I Should Care

In a short class clip from Rome whose title names I Should Care and the C7♭5 scale in drop 2, Barry has just played. He remarks that he used the scale there even though it does not fit the melody well.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick0:00

Then a ‘trick thing’ he called really pretty: play two tritones together, C, F, F♯ and B, then move into the sus sound. He admitted he did not know these all that well himself.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick0:000:421:24

To do it, he said, you have to know the scale. To practise, play only the top and bottom voices, and also do it starting from the diminished.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick1:241:59

From there he turned to classical music. The classical musicians, he said, knew the scales; what gets called leading tones and appoggiaturas is really a borrowed note. He hunted for a chord in Chopin’s first Ballade, which he described as an E♭ chord made with a diminished note.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick2:333:163:49

In a talk at his Almería masterclass, Barry complained that people turn everything into ii-V’s. His example was I Should Care: players start it on a B half-diminished chord, which he said is not right; for him the opening is simply a G minor seventh.

Believe: a talk to musicians35:1735:53

The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part Two, produced by Howard Rees, places the tune in its harmony chapter: Barry’s performance, filmed from overhead, with a transcription and analysis of his voicings. It comes after the sixth-diminished scales, contrary motion, the tritone’s minor and voicings with borrowed diminished notes, and before exercises thinking sixth to sixth to sixth instead of ii-V-I.

Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶12Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20