Drop voicingsDrop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4 (choir numbering)

If you know all the big chords, Barry says, the small chords are already in your hands, yet many players cannot rip off simple small-chord playing because they never learned the little things. Most important is learning to play a sixth chord for a major chord; there is nothing wrong with that sound. He illustrated with We’ll Be Together Again, a song he says everyone should know.

Small chords, not big ones1:402:132:49

In a workshop Barry had the players play a chord on the tonic of B-flat major and the two chords that follow it; some could not play those chords down by half steps and faked it. He asked who would notice that the first chord is made of two triads, then had them play a D minor triad and its next inversion, starting from the fifth.

The 1998 workshop, part 145:2746:3747:1249:56

Following Schoenberg, Barry names the voices of a four-note chord like a choir: soprano is 1, alto 2, tenor 3, bass 4. On a C diminished seventh, try drop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4, and even drop 2 and 3. Run each voicing up from the bottom, one note at a time, and you can make up a whole song with it. He says this is why jazz is the continuation of classical theory.

Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings5:316:077:107:54

You play with your family first, Barry says. For a C seven he puts the E-flat triad above it (E-flat is in C’s minor-third family), then adds E natural right next to the E-flat. The E is what makes it sound like a dominant; without it you hear a minor seventh. Then let the voices move and resolve to F major.

Jazz theory, part 3, with score9:169:5010:30

Two sixth chords work against E-flat major: E-flat six, on the tonic, and B-flat six, on the fifth. The B-flat six gives the major seventh and the ninth; the E-flat six gives the sixth and the tonic. For pretty chords, play one and add a single note from the other; adding a C struck Barry as almost unbelievably pretty. He adds that Bud Powell went further, using other sixes such as F six against the chord. You have to know the scale.

Two sixth chords against a major key0:040:382:203:59

While a pianist was comping on Misty, Barry stopped the playing: he wanted a plain D minor, not the augmented-ninth sound players habitually add to it. In a D minor you may put the E next to the F, but otherwise keep it simple. He also asked for an A7 with B-flat and E-flat added. The message is to choose each chord sound deliberately instead of reaching for the same altered voicing every time.

Feeling the ‘and’5:205:56

A pretty trick: play two tritones together, for example C, F, F-sharp, B, then move into the sus sound. Barry stresses that you must know the scale, not just the shape. To practise, move only the top and bottom voices, and also try it from the diminished.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick0:000:421:241:59

Give the left hand the same facility as the right. When a student practises small three-note figures, Barry insists the left hand must be able to play them too. He uses the mirror image between the hands: whatever one hand does, the other does in mirror form, so you can practise this kind of figure in either hand.

The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style22:5724:4825:25

Barry contrasts pianists who play one note at a time in one hand with his own way of playing, which is combinations: the two hands working together. He says he does not know where one-hand piano came from, and demonstrates the two-handed sound on In Your Own Sweet Way, a tune from the previous day’s class, pointing out the diminished notes in it.

Practising the sixth diminished scales19:1719:5121:09

No chord should be played with the left hand alone, Barry insists; you have to learn chords played with both hands. He was struck to find piano students who had never played a certain chord in their lives, which he blamed on their keeping the left hand up high because, they say, the low register belongs to the bass.

Eyes of the Masters: the first progression2:28Believe: a talk to musicians16:43

Play small chords, not big ones. Barry says that at every school he has visited (he names North Texas, Berklee, Boston Conservatory, McGill, Concordia and schools abroad) pianists play big chords. A school, he says, should be dedicated to small chords, with nobody playing one-note melodies in the right hand: the chords should be blended across both hands. He saw this clearly when an older student in his class played a song as a blend of the two hands. In another class, too, he reminds players that being beboppers doesn’t necessarily mean big chords up at the top, just little ones.

Small chords, not big ones0:331:05Passport: teaching a blues by ear7:01

Practise drop voicings on the diminished seventh chord. Following a theory book that begins with the human voice, Barry names the four voices of a C diminished seventh chord from the top: soprano (1), alto (2), tenor (3) and bass (4). Then work through the drops: drop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4, and even the odd drop 2 and 3. Run a voicing up step by step and bring it back down, and you can make up a whole little song from it.

Jazz theory, part 2, with score5:306:086:447:17