Barry HarrisThe method
Volume II · Lines Stage 6, line devices Idea 5 of 1012345678910
6.5

Surrounding notes (approach from above and below)

A surround approaches a target from both sides, the note above and the note below, then the target: E♭ surrounded by E and D. Barry used it to pass from one scale or chord into the next: surround the note that changes.

In plain words

Barry’s surrounding notes are the two neighbours of a target, one above and one below, played before it. His example: E♭, the fifth of A♭, is surrounded by E and D. In another class he had C♭, the first note of a chord, surrounded by C and B♭. He put surrounds among the things a player really should know.

The 1998 workshop, part 317:33Chords and the diminished, in The Hague3:24

Surrounds join scales. Everything is connected, Barry told a 1998 class: add a note to the scale you are in and a note of another scale is nearby, so to take a dominant where it is going you just surround the target. Howard Rees shows one case: the 5th and 4th of C7 (G, F) surround G♭, the tonic of its tritone dominant; then the 5th and 4th of G♭7 (D♭, C♭) surround C, the fifth of F.

The 1998 workshop, part 15:436:14Scale Phrases for F Major Blues9:069:3910:12Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶13

The same thinking runs through Barry’s harmony. On Giant Steps he noted that B has notes in common with D, and that any note has something around it. Chris Parks recalls him saying chords move only by notes in common or notes that surround: from C7 to F7 one note changes, and notes of C7 surround it. In the diminished scale each diminished-chord note sits between two roots of its four dominants (C between B and D, E♭ between D and F), and Barry borrowed from those.

Giant Steps in the piano class5:26My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris23:1423:47Diminished chords1:091:412:183:37

Howard Rees applies it to the sixth-diminished scale: each note of C6 is surrounded by diminished notes (C by B and D, E by D and F, G by F and A♭, A by A♭ and B), which are surrounded in turn by notes of the sixth. In his account Barry harmonised a melody note that way in ‘Once in a While’.

Applying the Sixth Diminished Scale1:151:51Harmonizing on “Once In A While”5:13

Step by step

  1. Pick the target and play its neighbour above and its neighbour below, in either order, then land on the target.

    E♭ (fifth of A♭), from above
    𝄞♭
    1. E
    2. D
    3. E♭
    E♭ (fifth of A♭), from below
    𝄞♭
    1. D
    2. E
    3. E♭
    C♭ surrounded by C and B♭
    𝄞♭♭
    1. C
    2. B♭
    3. C♭

    The 1998 workshop, part 317:33Chords and the diminished, in The Hague3:24

  2. To move into another scale, surround a note of the new scale with two notes of the one you are in.

    Howard Rees: 5 and 4 of C7 around G♭ (tonic of G♭7)
    𝄞♭
    1. G
    2. F
    3. G♭
    Howard Rees: 5 and 4 of G♭7 around C (fifth of F)
    𝄞♭♭
    1. D♭
    2. C♭
    3. C

    The 1998 workshop, part 16:14Scale Phrases for F Major Blues9:3910:12Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶13

  3. On a diminished or sixth-diminished scale, surround each note of one chord with its two neighbours from the other chord.

    C6 diminished scale: C between D and B
    𝄞
    1. D
    2. B
    3. C
    E between F and D
    𝄞
    1. F
    2. D
    3. E
    G between A♭ and F
    𝄞♭
    1. A♭
    2. F
    3. G
    A between B and A♭
    𝄞♭
    1. B
    2. A♭
    3. A

    Applying the Sixth Diminished Scale1:15Diminished chords1:412:18

an added note, outside the scale

How he said to practise it

  • Learn the surrounding notes of every note you might aim for, until they are automatic.

    The 1998 workshop, part 317:33

  • Go round a diminished chord surrounding each of its notes with the two dominant roots beside it, then use those notes as borrowed notes in your chords.

    Diminished chords1:412:183:37

  • When a tune moves from one scale to the next, find the note that changes and surround it.

    The 1998 workshop, part 15:436:14

In Barry’s words

Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.

Like the fifth of A flat, the E flat would be surrounded by E and D. That’s surrounding note.

The 1998 workshop, part 3, The Hague, 1989–98. Listing things a player should know, 1998 Hague workshop. 17:33 Watch on YouTube at 17:33

Everything is connected... If you play a scale and you add a note, there’s got to be a note of another scale nearby.

The 1998 workshop, part 1, The Hague, 1989–98. Explaining how one scale leads into the next, early in the 1998 Hague workshop. 5:43 Watch on YouTube at 5:43

So you surround the C flat with C and B flat.

Chords and the diminished, in The Hague. Setting up the second chord of a piece in a Hague studio workshop. 3:24 Watch on YouTube at 3:24

Each note is surrounded by two notes.

Diminished chords, Bilbao, 2016. In the diminished scale, each diminished note between two dominant roots (Bilbao, 2016). 2:18 Watch on YouTube at 2:18

Where this comes from

Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.

Every moment he teaches it9 moments in 5 recordings

Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.

The 1998 workshop, part 3

The Hague, 1989–98 — 76 min On YouTube

  1. 17:33

    E♭, the fifth of A♭, surrounded by E and D; surrounds are something to know.

    Watch on YouTube at 17:33

The 1998 workshop, part 1

The Hague, 1989–98 — 80 min On YouTube

  1. 5:43

    Everything is connected: add a note to a scale and another scale’s note is nearby.

    Watch on YouTube at 5:43

  2. 6:14

    To take the dominant where it goes, he just surrounds the target note.

    Watch on YouTube at 6:14

  3. 13:58

    Starting on the third of F, he has half the surrounding notes and adds C and C♯.

    Watch on YouTube at 13:58

  4. 0:06

    Opens mid-drill on a note being surrounded; the captions say little more.

    Watch on YouTube at 0:06

Chords and the diminished, in The Hague

10 min On YouTube

  1. 3:24

    Surrounds C♭, the first note of the second chord, with C and B♭.

    Watch on YouTube at 3:24

Diminished chords

Bilbao, 2016 — 7 min On YouTube

  1. 1:09

    Diminished scale: each diminished-chord note surrounded by two roots of its dominants.

    Watch on YouTube at 1:09

  2. 3:37

    Surrounding the original notes and borrowing them; the dominant roots say take me home.

    Watch on YouTube at 3:37

Giant Steps in the piano class

The Hague, 1989–98 — 14 min On YouTube

  1. 5:26

    Giant Steps: B has notes in common with D; any note has something around it.

    Watch on YouTube at 5:26

From the lessons1 lesson, 4 points

Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.

Surrounding notes and the well-placed half step

  1. Idea

    Everything is connected, Barry says: if you play a scale and add just one note, there is a note of another scale nearby. To get from a dominant to where it resolves, he simply surrounds the target note.

    The 1998 workshop, part 15:436:14

  2. Exercise

    Learn surrounding notes: approach a target from the notes on either side of it. Barry’s example is the fifth of A flat, E flat, surrounded by E and D. In another demonstration he said he already had half of the surrounding notes, so all he had to add was the C and the C sharp.

    The 1998 workshop, part 317:33The 1998 workshop, part 113:58

  3. Idea

    Barry sums up music, and soloing above all, as putting a half step in at the right time and place. He can start at the top of the piano, run down and add half steps to fit any song, such as I Got Rhythm or All God’s Children. Whatever you do, a half step has to go in somewhere to make the line come out right.

    The 1998 workshop, part 128:3329:0530:19

  4. Idea

    Barry has found that audiences react most to diminished notes, because against the harmony they sound wrong and ears respond to wrongness. His advice: throw a little wrong into the line, then make it right. Listeners don’t know what to think, but you have their attention.

    Let the body do it2:18

In writing7 notes

What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.

How other teachers explain it9 videos, 10 series episodes

Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.

In the teaching series

Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.

Chris Juergensen

DSG_Studio

Isaac Raz

JazzSkills

Kay Benyarko

Things I’ve Learned From Barry Harris

Read further6 links

These open on the web.

Free to read

Books and paid courses