Desafinado by Antonio Carlos Jobim Piano Solo - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1571915

This is my arrangement of the bossa nova standard 'Desafinado' written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The lyrics were written by Newton Mendonça and an English version of the lyrics was later written by Jon Hendricks.

This arrangement is intermediate to advanced, as it includes a new introduction, a written out solo, and has some tricky rhythms to master. Overall it is 6 pages and 120 bars long.

With a 68 bar form, it's very easy to get lost. However, I hope this arrangement will show you why I put rehearsal marks on solo piano scores.

The form could be described as A1 - B - A2 - C - D - E - A3 - F (Coda). The main A theme is followed by B, the A theme then reappears before C serves as a transition into a new key. D and E explore other key signatures, before the song returns to a variation of the A theme, here called A3. Finally there is a 12 bar section, labelled F, which could be thought of as a coda or a cadential extension, as it is four bars longer than the other eight bar sections.

Jobim was probably applying classical sonata form to bossa nova in this song. Typical sonata form consists of three main elements, the Exposition (the main theme of the piece), the Development (exploration of new ideas) and the Recapitulation (return of the theme). It may also include an introduction and an ending or coda.

Here you can see A1-B-A2-C is the Exposition, D and E are the Development section and A3 is the Recapitulation, the return and development of the main theme. While the F section is the coda.

However, more important than the form to this song, is the incredible word painting in the melody and lyrics. Make sure you listen to the lyrics along with the music notation to fully appreciate this great song.