Frans Elsen
piano, educator
Dutch jazz pianist and teacher at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where Barry taught, and a good friend of Barry’s; he filmed the classes now on the BarryHarrisVideos channel, and Barry turns to him by name in them.
- mentions
- 6
- recordings
- 5
- Barry speaking
- 4
What Barry says
In the Hague classes Barry consults Frans in front of the students: he asks him whether he, Barry, ever gave them the rules for the dominant seventh scale, and tells him they must make sure the students know how many keys each kind of seventh chord belongs to.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 20:00The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are4:39
While a student works on borrowing notes from the diminished chord over a sixth chord, Barry urgently calls Frans over and tells him to explain both notes.
Before showing the class what Chris Anderson does in Stella by Starlight, Barry asks where Frans is.
Stella by Starlight4:09
In his own words
I practice the seven scale, and I practice rules for the seven scale, maybe we ought to do that, you know, that’s what we ought to do. Front [Frans], did I ever give them the rules for the seven scales?
Okay, front [Frans]. We have to make sure that they know a minor seventh is in three keys, a major 7th is in two keys, a dominant 7th is in one key.
Quick France [Frans], France, come here, come quick, quick explain both notes.
Every mention
6 moments in the recordings, 4 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 2
- 0:00
Asks Frans whether he, Barry, ever gave the class the rules for the dominant seventh scale.
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are
- 4:39
Tells Frans they must make sure students know how many keys each chord type is in.
Introducing the sixth diminished scale
- 15:30
Calls Frans over in a hurry and tells him to explain both borrowed notes.
Stella by Starlight
- 4:09
Asks where Frans is before showing what Chris Anderson does in Stella by Starlight.
My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
In the interviews and notes
De Lima notes that the late Frans Elsen taught Barry’s concept of movement extensively at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 1992 to 2008, citing a 2014 interview with Barry.
De Lima calls the transcribed recordings of Barry’s classes at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, 1989 to 1998, made by Frans Elsen, whom he describes as a Dutch jazz pianist and teacher, invaluable to his study.
Marijt describes Elsen as a good friend of Barry’s and a former teacher at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. A website in his name holds 54 videos from his own collection, filmed at Barry’s workshops there between 1989 and 1998, which she transcribed for her study.
In a fragment of Barry’s 2003 Hague workshop, transcribed by Howard Rees, Frans plays the examples at the keyboard while Barry derives minor sixth, dominant and major sixth chords from a diminished chord, and Barry tells him which notes to move.
Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶39Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶42Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶43
A forum member says the phrase he quoted comes from one of about 50 videos of Barry’s master classes at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague recorded by Frans Elsen; another refers to them simply as ‘the Elsen videos’.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶3271jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶1966
In a thread on how to practise Barry’s ideas, one guitarist recommends the Frans Elsen website alongside Howard Rees’s materials; another mentions an improvisation book by the late Elsen, though he does not know what is in it.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶23jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶44
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.
- 10.4Borrowing2
- 13.3Standards worked in class2
- 9.6Half-diminished = minor with the sixth in the bass; major -> relative minor -> minor/62
- 10.1Be a movement player1
- 11.3Mirror image and contrary motion between the hands1
- 14.3Learn from the masters by ear; study the small things1
- 3.2A chord on every degree; how many keys each chord type belongs to1
- 4.3Minor1