Some songs are just plain fun to play. I Won’t Dance is a great example of this. The easiest way for you to understand what I mean is to think of the feeling you get from watching a romantic comedy. It seems that there are films and TV shows for every generation that capture this character. From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Annie Hall to Pretty Woman to When Harry Met Sally to The Devil Wears Prada just to name a few.

In light of this mood, jazz vocalist and former WICN-FM disc jockey, Carol Sloane teamed up with trumpeter/vocalist Clark Terry to create a wonderfully enjoyable performance. Their recording is reflective of the light-hearted earlier rendition created by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Keeping to the duet format, three other vocalists managed to capture a similar mood by combining their talents with excellent pianists. Susannah McCorkle’s recording with English pianist Keith Ingham features the latter’s stride piano style during the instrumental interlude. French singer Isabelle Georges offers yet another example in combination with pianist René Urtreger. A more modern version follows this same model: California’s Nina Blade joining forces with the wonderful pianist Bill Mays.

It’s amazing to think that it took the combined talent of many creative artists to provide us with yet another part of Jerome Kern’s legacy. The 1934 musical Three Sisters was a flop despite the fact that it included I Won’t Dance with lyrics by the team of Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. All was not lost however. When it came time to make a 1935 film version of the Kern/Harbach 1933 operetta Roberta, songwriters Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh entered the scene.  They kept the songs Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Yesterdays and replaced the original lyrics of I Won’t Dance with their own. The song became a number one hit and is performed today in this version.

Now that I’ve shared all of this background with you, it’s time for me to come clean. The recording I made for today’s blog was actually the first time I ever performed I Won’t Dance. Not only that, when I looked at the music, I was baffled. It was the opposite of what I’ve been telling you about several of Jerome Kern’s standards: simpler is better. Despite the fact that there are plenty of ii-V-I patterns in the bridge, creating a workable solo piano arrangement for the verse eluded me. “I love this song”, I thought, “How can I capture the energy?” You can ask any of my adolescent or adult students and they’ll tell you what I did.

I looked at the sheet music and took out my pencil. After experimenting a bit, I finally got it. I found my solution! It was as clear as day. Use the anchor bass.  After adding a few chord names above the staff, all I had to do was start practicing. Pretty soon the fun began!

How about you?

Would you like to learn how to look at a piece of sheet music and turn it into a song that you can have fun playing?

Has your high school son or daughter wanted to find a way to personalize his or her keyboard playing?

Is your younger child interested in learning to play the piano, but you want her experience to be more enjoyable than the one you had when you took lessons as a kid?

Now’s the time to take action!

This week, many of your sons and daughters will be heading back to school. This is a great time to get started. Whether the lessons are for you or for one of your children you can find out all about it by taking just 20 seconds to contact us today.

Whether you live near our convenient Natick Studio location or close to our centrally located Hudson Studio spot, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our piano instructors are always delighted to help you learn to play the music you love!