IFR blog > Song analysis
All of Me - Melody breakdown and analysis

In this free video lesson we will walk through the melody to "All of Me" and discover some of the lessons it can teach us as improvisers about the art of melodic phrasing.

Autumn Leaves ear training

This is a practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song Autumn Leaves from IFR Standards Workout 1. In this video we will practice together the ear training exercise Melody Paths over the A section of Autumn Leaves.

Have I Told You Lately

Van Morrison's memorable ballad "Have I Told You Lately" is made from just five chords of the major scale. This is a great example of the wide variety of moods and creative possibilities that we find in the sounds of Pure Harmony.

Blue Monk

In this free video lesson we will break down the melody to this beautiful composition. We'll study each phrase in detail and notice many interesting things that we can learn about composition, harmony and the tonal map.

Ear training with Summertime

This is an ear training practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song Summertime from IFR Standards Workout 2. In this video we will explore not only the chord notes to this song but also some very beautiful melodic notes outside the chords.

Minor blues ear training

In this video we will train our ear with the beautiful chords of the minor blues.

Best way to analyze standards in a minor key

I understand that you always want us to see where we are in the overall key of the music. So you have us think of the relative minor as note 6. But over the years I learned to think of the root of each harmonic environment as its own “note 1”. Do you think it's better to always connect back to the parent key?

Alison

The Elvis Costello song "Alison" contains just one chord from outside the key of the music. This is the beautiful b7 major chord that we study in IFR Jam Tracks Level 4: Mixed Harmony Essentials.

Take Five

To most people, Paul Desmond's classic jazz standard in 5/4 represents the height of intellectual sophistication. But aside from the turnaround that appears at the very end of the song, the entire chord progression comes directly from the major scale.

Chord progression to 'Autumn Leaves'

In this video I analyze the harmony of the A section of ‘Autumn Leaves’ using the IFR Tonal Map. You will learn to see the chord functions, the flow of tension and release, the circle of fifths and the beautiful melodic paths that you can use in your improvising.