Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished

Name: Vera Marijt Main Subject: Jazz Piano Research Coach: Jarmo Hoogendijk Title of Research: Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished Research Question: How can the transcriptions I made of Barry Harris' workshops and recordings be incorporated in my playing, in order to develop myself in a bebop style? Research Process: I transcribed two DVD boxes containing 8 discs of over 8 hours of workshops by pianist Barry Harris that were recorded and published by Howard Rees. Furthermore, I transcribed about 54 video's of Barry Harris that were published on the website, www.franselsen.com, and several solo's of him. This resulted in about 35 pages of transcribed material, that I sorted and practiced during my Master studies. Summary of Results: Barry Harris talks in his workshops a lot about one important chord; the diminished. He explained how chords are related to the diminished and how we can use the diminished to connect chords and create 'movement'. Two important scales are the major and minor 6 diminished scales. Exercises I got out of the transcriptions and experimenting with this, opened a new world of sounds, voicings, harmonic knowledge and ideas for improvisational lines for me. I apply the material to existing pieces and wrote a composition in which these techniques are used. In the presentation I will explain about the major and minor 6th diminished scales and how they can be applied to tunes.