{"id":2788,"date":"2021-02-19T08:13:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T16:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/?p=2788"},"modified":"2023-12-11T09:52:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T17:52:50","slug":"over-the-rainbow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/over-the-rainbow\/","title":{"rendered":"Somewhere Over The Rainbow Piano Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oW2QZ7KuaxA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Somewhere Over the Rainbow<\/a> is a timeless classic, and a must-know for any piano player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve put together a beautiful arrangement for you to learn today. Some of the chords might look intimidating, but I\u2019m going to walk you through them step-by-step, and it\u2019s all going to make sense in the end!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><i><b>Download the full score <a href=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/Somewhere%20Over%20The%20Rainbow\/279826-resource-1612359933.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<br>Download the simplified lead-sheet <a href=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/Somewhere%20Over%20The%20Rainbow\/279826-resource-1612360021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/Somewhere%20Over%20The%20Rainbow\/what%20the.jpg\" alt=\"over the rainbow sheet\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you find yourself staring at the sheet music wondering if it\u2019s beyond your skill level, you\u2019ll be amazed at how beautifully you can play with just a little time and patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(And I\u2019ll give you some tips to simplify things along the way \ud83e\udd2b)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:74%;position:relative;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/KeQ3dG4POE37DNAtVm\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" style=\"position:absolute\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/tcm-turner-classic-movies-the-wizard-of-oz-KeQ3dG4POE37DNAtVm\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Your History Lesson \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83c\udfeb<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>First things first!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow\u201d (actually just &#8220;<b>Over the Rainbow<\/b>&#8220;) was originally written for the 1939 film <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Wizard of Oz<\/a> and is sung by actress <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Judy_Garland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Judy Garland<\/a>. It\u2019s a slow, thoughtful ballad composed by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harold_Arlen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harold Arlen<\/a> with lyrics by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yip_Harburg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yip Harburg<\/a>. It won the 1940 Academy Award for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Song\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Best Original Song<\/a>, becoming Garland&#8217;s signature song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inspiration for the piece was of a little girl who wanted to get away from a dry, colorless place and had never seen anything colorful in her life except the rainbow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Recording Industry Association of America ranked it <i>number one<\/i> on their <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Songs_of_the_Century\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Songs of the Century<\/a> list, and The American Film Institute named it \u201cBest Movie Song\u201d on the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Songs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AFI&#8217;s 100 Years&#8230;100 Songs<\/a> list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Getting Over The Rainbow \ud83c\udf08<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we\u2019re playing in the key of D, so that\u2019s two sharps: F#, and C# &#8212;but there are plenty of <a href=\"\/blog\/music-symbols\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accidentals<\/a> (sharps, flats, and naturals) to watch out for, so be mindful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The left hand intervals in this song are beautiful, but if you want to simplify things, you can just play the notes that match the chords above the treble clef. That being said&#8211; the prettiest, and <i>jazziest<\/i> moments in the song are when you make the most of the bass clef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re having trouble, make sure to practice both hands separately before putting them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/Somewhere%20Over%20The%20Rainbow\/1st%20time%20around.png\" alt=\"over the rainbow 2\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"blue-text-block\"><i><b> \ud83c\udfb9\ud83d\udcdd Take note:<\/b> Once you reach the end of the first eight bars, loop back to the beginning and play through a second time, but be ready to skip to the second ending, making a jump from measure 7 to measure 9<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Work through this song in small sections and you\u2019ll find it eventually all comes together. You can also watch for patterns in the sheet music to <a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-read-notes-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">simplify your sight reading<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/Somewhere%20Over%20The%20Rainbow\/patterns.png\" alt=\"over the rainbow patterns\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re having trouble switching between some chords, try jumping back and forth between them a few times to better recall them using muscle memory. \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this tutorial, I go through things rather quickly, but remember that with the power of technology you can pause, go back, skip forward, and play in slow-mo. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pianote members<\/a> can even take advantage of our \u2018Practice Along\u2019 feature, where you can loop sections, bring up the virtual keyboard, and slow things down as you see fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In Review \ud83c\udfb9<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is such a beautiful song to perform, but I feel it will require some extra attention to get comfortable with. Remember to spend time with each hand individually (one more than the other if necessary!) and don\u2019t be afraid to \u2018tell a story\u2019! There is a lot of individuality you might find in the time you spend with this piece. Try experimenting with <a href=\"\/blog\/what-are-dynamics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dynamics<\/a>, and bringing the <a href=\"\/blog\/emotion-with-rhythm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">emotion<\/a> in and out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-default is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Think about what the song might mean to you, and bring that into your performance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:73%;position:relative;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/dxUrkFrQ3zgdjdR7iV\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" style=\"position:absolute\" frameBorder=\"0\" class=\"giphy-embed\" allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/tcm-classic-movies-turner-wizard-of-oz-dxUrkFrQ3zgdjdR7iV\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy practicing! \ud83d\udc90\ud83d\udc90\ud83d\udc90<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/weekly-email\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a timeless classic, and a must-learn for any piano player. Today we&#8217;ll walk through it step-by-step!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":2789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1107,508],"tags":[1086],"class_list":["post-2788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-scores","category-song-tutorials","tag-l3s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16132,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions\/16132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}