Volume IV · Piano, voice and tunesStage 13 of 15
13
Tunes as the curriculum
The repertoire Barry used to teach the method.
- 13.1 The blues the Barry way Barry taught the blues in layers: a plain scale plan for all twelve bars first, then the chords that move inside it (two diminished chords into the II, IV minor or the raised-four diminished) and pivots that join everything into one long line.
- 13.2 Rhythm changes (‘seven songs in one’) With the blues, rhythm changes was a staple of Barry’s teaching: map it with plain scales, know the chords players vary in bars 3–4, break up the bridge with the rules of the 5, 4 and 3, and phrase through it from any note.
- 13.3 Standards worked in class Barry taught the method through standards. Each tune was first learned through its scales, then mined for one lesson: which key a chord belongs to, a movement to recognise, a spot for a scale, or a phrase built with the band.
- 13.4 Monk’s and Bud’s tunes; learning from records Barry treated his two piano models differently: learn Monk’s songs, not his style, but listen to Bud Powell closely and work out what he did. Both came to Barry the way his generation learned: from records, slowed down and played along with.
- 13.5 Barry’s own compositions as etudes Barry composed from his own method: a piece called Borrowing, which swaps a sixth chord’s notes for diminished ones, and tunes made up on the spot from numbers an audience picked. His recorded solo on the blues Stay Right With It is now study material.