It seems particularly appropriate to include Stormy Weather in this Harold Arlen series of blog posts considering the amount of rain that we had in New England during the past few weeks. If you’re like me, you encountered several detours due to closed roads when you were driving somewhere. Although Ted Koehler‘s lyrics were written to create an image of lost love rather than a weather report, we can relate to them in a much more personal way now. Since the blues is certainly a musical style that has been used to express sadness, disappointment, loss and the like, the words of Stormy Weather could have just as easily been written for a 12-Bar Blues rather than one of the standards from the American Popular Songbook.

So who, other than Harold Arlen could have created a composition that combined song form with the blues? As I mentioned in my Blues in the Night blog post, Arlen had managed to find a way to energize and enrich his songs with a blues feeling that has continued to inspire jazz musicians for more than eight decades. Stormy Weather is no exception. Despite the fact that it includes two instances of “keeps rainin’ all the time” (two measures each) and thus increases the song’s length by four measures, for all intents and purposes, this standard follows the customary 32 measure form featuring the A-A-B-A (verse 1-verse 2-bridge-verse 3).

Arlen’s genius in imbibing his songs with blues elements can be seen by looking at the sheet music. There are several spots where an A# appears. You might think that this is just an accidental (a note that is marked sharp or flat because it’s not in the key of the song). However, this is the composer’s clever way of including the commonly used blues scale note, the flatted 3^rd (A# is actually a disguised version of Bb). There is also a Db in the melody and this can be seen/heard as the flatted 5^th. You may remember me telling you that my students often notice me adding some bluesy sounding notes when I demonstrate songs for them. Here’s a case where the melody of Stormy Weather gives you, as the piano student, the opportunity start sounding bluesy.

As I mentioned in my recent I Thought About You blog post, the creative process takes many shapes and forms, but rarely produces a piece of music instantaneously with a flash of inspiration. Perhaps because Arlen and Koehler had been working together for four years since creating their first hit song, Get Happy, it’s possible that their collaborative work had become extremely well synchronized. As a result of their musical contributions to shows at New York’s Cotton Club as well as for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films, it certainly seems believable that they wrote Stormy Weather while they were at a party. Once when I was visiting a college friend, I sat down at the piano and immediately came up with one of my early jazz compositions while I was waiting for his family to finish getting ready for church. Although my jazz quartet played my new piece for a couple of years, it was far from being a hit song.

As I’ve said before, often one of my piano students will come in to his lesson enthusiastically exclaiming, “I composed a new piece this week.” Needless to say, I can feel his excitement, and I truly enjoy helping him refine, improve and finalize his creation. Nine times out of ten, if you asked him how and when he came up with this new composition, he’d tell you that he was practicing for his lesson and an idea just popped into his head. So I ask you, was this simply a flash of inspiration? Yes and no. Perhaps this can give us a clue into the creation of Stormy Weather as well.

Before I put my Rhapsody Music playlist together to prepare for writing and recording Stormy Weather for today’s blog post, I expected to find slow and medium bluesy ballad version of this great standard. Boy was I surprised! There was certainly a variety of styles represented among the renditions. One of my former band mates, drummer Keith Copeland, surprised me with his soulful samba version from his CD Postcard from Vancouver. Although this performance was on one of Keith’s recordings as a leader, he has played with many jazz musicians including pianists Hank Jones, Kenny Barron and Billy Taylor as well as pop artists including Stevie Wonder. Needless to say, I learned a lot during my gigging days more than 30 years ago.

One other track truly got me fooled. As I was listening, I thought to myself, “this sounds like Sinatra, but the accompaniment sounds unusually intimate.” Needless to say, I had to find out who was playing with the Chairman of the Board? First of all, I was surprised to discover that not only was it not Frank, it was a Bulgarian jazz vocalist named Vasil Petrov. His duet recording features pianist Rumen Toskov. What makes this performance so magical is Toskov’s solo the playing style. The addition of conga drums also adds some special spice to this medium swing tempo track. What was that about music being the international language?

Whether you want to play a ballad or a blues, compose a tune or play your favorite pop tune on your keyboard, taking piano lessons can help enjoy music more than ever before. If you ask any of our piano students, children and adults, they’ll tell you the same thing. Like you, they’ll say that they just want to learn to play the piano. Often, especially from adults, I also hear “I’ve always wanted to learn to the piano”.

What about you? Isn’t it time you acted on that voice in your head that keeps saying, “Life’s too short, now’s the time to find a teacher and start taking piano lessons.”

Our 2010 Summer Session is a great way for you to get started.
Our unique Summer Piano Lesson program is designed to provide you with maximum scheduling flexibility. You can schedule the number, times and dates of your lesson appointments around your vacation, camp, family and other leisure activities.

Both our Natick Piano Studio and Hudson Studio locations are convenient and centrally located. Contact us today to find out all about taking piano lessons at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio.

Our patient and encouraging piano instructors are always delighted to help you learn to play the music you love!