Volume I · FoundationsStage 0 of 15
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How Barry taught (read this first)
The shape of a Barry class, his vocabulary, and the principle that rules matter more than scales.
- 0.1 How a Barry class worked Barry taught in one long, open group class: pianists first, then singers, then bass, drums and horns for improvisation. He called out or sang a scale or phrase, counted it off, and everyone played it back together, in time and by ear.
- 0.2 Barry’s vocabulary ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘up and down’, ‘to the third of’, ‘arpeggio’ vs ‘chord’ Barry gave lines as short spoken calls with exact meanings: scales run tonic to seventh; ‘up’, ‘down’ and ‘up and down’ give the direction; ‘to the third of’ gives the landing note; a ‘chord’ has four notes, an ‘arpeggio’ is a triad plus its octave.
- 0.3 Rules matter more than scales; everything by logic Barry taught a few scales and a set of rules to carry in your head and apply from any degree, not licks to memorise. The rules, he said, matter more than the scales, and he claimed everything he taught could be worked out by logic.