Sweet Lorraine — Harmonic Analysis
- Dr. Bob Lawrence
- Mar 8
- 6 min read
A New Month, A New Tune, The Same Proven Path
A new month has arrived at Jazz Piano Skills, which means one thing:
A brand new tune study is underway.
January gave us Stars Fell on Alabama. February gave us Embraceable You. And now March brings us the timeless jazz standard Sweet Lorraine.
Sweet Lorraine Harmonic Analysis
And as always, while the tune changes, the process does not.
That’s what makes real musical growth possible.
At Jazz Piano Skills, we do not chase random information, trends, fads, or “magic” shortcuts. We follow a structured, sequential, and dependable educational process that allows us to develop real jazz piano skills — month after month, tune after tune.
As one student said this week, her jazz study had begun to resemble her dog’s approach to chasing squirrels: running all day, expending a ton of energy, and never actually catching anything.
That’s funny. And painfully accurate.
Because that is exactly what happens when we chase information without a system.
This Sweet Lorraine harmonic analysis helps jazz pianists understand the form, chord changes, harmonic function, and voicing structures that create the foundation for melodic development and improvisation.
Information Is Not Education
This is one of the great problems with jazz education today, especially online.
A little voicing trick here. A scale trick there. A reharm idea somewhere else. A lick. A shortcut. A gimmick.
Helpful? Sometimes.
Educational? Not necessarily.
Information without a process does not produce mastery.
At Jazz Piano Skills, we do not simply collect material. We develop musicianship through an intentional monthly study system:
Week 1: Harmonic Analysis
Week 2: Melodic Analysis
Week 3: Improvisation Development
Week 4: Solo Piano Approaches
New tune. Same educational framework.
That is how chops are built.
The Monthly Framework: Why It Works
Every month begins the same way — and that consistency is the point.
Week 1 — Harmonic Analysis
We study:
Form
Chord changes
Harmonic function
Common harmonic movement
Voicings
Because if you don’t understand the architecture of a tune, everything else becomes guesswork.
Week 2 — Melodic Analysis
We transcribe the melody, examine fingerings, phrases, target notes, and explore various melodic treatments.
Because the melody is the blueprint for musical storytelling.
Week 3 — Improvisation Development
We turn to:
Chord-scale relationships
Melodic pathways
Motif development
Rhythmic vocabulary
Because improvisation is not guessing. It is an informed movement.
Week 4 — Solo Piano Approaches
We explore:
Stride
Walking bass lines
Harmonic additions
Substitutions
Orchestration ideas
Because solo piano allows us to bring all the pieces together in a practical, musical way. The 7 Facts of Music: The Conceptual Foundation
A good educational system is powerful.
But even a great system does not help if your conceptual understanding of music is fragmented.
That’s why every week at Jazz Piano Skills begins with the Seven Facts of Music — the bumper rails that keep our thinking clear and functional.
Music is the production of sound and silence
Sound is produced harmonically and melodically
Harmonic sound = chords/voicings
Melodic sound = scales/arpeggios
Scales and arpeggios move up or down
We decorate them with tension/chromaticism
Rhythm makes everything interesting
These are not opinions. These are musical truths.
And once these facts are understood clearly, music becomes:
manageable
logical
achievable
creative
Question of the Week What Does Harmonic Function Actually Mean?
This week’s question came from Daniel Whitaker in Toronto, Canada, and it was a fantastic one:
“I hear you use the phrase harmonic function often. I understand chord symbols, and I’m familiar with chord-scale relationships, but when you say a chord has a specific function, what exactly should I be thinking about?”
That is a huge question.
And a foundational one.
Harmonic Function Is About Behavior, Not Just Labels
A chord’s harmonic function describes what the chord is doing, not simply what the chord is called.
It is about behavior.
In tonal music, including jazz standards, harmonic movement generally falls into three categories:
Tonic — home base, rest, resolution
Predominant — preparation, movement away from rest
Dominant — tension, instability, the demand for resolution
This means a progression like:
Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 is not simply three chord symbols.
It is:
Predominant – Dominant – Tonic
That is movement. That is gravity. That is functional harmony.
What Harmonic Function Is Not
This is important:
Harmonic function is not chord-scale relationships.
Those are two different skills.
Harmonic function answers: What is this chord doing?
Chord-scale relationships answer: What notes can I use over this chord?
One is architectural. The other is navigational.
They complement each other beautifully.
But when they are smushed together too early, students lose the gravitational pull of harmony and start thinking only in note choices and scale labels.
That weakens both skills.
Which is why Week 1 always begins with harmonic analysis. This Week’s Tune: Sweet Lorraine
For our March tune study, we begin with a harmonic analysis of Sweet Lorraine.
And right away, the tune gives us something wonderfully familiar:
Form: AABA
Sweet Lorraine is a classic 32-bar AABA form.
That matters because form gives us structure.
Once you know the form, you can begin to know:
where harmony repeats
where contrast appears
where tension builds
where the tune resolves
Form is the roadmap.
Without it, a tune feels random. With it, a tune becomes predictable in the best possible way. Unique Chord Changes: 13 Essential Sounds
One of the first practical steps in Week 1 is to identify the unique chord changes found within the tune.
For Sweet Lorraine, we isolate 13 unique chord changes.
Why does this matter?
Because those 13 sounds become the harmonic universe for the month.
Instead of chasing everything, we focus on:
practicing scales
practicing arpeggios
practicing voicings
practicing improvisation
through the exact chord vocabulary found in the tune itself. That creates tremendous efficiency and focus. Thinking the Opposite of What You See
Every month, we pair two lead sheets side by side:
A standard chord chart
A harmonic function chart
And the goal is to develop the ability to think the opposite of what you see.
When you look at the chord chart, you should be able to think:
one
six
two
five
When you look at the function chart, you should be able to think the actual chord names in your chosen key. This is one of the most important conceptual skills in jazz study.
And the beautiful thing is that it can be practiced away from the piano:
on the couch
at the kitchen table
on an airplane
anywhere
This kind of study strengthens:
ear training
theoretical clarity
improvisational awareness
Common Harmonic Progressions in Sweet Lorraine
This week, we also extracted six common progressions from the tune for ear training and practical study.
Some highlights:
1 – 6 – 2 – 5
3 – 6 – 2 – 5
Dominant 2 moving to minor 2, then 5
1 moving to 4 dominant and back
Chromatic motion from ♭7 down to 5
The classic 2 – 5 – 1
These are the harmonic building blocks you will see in standard after standard after standard.
That’s why we isolate them.
We do not practice them simply to play Sweet Lorraine. We practice them to develop ears and hands for all jazz tunes. Voicings for Sweet Lorraine
As always, Week 1 includes practical voicing work across three categories:
Block Voicings
Traditional four-note structures and inversions.
Shell Voicings
Including:
two-note shells (3-7, 7-3)
traditional shells (3-7-9 and 7-3-5)
contemporary fourth-based shells
Two-Handed Voicings
Five-note structures spread across both hands, including:
contemporary quartal colors
altered dominant sounds
polychord combinations
Each voicing type gives the tune a different sound world:
Block voicings = fuller, denser, more traditional
Shells = lighter, more transparent
Two-handed voicings = richer, more modern, more orchestral
And all of them help us hear Sweet Lorraine from multiple harmonic angles. Why This Week Matters
Week 1 is never just “theory.”
It is the foundation for everything that follows:
melody
improvisation
solo piano
Without harmonic understanding, melody floats. Without harmonic understanding, improvisation is a guess. Without harmonic understanding, arrangement becomes decoration without structure. Week 1 gives us the architecture.
And architecture matters! The Week Ahead
This week at Jazz Piano Skills:
Tuesday — Podcast episode
Thursday — Live Masterclass
Saturday (or Sunday :) — Blog recap
And next week, we continue our study of Sweet Lorraine with:
Melodic Analysis
We’ll transcribe the melody, examine phrases, identify target notes, and begin shaping the tune melodically. Final Thought
A new month. A new tune. The same proven process.
That is not repetitive.
That is how mastery is built.
So stop chasing squirrels.
Roll up your sleeves. Do the grunt work. Trust the framework.
And let’s get busy with Sweet Lorraine.
As always…
Discover. Learn. Play. 🎧 Listen Now: [Jazz Piano Skills Podcast: Sweet Lorraine – Episode Become a Member: Jazz Piano Skills
Subscribe on YouTube: Jazz Piano Skills
Warm Regards, Dr. Bob Lawrence
Jazz Piano Skills
Great blog. Really captures and summarizes the podcast. Like a refresher of the podcast in 4 minutes.