Play a lead sheet with decent voicings. Piano Pages William Wieland
  1. If necessary, print Polkadots & Moonbeams.
  2. To save time, first determine the form of this song. (Some measures are repeated later in the song.)
  3. Write the bass line in the bass staff.
    1. Most of the chords are in root position.
    2. Simply write the pitches indicated by the chord symbols in half notes or quarter notes as dictated by the chord changes.
    3. If you find a slash, the second letter is the bass note.
    4. Keep the bass line low, from the bottom of the bass staff down to even a few ledger lines below the staff.
  4. Just below the melody in the treble staff, complete the chords. Your right hand should be able to play both the melody and most of the chord tones. The left hand may occasionally play a chord tone high about the bass note.
    1. For better voicings, do not double the bass note or the melody note played with the chord.
    2. Make certain the 3rd and 7th are present either in the melody or your chords.
    3. You will usually add 2 notes.
    4. We first learn chords by building them with 3rds, but jazz pianists avoid stacking 3rds. This is why I omitted D on the downbeat of measure 2. (You may omit the 5th of a chord in jazz or classical music.)
    5. Do not give every melody note a chord. Change with the bass notes.
  5. Play it if you can—slowly. It's a ballad.
  6. Submit a hard copy or place a file of your work in D2L (Assessments - Dropbox - Polkadots & Moonbeams).