In My Mind’s Zen Garden

Now that I have the piano to practice on whenever I feel the inclination (which is daily), my goal for 2008 is to learn as many of the songs from the Great American Songbook as possible, and in the proper keys they were intended to be played in.

Great American Songbook is a term referring to the interrelated music of Broadway musical theater, the Hollywood musical, and Tin Pan Alley, in a period that begins roughly in the 1920s and tapers off around 1960 with the coming of rock and roll. Aside from the enduring popularity of this music in its original context, it also became (and remains) the central repertoire of jazz musicians. (In jazz, such tunes are simply referred to as “standards”.) For its devotees, the GAS (as it is sometimes abbreviated) represents a level of musical and lyrical sophistication that has yet to be equalled. (This is sometimes – as in the writings of Gene Lees – a way of casting aspersions on rock music and everything that followed in its wake.)

I would consider the following to be my current Top 10 standards (that I enjoy playing on piano) from the Great American Songbook:

1. Over The Rainbow

2. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)

3. I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face

4. The Second Time Around

5. But Not For Me

6. My Romance

7. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

8. It Might As Well Be Spring

9. You Are Too Beautiful

10. I’ll Be Seeing You

. . . .

Of course this list is subject to change. And here are a few more favorites (some from musicals):

1. Not While I’m Around - from Sweeney Tood

2. All The Things You Are

3. I’m Old Fashioned

4. Bye Bye Blackbird

5. When You Wish Upon A Star

. . . .

And a few more:

1. The Way We Were

2. Black Orpheus

3. Charade

4. I Wish You Love

5. Moon River

. . . .

A more complete list can be found here.