In plain words
Barry heard music as one-and-two-and-three-and-four, not just one, two, three, four. Players, he found, tend to fumble the ‘and’ of one and the ‘and’ of two, and drummers the ‘and’ of three; he wanted a continuous motion felt the whole time. He asked drummers to stop hammering on one, since syncopation is where the music lives, and said most pianists comp on one and cannot comp on the ‘and’ of four.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers0:00Believe: a talk to musicians30:0530:3731:11
The ‘ands’ are as important as the beats, he told one class, and you must feel them so you can start a phrase anywhere. A phrase that starts on the tonic right on beat one sounds bad to him; leave off the first two notes so it starts on the second beat and it sounds hipper. He told a class to sing a short phrase off the beat, saying the beat is close to hell and the ‘and’ close to heaven.
Dropping notes to feel every beat5:01Practising the blues with the horns, part 123:1423:48The 1998 workshop, part 345:0245:35
The ‘and’ of four has a special job. Barry called it a spot that instigates things: many bass players treat it as just a pickup, yet plenty of songs start their phrases there, and it sounds better than the beat. A phrase on the ‘and’ of one also sits better coming off the ‘and’ of four than straight after beat one, so before the horns came in on the ‘and’ of one he asked for the ‘and’ of four to be hit first, a little louder.
Student performances and coaching11:2211:57Dropping notes to feel every beat5:34Feeling the ‘and’20:14
The test is feeling the ‘ands’ with nobody marking them. With the drummer no longer helping, a band’s entries on the ‘ands’ turned shaky; Barry told them to feel the spaces as though the drums were still keeping time, then ran the phrase again with the drums deliberately silent. Most of us, he said, don’t feel the ‘ands’ well unless someone tells us where they are.
How he said to practise it
Pick a phrase and repeat it, dropping one more note from the front each time so its start moves from beat one to the ‘and’ of one, then beat two, the ‘and’ of two and on through the bar; then put the notes back one by one. Take it slowly with someone playing along, sing it as well, and keep strict time throughout.
Dropping notes to feel every beat0:000:353:05Feeling the ‘and’39:29
Work towards doing that drill perfectly without counting. Barry called it a phrase to make a habit of practising, one a horn player should simply be able to play.
Group drill: after a bar of count-off, everyone plays a single hit on the ‘and’ of one in the next bar, on the ‘and’ of two in the bar after, then on the ‘and’ of three, then on the ‘and’ of four. Aim for one clean hit each time, with no stray echoes.
Sing a two-word phrase such as ‘don’t go’ after a count of four, placing it off the beat rather than on it.
With singers in Tokyo, Barry looped an eight-bar I-VI-II-V progression and had them land the chord changes on the ‘ands’, so that the VI arrives on the ‘and’ of one.
Vocal workshop: swing it yourself7:02
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
You’re supposed to know about ands, so that when you play... that’s where the music is, man... Music is one and two and three and four.
It’s because the ands are just as important as the beats. So you’ve got to fill the ands so you can start on ands sometimes.
[The and of the four] is like a nice instigate. It instigates upon stuff.
Now you got to fill these spaces as if the time is being played by the drummer.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 8 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Feeling the ‘and’
- 0:00
Group drill: hit only the ‘and’ of one, then two, three and four in successive bars.
- 27:24
Drummer drops out; feel the gaps as if time were played; we don’t feel ‘ands’ unaided.
- 20:14
Hit the ‘and’ of four, louder, before a horn phrase on the ‘and’ of one.
- 0:38
Wants a class where people really learn the ‘ands’, as salsa players do.
Dropping notes to feel every beat
Believe: a talk to musicians
- 30:05
Drummers should stop hitting on one; syncopation and the ‘ands’ are where the music is.
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers
- 0:00
Players fumble the ‘ands’ of one and two, drummers the ‘and’ of three; feel a continuous motion.
Student performances and coaching
- 10:48
Bass and drums should come out on the ‘and’; the ‘and’ of four instigates.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 1
- 23:14
A phrase from the tonic on beat one sounds bad; start it on beat two.
The 1998 workshop, part 3
- 44:26
Class sings ‘don’t go’ off the beat: the beat near hell, the ‘and’ near heaven.
Vocal workshop: swing it yourself
- 7:02
Singers practise hitting a I-VI-II-V chain on the ‘ands’.
From the lessons2 lessons, 11 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
Feel the ‘ands’
- Idea
Barry noticed that players generally mess up the ‘and’ of beat one and the ‘and’ of beat two, and drummers the ‘and’ of three or the third beat itself. What he wanted was for players to feel a continuous action going on, which is what goes on all the time.
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York0:00Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers0:00
- Idea
What Barry wanted from drummers was that they stop hammering on beat one. Syncopation is where the music is, so drummers should know the ‘ands’, the off-beats between the beats. Pianists are the same: most comp on the beat because they count only one, two, three, four, when the music should be felt as one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and, with the action on the ‘ands’.
- Exercise
Barry used the words ‘don’t go’ as a sung phrase, asking the class to picture someone they love about to leave town. He insisted it must not start on the beat: the beat, he said, is close to hell and the ‘and’ is close to heaven. Count one, two, three, four, then come in with the phrase off the beat.
- Exercise
In a blues class with the horns, Barry said a phrase that starts on the tonic right on the first beat sounds bad. If you leave off the first two notes so the same phrase starts on the second beat, he said, it sounds hipper, and he had them try it.
- Idea
Bassists and drummers should learn to play on the off-beats more than on the beat; for example, a drummer coming back in should come out on the ‘and’ of four rather than on one. The ‘and’ of four is a strong spot that sets things in motion; many bass players use it only as a pickup, but many songs start their phrases there. Barry had the band compare a phrase begun on the beat with the same phrase begun on the ‘and’ of four, and the off-beat version sounded better.
- Exercise
Drills for every beat and every ‘and’
- Exercise
Take a phrase and play it over and over, each time leaving one more note off the front (and later adding them back), so the same phrase starts on beat one, then the ‘and’ of one, beat two, the ‘and’ of two, beat three, and so on. Go slowly, have someone play along on a second piano, sing it as well, and keep it in time all the way through. The aim is to feel every beat and every ‘and’ so you can start a phrase anywhere, because the ‘ands’ are just as important as the beats.
- Exercise
Barry ran the same drill with a band on a C7 phrase: leave off the first note, then the first two, and so on, so the start moves through the bar (adding notes moves it back). He called it a phrase worth practising as a habit, done without counting and done perfectly, the way a horn player should be able to, and slowly enough that the singers could do it too.
- Exercise
A group drill: count off, then in the next bar everyone hits only the ‘and’ of one; in the bar after that only the ‘and’ of two; then only the ‘and’ of three; then only the ‘and’ of four. When a class tried it, Barry heard stray echoes on the ‘and’ of four, people playing where they shouldn’t. Aim for one clean hit exactly on the off-beat and nothing else.
Feeling the ‘and’0:00
- Idea
A phrase starting on the ‘and’ of one wants the ‘and’ of four hit just before it, because the ‘and’ of four leads into it; the ‘and’ of one sits better coming off the four than straight behind beat one. So if the horns will enter on the ‘and’ of one, the accompaniment (the drummer, for example) should hit the ‘and’ of four first, and Barry had the band play that set-up louder to make it clear. He complained that drummers don’t practise rhythm enough and mostly hit on one. Starting on beat two feels different again, and all of it needs practice.
Dropping notes to feel every beat5:015:346:12Feeling the ‘and’20:14
- Exercise
When a band played phrases with gaps between them, the time got shaky, especially on entries on the ‘and’ of one, two or three. Barry told them to feel the spaces as if the drummer were still playing time, then had the drummer drop out so the horns had to keep the pulse and place the off-beat entries themselves. Most players feel the ‘ands’ only when someone tells them where they are; the goal is to feel them unaided.
In writing2 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Asked to define bebop, Barry called it mostly syncopation: you must feel the ‘ands’ as much as the beats, because the other half of one, two, three, four is the ‘and’ after each. He said most drummers had lost it and cut the time instead of playing four, and that with his long-time drummer Leroy Williams he feels the ‘ands’.
Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶11Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶12
In a 1994 e-interview Barry singled out knowing the ‘ands’ and not using them merely as pickups to get to the beat.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1506Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1507
How other teachers explain it5 videos, 3 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Barry Harris Method: Rhythmic Drill ()
A rhythmic drill from the Barry Harris method, by its title (no transcript in the archive).
4 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Omit 8ths Rhythmic Exercise
A Barry Harris rhythm exercise built on leaving out eighth notes, by its title.
10 min On YouTube
- Barry’s Beautiful Rhythm Exercise EP 94 TILF Barry Harris
Things I’ve Learned From Barry Harris, episode 94: a rhythm exercise of Barry’s, by its title.
10 min, transcript On YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 72: Let’s Work on Our Rhythm Together (with Barry Harris’s Exercise)
Little Labyrinth 72: working on rhythm with a Barry Harris exercise, by its title.
17 min On YouTube
- Andrea Papini - Rhythmic Exercise by Barry Harris
A rhythmic exercise by Barry Harris at the piano, by its title.
6 min On YouTube
In the teaching series
Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.
Read further2 links
These open on the web.
Free to read
- Howard Rees, Jazz Workshops
— The vocal workshop opens with upbeats for singers, treated as rhythm instruments first (paid).
Books and paid courses
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part Two, Howard Rees: ~4h15, 156-page workbook; chapters Improvisation (49 sections), Rhythm Section (17), Harmony (41)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Its rhythm-section session covers playing upbeats and how that applies to each instrument (paid).