In plain words
Barry’s New York class began as a funded workshop. On its last day he arrived three hours late and found everyone still waiting, so he told them the class would go on for good if they brought enough money to pay the rent. He taught inside the group and rarely gave private lessons: if you wanted a lesson, you came to the class.
Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland15:1815:51The Spirit of Bebop10:09Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶469
He described it as one continuous class. Pianists came first; Chris Parks recalls this was where Barry taught harmony, his scales of chords, and showed where they go in tunes. Then the singers arrived and the pianists accompanied them, which taught them to accompany. A bassist and a drummer joined, then the horn players came in for improvisation. He wanted singers to stay for that part too, so they would not be scared to venture when singing a song.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers18:18Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland16:25Passing It On5:14My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris8:329:08Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS13:00Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶521
In the improvisation part Barry called a scale or a line in words (which chord, which degree to start on, up or down, where to stop), or simply sang it, then counted it off. Everybody played it back at once, in eighth notes and in time, while the singers sang along. When it went wrong he stopped and had it played again. A former student recalls one thin sheet on half steps; everything else was learned by ear on the spot.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:000:371:113:00Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 12:28The 1998 workshop, part 11:38The last train to Monk: an interview29:33These 3 Words From Barry Harris Changed How I Played Music!1:392:11
In the singers’ class he taught songs of his own choosing, worked mostly on phrasing, and had everyone get up and sing a song straight after learning it. He played it in five or six keys so each singer could pick a key, and insisted they write their key down. Chris Parks remembers the singers lining up by key, so the pianists and rhythm players heard the same tune in several keys.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers17:0817:4018:18Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS13:00My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris9:42
How he said to practise it
Sing what you play. Barry had the singers sing the scales the horns were running, and told the whole class to play a phrase and sing it.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:37Feeling the ‘and’16:06
Write it down yourself. He wanted horn players to bring stands and manuscript books and write out the scales for each tune, so any piece could be learned through its scales and kept on record; he also told the class to write down the half-step rules so they knew what to practise.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 10:331:08Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 12:52
Everyone learns the phrases, not just the soloists. He stopped a band class to tell a bassist who had been walking that bass players should learn the phrases too, and that from then on he would have to play each new phrase as well.
Say the changes out loud. In a blues class he had everyone, singers included, call out the chords, telling singers who want to scat that they have to know the changes too.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 19:50
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
In my class, it’s like one continuous class. I start out with piano players. The singers come in, the pianists accompany the singers.
I get in front of my class and I just sang licks and they play it back at me... whatever I do they got to do
I’ll play it in about five or six keys. I say, pick your key.
That’s why I insist on having a class. You want a lesson, come to my class.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 9 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers
Practising the blues with the horns, part 1
The 1998 workshop, part 1
- 1:38
1998 workshop: calls lines in words, such as coming down from the second of F, and the group plays them.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 29:33
Says he sings licks to the class and they play them back: that is how he shows improvisation.
Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland
The Spirit of Bebop
- 9:23
The same origin story: remembered the 4 o’clock class at seven, found everyone waiting; keep it going for the rent.
Feeling the ‘and’
- 34:46
Recalls taking singers through five or six keys and starting to sing phrases for a horn player to play back.
Confirmation
- 4:53
Stops a band class to tell the bassist that bass players should learn the phrases too.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 1
- 0:33
Wants horn players to have stands and manuscript books and write the scales out themselves.
From the lessons1 lesson, 4 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
How Barry’s classes worked
- Idea
According to a former student, Barry’s class used almost no written material, just one thin sheet about half steps. Everything else was oral: he played a phrase and expected everyone to play it straight back, or sang a line and expected the whole horn section to play what he sang. If you got it wrong he would yell at you; he never threw anyone out of class, but he insisted that you play it right.
These 3 Words From Barry Harris Changed How I Played Music!1:392:11
- Idea
Barry ran his class as one continuous session. Pianists came first; then the singers arrived and the pianists accompanied them; a bass player and drummer joined; then the horn players came in. Some singers stayed for the improvisation part, because he wanted singers to practise improvising too, so they would not be scared to venture when they sang a song.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers18:18
- Idea
- Exercise
Barry wanted horn players to have music stands and manuscript books and to write the material out themselves, so they could practise the scales and know how to write them. That way any piece you want to learn can be learned through its scales, and you keep a record of it.
In writing8 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
In 2000 the Tuesday class came in waves: pianists from 6:30 pm, singers from 8:30, horns (guitarists and violinists included) from 10:30. With no set agenda, a piano session could start with a student playing a ballad; Barry sat beside her, played an idea, had her copy it, slowed it down, then had others take turns.
Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶12Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶13Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶14
With the horns Barry sang phrases for the class to play back in unison, and gave lines as quick spoken instructions in degrees and note names: where to start, which way to run, where to put a half step, which chord tone to stop on. He chained such ideas into long lines and sometimes into an ensemble arrangement.
Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶31Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶32Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶33
In December 2018 the workshop was three classes in a row: piano 6 to 8 pm, vocals 8 to 10, improvisation for all instruments 10 to midnight, open to anyone for a small fee. Barry told the writer he kept it open for working people who could not afford college.
Allen Morrison, Inside the Barry Harris Method ¶3Allen Morrison, Inside the Barry Harris Method ¶5Allen Morrison, Inside the Barry Harris Method ¶14
Barry said the class grew out of teaching for Jazz Interaction, Joe and Rigmor Newman’s organisation, which funded a class about once a year; the one he kept going continued from the class held at Storyville on 58th Street. He described it as open to anybody, with a small registration fee.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶461Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶463Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶519
Christian Miller stresses the speed: Barry ran material at 200 bpm and more, because the aim was to hear and improvise in real time. Playing in unison let each person join in as much as they could without embarrassment. Expect to be lost at first and take home even one line.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Harris vs Haque... please set me straight? ¶33jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Harris vs Haque... please set me straight? ¶35jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Harris vs Haque... please set me straight? ¶36jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶9
A regular at the workshops says there was no fixed syllabus: each night followed whatever Barry wanted to explain, everything by ear and at brisk tempos. His terms are overwhelming at first, but bit by bit the larger picture comes together and the ideas start to appear in your playing.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶13jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶14
Former students recall Barry dictating a solo over a tune, often without saying at first which tune; singing lines at the class and then showing how they were built; and a vocal class singing a standard and then a bebop tune on its changes, before the instrumentalists made lines from chord tones he named.
23 Reddit users (handles kept per comment), Reddit: first-hand recollections of Barry Harris’s classes ¶10423 Reddit users (handles kept per comment), Reddit: first-hand recollections of Barry Harris’s classes ¶12323 Reddit users (handles kept per comment), Reddit: first-hand recollections of Barry Harris’s classes ¶130
Barry called the teacher the dumbest member of the class, because he has been in it the longest, and said that strong young pianists trying to overtake him kept him practising and learning.
How other teachers explain it3 videos
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
Chris Parks on attending from 1993: the piano, singers’ and horn classes and how each ran.
62 min, transcript On YouTube
- Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS
Conversations about Barry’s teaching, including Chris Parks on the three classes and singers lined up by key.
1.7 h, transcript On YouTube
- These 3 Words From Barry Harris Changed How I Played Music!
A former student: almost nothing written, everything by ear, play it right back after Barry.
2 min, transcript On YouTube
Read further3 links
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- Frans Elsen, ‘Barry Harris in The Hague’ videos (Royal Conservatory 1989-1998, edited with Oscar Zenari; the ‘BarryHarrisVideos’ YouTube clips)
organiser of the Hague workshops — Free videos of Barry’s Hague workshops, the clearest way to see a class as it ran.
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video (Part 1), Howard Rees / Jazz Workshop Productions: 4+ hours, 5 clinic segments + 102-112 page workbook (ABCs, scales on song forms, movable chords, rhythm section, vocalizing)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Howard Rees’s workshop video records Barry teaching in a clinic setting, with a workbook (paid).
- Barry Harris Institute of Jazz: revived NYC workshops, Barry Harris Jazz Choir, members’ courses (Barry’s Classes on Improvisation, Harmony Primer, Guide to Harmonic Movement for Piano) and a searchable Digital Archive of Barry’s footage
Barry’s institute — Barry’s institute continues the New York workshops and keeps an archive of his class footage (members).