From: denio@seismo.CSS.GOV (Dennis O'Neill)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: LSN: My Favorite Things
Date: 21 Jan 93 15:50:09 GMT
Organization: Institute for Obfuscatorial Dynamics

> In article <1993Jan20.05054.7639@ms.uky.edu>, billq@ms.uky.edu (Billy Quinn)
> says:
>  (re: changes to My Favorite Things and scales to play over them)
> I have found that the G scale works ok with the A part, the A scale with the
> B part and then back to G for the C part.  Can someone give a more detailed
> analysis of the piece?

Here's an attempt at analyzing My Favorite Things.  Hope I haven't made
any gross errors; I'm sure someone will catch them if I have.

My Favorite Things, by Richard Rodgers (Real Book changes)
3/4, 1 sharp:
Section 1:
||:  Em7   |  F#m7  |  Em7   |  F#m7  |  CM7   |  CM7   |  CM7   |  CM7   |
  |  Am7   |  D7    |  GM7   |  CM7   |  GM7   |  CM7   | F#m7b5 |  B7    :||

Section 2:
||   EM7   |  F#m7  |  EM7   |  F#m7  |  AM7   |  AM7   |  AM7   |  AM7   |
  |  Am7   |  D7    |  GM7   |  CM7   |  GM7   |  CM7   | F#m7b5 |  B7b9  ||

Section 3:
||   Em7   |  Em7   | F#m7b5 |  B7    |  Em7   |  Em7   |  CM7   |  CM7   ||

Section 4:
||   CM7   |  CM7   |  A7    |  A7    |  GM7   |  CM7   |  CM7   |  D7    ||

Section 5:
||   G6    |  CM7   |  G6    |  CM7   |  GM7   |  CM7   | F#m7b5 |  B7    ||

Analysis:
Section 1.
The key signiture and the first and last chords of the section are
consistant with the key of E minor.

The chords in the various flavors of Em are:

natural    Em7       F#m7b5   GM7     Am7   Bm7  CM7      D7
harmonic   Em nat7   F#m7b5   Gaug7   Am7   B7   CM7      D#dim7
melodic    Em nat7   F#m7     Gaug7   A7    B7   C#m7b5   D#m7b5  (ascending)
                                                 Cm7b5    Dm7b5   (decending)

So section 1 moves back and forth between E natural minor and E melodic minor.
A G scale works (mostly) because most of section 1 (except the F#m7b5 and
B7) is in E natural minor (i.e., has the same tones as G Major).

Section 2:
Section 2 is partly in E Major and partly in E minor.
The last bar of section 1 leads into an implicit key change in section 2.
Besides being the V of Em, B7 is the dominant chord of E Major; in this
case, it acts as the pivot between the keys of E minor and E Major.
The chords of E Major are:
           EM7       F#m7     G#m7    AM7   B7   C#m7     D#m7b5
So the first 8 bars of section 2 are in E Major.  By lowering the
third of the AM7 chord so that it becomes an Am7 chord in bar 9, Rodgers
has changed keys back to E minor (the melody at the transition point
is an E, a common tone between the chords).  The second eight bars
of section 2 end in B7b9, the V9 chord of E harmonic minor (and the 7b9
chord doesn't appear anywhere else but as the V of the harmonic minor,
so this locks the tune back into minor).

A Major (mostly) works over section 2 because the notes of the A Major
scale are not very different from the notes of the E Major scale; only
the D is different (E Major has a D# where A Major has a D).  The
scales are:
A Major:  A B C# D E F# G#
E Major:  E F# G# A B C# D#
So, the real answer to why A Major works over section 2 is: luck.

Sections 3-5 are all in E minor; the chords can be seen to fall into
the family of E minor chords from the listing above.  G6 is part of 
the E natural minor chord set.

Concerning what scales to play over each section, one really would be 
better off playing the scales associated with each chord rather than
to stick to one scale for entire sections.  This is particularly true
in the E minor sections of the tune, since the chords move between
natural, harmonic, and melodic minors.  Only the first eight bars of 
section two stay in a particular key throughout.

Respectfully submitted,
Dennis O'Neill
-- 
Dennis O'Neill (denio@seismo.css.gov)