Harry Likas: Warm Up Exercise ((Barry Harris: Pivot and Three-note Enclosure))

[GuyBoden]

Harry Likas: Warm Up Exercise (Barry Harris: Pivot and Three-note enclosure)

"If I practice only one warm-up exercise for improvisation each day, it's this one. Starting at the top of the piano, I alternate between Barry Harris's two favorite embellishments—the pivot and the three-note enclosure—as I work my way down the major bebop scale. The goal is to ingrain the shapes into my finger muscle memory and internalize their sound in my ear. I want them to feel almost effortless and become a natural part of my vocabulary. When I improvise, I don't use them in a constant alternating pattern; instead, they show up subtly, as occasional decorations within my lines.

Please understand that this is playing the key of C, using two alternating embellishments down the C major bebop scale, without particular regard to the underlying chord changes. (The bass pattern is a typical vamp from ‘Rhythm changes’ that every jazz pianist knows.) This right-hand exercise works over almost any chord progression in C. It’s not based on the chords—it’s based on a descending C bebop scale.


As Barry Harris would say, we don’t have to peg our improvisation strictly to the changes. Ignore them here.

The three-note groupings were one of Barry’s brilliant ideas. They keep the chord tones on the beat and the non-chord tones on the offbeats, which gives the line perfect harmonic balance. Bear in mind, though, that it’s not necessary to keep the chord tones on the beat all the time—and trying to micromanage that in real improvisation will drive you crazy. It’s more of an ear-training ideal—something to strive for intuitively, to try to hear and feel.

If the left hand is tripping you up, try memorizing the right hand first without any accompaniment. Any left-hand progression should work. Remember, the left hand does not necessarily dictate what the right hand plays—the right hand may do whatever it wants.


In this case, it’s exercising Barry’s favorite two embellishments, as he would demonstrate them going down the C scale. All you need to understand is that we are alternating a pivot and an enclosure down the C bebop scale: the chord tones are falling on the beat and doing a pivot toward the next scale note, while the non-chord tones are falling on the offbeats and forming a three-note enclosure around the next scale tone.


I was the technical editor for Mark Levine’s “The Jazz Theory Book” and contributed to “The Jazz Piano Book.” I also studied extensively with Barry Harris during the 1990s.

Check out my 1,100 Jazz Piano Arrangements of Standards & 50 Tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas"



Facebook Post

[CliffR]

Interesting! Very similar to a little etude I devised for myself where I combine an enclosure on to the third of each chord in a sequence, followed by a pivot, and then a couple of scale glue notes into the next enclosure. Will post in a day or two once I have it completely down over All The Things You Are.

[GuyBoden]

I like to keep my "pivots with enclosures" very simple, so that I can remember them and play them in the all standards I know.

Example below:

[rintincop]

Thank you GuyBiden for reposting my Facebook post. Here are two pages I put together, inspired by Barry Harris’s warm-up routines based on the C major scale.

[GuyBoden]

Thank you GuyBoden for reposting my Facebook post. Here are two pages I put together, inspired by Barry Harris’s warm-up routines based on the C major scale.

Excellent, many thanks Harry. Good stuff