Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

Bass removed--only guitar and keyboard parts, with added ambient padding. Sometimes randomly placing a found voice against existing music brings out the hidden musical aspects of the spoken word. Saturnine Alt 1

Final Mix with all instruments Tempo=126, D Dorian Chords: ||: Dm - F - Gsus - D :||: C - G/B - F - Dm || Bb - C - F -G | Bb - C - F - Dm ||

Started with a bass line on a fretless in D dorian (with borrowed chords from natural minor). I added a 'circular' loop of a hammer dulcimer sound for a Saturn-like treatment. (Sounds like Sting circa 1995) Saturnine

Bass line idea in 2 parts.

This started with a noodling around with the tetrachord G-Ab-B-C on a fretless bass, with the bass gravitating finally to C, defining a C minor tonality. I tuned a 4-string to C-G-C-G and did a loping contra bass part, then did another quasi-ostinato part employing lots of open strings. Finally I added a Floyd-ish guitar part to drive the music even further. There is an 'egyptian orchestra' part that I left out, but if included and more well-composed would make this tune sound more Arabic. The tetrachord used as a cell for melodies is decidedly Arabic-sounding, but is merely part of a C harmonic minor scale--not exotic at all. But that is the interesting thing about tetrachordal playing: it is a fragment of scale that can be used to make something sound ethnic.

Sometimes the best thing is to remove all the overdubs and strip it down to its African roots. Most African music is built up from a rhythmic mesh of polyrhythmic layers. usually in 12/8. This is a variation of that in 16/8. Sussed (Mix 8)

Fretlesses (fretlii) removed and organ part added. Sussed (Mix 5)

Added a Rhodes track (a synth one), with a slinky blue note which contrasts with the Steely Dan-ish 7ths in the B phrase. In a rough mix, the parts still don't get along well. The genesis of the idea was played on a bass, and the keyboard parts mask the fretless melody. In any event, they are good bones. Sussed 4

Added rhythm and slide guitar parts, as well as a sub bass part. It now has an U2 'Edge' edge. Sussed 2

Starting with loops derived from "Mercury's Moon, I played layers of patterns using harmonics, and played a melodic bass part underneath it. The result is an African sounding groove. Layers of percussion would work well in this context and not much else. I tried a guitar part but it started to sound like Paul Simon's Graceland album. Comfort in Patterns

A piece for solo cello for performance with a recording of itself, playing in 1-2 devices set on continuous random play. The piece may also be performed by 2-4 players, with or without the recording(s). For a simulated performance without separate audio systems, open each playlist in a separate browser tab or window (These links are already set to open independently): Loops Phrases Notes and Phrases You don't have to play the segments linearly. If it gets boring you can select segments manually. If you are a cellist (or another concert-pitch instrument) you can play along with them. If you use the 'seeds' you can get some interesting and surprising combinations. My intent was to crowd-source it and let others mashup the piece by making variations of the loops, either on the cello or other instruments. Download Score Performance Schematic: Broken Cello by Lee Barry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License ....

Idea based on bass harmonics (again) set against a repeating Phil Glass-like loop. I then played a line on the fretless against the loop. (Due to the humid weather the fretless has a nice growl...) Chords are Dmaj7-A-Fdim-Amin-Fmaj7-Fdim Mercury (1)

Inspired by ' Fwitter ' (140 frames or less), I thought I'd apply the constraint to music: 140 beats or less. I think I did it. It's a dirge on piano in 23.33 bars of 6/4. I wrote it in less than 10 minutes. 140 Beats

This uses several alt keyboard and synth tracks, and has a bluesier sound to it, taking advantage of the diminished chord. The rhythm is cha-cha or perhaps Brazilian in feel. I treated the fretless towards the end with a wah. The Broken Spector

Here is the third mix with a roughly conceived rhythm and slide part. I still tend to prefer the previous mix without guitars, but I might be able to erase some of it away. The track still has some of its alternate tuning quality, even as it gravitates to normal tuning. The original tracks with bass harmonics in the alternate tuning are omitted, but the jazz bass part is still there, panned right. Brocken Spectre 3

Spring will soon be here, and so will tornadoes. I took a melodic approach to a fretless bassline (B Dorian), and added an ominous swirling atmosphere around it. The electric piano with tremolo is an obvious reference to 'Riders on the Storm' or 'Midnight Rider' (Allman Brothers). Sometimes cliches work because you expect them to be there. ***

This is the second alt mix using some of the atmosphere tracks from 'Glint' with added 'liquid piano'. The piece trails off 70s Floyd style, with pitchbend and manipulation of envelope and VCF and VCO controls on liquid piano. Moonbows

An interesting exercise is to take an existing melody (as I did with the Bach cello suite) and map it over another rhythm. You can compose your own or use an existing one. With Be Bach I used the sequence of notes in the Suite and mapped it over a bop rhythm that I composed. After the melody was done I added chord changes. (Someone should write a program that will do this automatically.) Here is the source Bach cello Suite:      A more recent video:   Using isorhythm in a bass line:   

A new tuning (F-Ab-C-F--an open F minor chord). The harmonics make the tuning interesting.  The 'A' figure are harmonics played at the fifth and seventh fret on the Ab, C, and F strings. The 'B' idea consists of stopped notes at the ninth and twelfth fret. Since I do not yet have tab template for this tuning it is difficult to notate here, but the images of hand positions will give you an idea of how it is played.   Hand Position 1 (5th Fret Harmonics):         Hand Position 2 (7th Fret Harmonics):            Hand Position 3 (9th Fret Stopped):       Hand Position 4 (12th Fret Stopped):   I used this tuning on The Brocken Spectre on my Virga album. Obviously, the key is F Minor (with occasional b5). The genesis of the idea was layered ostinati using harmonics. A Fretless part was added last (standard tuning).     A possible riff, which uses mostly open strings and double st...