52nd Street Theme
In a 1998 workshop in The Hague Barry tried his half-step rule on Thelonious Monk’s 52nd Street Theme, imagining its bridge filled with half steps, and said rules like this upset every ready-made idea. Moments before, he had said that anything which breaks a habit means he is doing something right.
- moments in class
- 3
- recordings
- 1
- Barry plays it
- 2
What he teaches through it
After drilling a rule that puts a half step between every pair of scale notes from C up to G, Barry tried it on the 52nd Street Theme, imagining the bridge starting with all the half steps put in. Rules, he said, upset everything: he could no longer play the ideas he had ready, and had to make something new out of them.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit19:5020:3125:1125:5726:32
He treated that discomfort as the point. Just before turning to the tune he said that whenever something breaks one of his habits, he is doing something right.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit24:08
In his own words
I suppose I was starting the bridge with the same thing. Starting the bridge, let’s see, I’m going to put in all the half steps.
It will upset all pre-laid plans. Pre-prepared things. I can’t even play that. I got to make it into something.
In class
Every moment he works on it, with the ideas of the method it shows.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit
Barry plays it
- 52nd Street Theme2026, 4 min YouTube
- Barry Harris, Red Rodney, Charles McPherson, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley - 1992-08-29, Riverside ParkNew York City, 1992, 35 min YouTube
In the method
The ideas of the method these moments show, and how many moments each.