways, the SpeakPipe widget, there's a web form that you can utilize. Of course, you can call my office number here at the Dallas School of Music or use email. Any of those forms of communication are fine. And so

Again, all of these privileges, premium podcast content, podcast packets, courses, master classes, the private community, unlimited educational support, all of these privileges are waiting to help you discover, learn and play jazz piano. So check it all out at jazzpanelskills.com. And of course, become a member to enjoy all the perks, right?

Of course, once you get to the website, if you have any questions after you poke around a little bit, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm happy to answer your questions, spend a little time with you and help you in any way that I can. Okay, so on to the question of the week. And this week's question comes from Stacy, Stacy Grant, living in Chicago, Illinois. Yeah, I'm familiar with that neck of the woods. And Stacy writes,

I know you probably get this question often, so I apologize in advance for asking it again. In order to improve as quickly as possible, how much time should I be practicing daily? Thank you for your guidance.

Well, Stacey, are correct. You are correct. I think I've been asked this question every, every day of my teaching career, which began 35 years ago. So let's see. Let me add this up. If I add up, I've been asked that question daily for 35 years. That would be, hang on a second. Let me, I'm getting my calculator. That would be 35 times 360. That would be

Dr. Bob Lawrence (17:23.95)
I've been asked that question 12,775 times. 12,775 times. Well, now 12,776 times. I've been asked that question.

It's a great question. Obviously, it's a great question because it's on everyone's mind. So Stacy, no need to apologize. It's OK. It's a popular question that should be thought about and answered frequently. So with that being said, let me give you some food for thought regarding how to approach practicing in the most advantageous way possible.

To begin, think everyone, I think everyone listening would agree that quality practice time is much better than quantity practice time, right? No doubt about it. Quality practice time, much better than quantity practice time. So quality practice begins with having a single practice objective.

for every single practice session. I'm going to say that again because it's so important. Have a single practice objective for every single practice session. And in fact, I would go as far as to say if you do not take the time to determine a single practice objective before you sit down on the piano bench,

It's too late. It's just too late. Your practice session will more than likely assume a scattered shot approach, which of course will produce minimal results at best. Minimal results at best, I guarantee it. So I have four practice objectives that I choose from before sitting down to practice.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (19:33.292)
And my four practice objectives will sound very familiar to you. They are this harmony, melody, improvisation, rhythm. Sound familiar? Right. Every one of my practice sessions focuses on one of those practice objectives. Harmony, melody, improvisation, rhythm. Now,

After I select a practice objective, I then determine a jazz piano skill within the practice objective to focus on. And after determining the skill, I decide a technique to use for practicing that skill. So I use and recommend a three-step

practice agenda, right? A three-step practice agenda. The three steps are objective, skill, technique, right? Determine an objective, select a skill, and use a technique, a specific technique. Objective, skill, technique. So here's a, here's a, an example of how one of my practice sessions would look, right? Number one, objective.

Let's say I choose tonight to practice harmony. Then I said to myself, OK, what skill do I want to practice within harmony? You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to practice voicings. Well, what kind of voicings? You I'm going to practice my two-handed structures. Great. So I have an objective, harmony. I have voicings, two-handed voicings as my skill. What technique, right? What technique? Well,

I'm going to zero in on a sound, a specific sound. So I'm going to choose minor. And what kind of motion am I going to use? I'm going to use an arpeggio motion. Wow. I have a very specific practice agenda laid out now. I'm going to be, my objective is harmony, my skill, two-handed voicings, the technique. I'm going to use minor sound, arpeggio motion. And that's what I'm going to practice. And I will spend 15, 20 minutes.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (21:57.484)
doing exactly that, exactly that, and nothing more than that. And that will be the entirety. That will be the focus of for the entire practice session. Here's another example. Let's say for my objective, I choose improvisation now. Come back the next time. I, you know, I practiced harmony last time. I'm to practice improvisation this time.

What skill am I going to use to practice improvisation? You know what? I'm going to work on the 2-5-1 progression. That's an important skill, understanding 2-5-1. Well, what technique? Well, obviously, the sounds I'm going to be using, minor, dominant, major. What motion do I want to practice playing through that 2-5-1? You know what? I'm going to use scale motion. I'm going to practice

using scale motion through my 251 scale, right? My 251 scale. So there's my agenda for that session. My objective is improvisation, my skill. I've narrowed it down to a specific progression, 251. The technique I'm going to use, I'm going to use scale movement, moving through my minor, dominant, and major sounds through that 251, right? So

get in a habit of determining an objective, a skill, and a technique before, there's the key, right, before you sit on the bench. And I promise you, you will love, you will love the significant growth that you begin to experience. In fact, I just thought about this, you can get a, you can get a set of like index cards, you can have, you could

sit and prepare all kinds of practice sessions ahead of time. And on that index card indicate your objective, your skill and your technique. Go to the next index card, objective skill technique, next in card, index card, objective skill technique. And you can have literally a collection of various practice sessions already laid out, already laid out. Okay, so one

Dr. Bob Lawrence (24:21.07)
One final little tidbit regarding the maximization for your practice efforts. When your practice sessions are thought through prior to arriving at the instrument, you have a clear objective, a scale, a technique, then a minimal amount of time will produce monumental results. I'm going to say that again. A minimum amount of time will produce monumental results.

Therefore the common thought, the common thoughts of needing to practice hours a day in order to improve will quickly begin to fade away. Right? So it's the old saying, know, less is more. When you have a well thought out practice agenda, right? You will get more done in less time. So yes,

Stacey, yes, yes, yes, a very common and frequently asked question, but nevertheless a great question and one that needs to be frequently revisited to ensure us that we are indeed approaching the art of practicing. And believe me, it is an art, the art of practicing that we are approaching it correctly and in a way that maximizes

our musical, our jazz growth. Wow. Now, as always, if further clarification is needed, Stacy, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm always happy to spend more time, explore this topic even further, and help you in any way that I can. So do not hesitate to reach out. All right. Let's discover, learn, and play jazz piano. Let's discover, learn, and play.

I've grown accustomed to her face. All right. So when studying, when learning any tune, you all know I approach it the same way. And you all know that genre makes no difference to me, right? Whether it's a jazz tune, an R &B tune, a country tune, pop, rock, folk, makes no difference, right? I go about it the same way. And we've gone through this list every month, but it's worth going through, right? Number one, we listen.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (26:45.174)
I like to listen to various artists. It makes no difference what genre, quite honestly. It doesn't matter to me. Vocalist, instrumentalist, pianist, if I'm going to learn a new tune, I want to absorb it as much as possible and listen to as many artists performing that tune. Number two, I always turn to a harmonic analysis like we're going to do today. I want to study the form of the tune. What are the changes? What's the harmonic function within the tune? The common movement.

what voicings should I use with this tune, and of course, rhythm, right? Three, melodic analysis after that. I'll turn my attention to melody. I'll transcribe that melody. I will not be learning the melody from a lead sheet, from a fake book. I want to listen to the various artists and then learn that melody based on

what I've heard artists doing and how they've interpreted the tune, I will then transcribe it, not necessarily write it down, but I will transcribe it and learn it by ear. And when doing so, I pay attention to the phrases. And I'll also with that melody, I'll explore various treatments because more than likely with all the various artists that I listen to, there's going to be variety, a variety of treatments that I hear that tune being performed.

And then finally, I will do a, I will use the tune to work on my improvisation skills. So I'll look at the tune, I'll study the chord scale relationships, I'll practice arpeggio scale movement through the various sounds, explore with tension, and of course, again, rhythm, right? Always. So there you have it, right? I listen, I always do a harmonic analysis, a melodic analysis, and improvisation development, just like we do here at Jazz Piano Skills. It's thorough.

and it's a complete approach, study approach to a tune. So this week, of course, as we start a new tune, I've grown accustomed to her face. We're going to do a harmonic analysis, which will have us listening. We'll examine the form of the tune. We'll learn the chord changes. We'll look at the harmonic function and of course, voicings. Next week, we'll dive into a melodic analysis. And in two weeks, we'll do some improvisation

Dr. Bob Lawrence (29:14.412)
development using I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. So the educational agenda for today is as follows. Number one, we are going to listen to several definitive recordings of I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. And number two, we will take a look at and discuss the form of this great standard. Number three, we will discover, learn, and play the chord changes, the standard

chord changes for I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. And number four, we will discover, learn and play the harmonic function of the chord changes found within I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. And number five, we will discover, learn and play my suggested voicings for this tune, right? The left-handed shell voicings that I would recommend utilizing. And then of course, my

to two-handed structures that I use when playing I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. So with that being said, if you are a Jazz Piano Skills member, want you to take a few minutes right now, hit the pause button, and I want you to download and print the podcast packets, your illustrations, the lead sheets, and the play alongs. Again, your membership grants you access to these materials.

these podcast packets that I produce for every weekly episode, right? And the educational podcast packets, again, of course, will help you maximize your musical growth by listening, having these in your hands when listening to this episode. And of course, you should have these podcast packets sitting on your piano as well when practicing. Okay, so

Now that you have your podcast packets, I want you to grab the lead sheets as always. We start with the lead sheets and you will find in your packet seven lead sheets. There are seven lead sheets. Now let's just look at each one quickly because we're going to go through each one thoroughly, but just to do a quick overview. Lead sheet one, right? Diagrams the form of I've grown accustomed to her face.

Dr. Bob Lawrence (31:35.542)
Lead Sheet 2 identifies all the unique chord changes found within I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. Lead Sheet 3 gives you a nice clean lead sheet with the standard chord changes for this tune. And Lead Sheet 4 provides you the harmonic function. Right? We turn those chord changes into the harmonic functions for I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. Lead Sheet 5, I highlight 5.

five common progressions that we find within this tune to help us with ear training development. Number six, lead sheet six, you'll see that I have my left-handed voicings mapped out for you, and we'll go through those. And then lead sheet seven has my two-handed voicings mapped out, and we will go through those as well. So,

as always, right? We have a ton to dissect today. We have a ton to get through. So it's time to get busy. Now, typically, right in the past, I would play a single definitive recording of the tune. But I'm changing that up this year. And I am posting several definitive recordings of the tune that I would suggest listening to within the Jazz Piano Skills Community forums, right?

And again, there's a couple reasons for this. Number one, I want to be able to suggest more than just one tune, because there are so many, especially with this tune, there are so many great recordings of I've grown accustomed to her face. So I want to be able to spotlight more than one. And number two, I want to preserve as much time in the podcast for educational content, right? For educational content. So right now, hit the pause button again and head over to the community.

spend some time listening to the suggested recordings that I have provided links to before we go any further. Spend some time, get a cup of coffee, get your favorite beverage, and then just enjoy listening to several recordings of this great jazz standard. Once you have listened to my recommended recordings, then grab those lead sheets and grab lead sheet one. This is where

Dr. Bob Lawrence (33:59.17)
We begin our harmonic analysis with looking at form. So let's take a look at this. I've grown accustomed to her face as a funky little form. It's a great jazz standard, but a funky little form. The first thing I want to point out is . . .

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