Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

  Last piece of music for 2022 with an upbeat mood and a riff on time, and 45 (47) seconds in length. In fact, it doesn't need to be any longer.  I did three bass parts:   Jazz Bass:  https://youtube.com/shorts/XilKxY8QXAc?feature=share Fretless:  https://youtube.com/shorts/-2bD0zlwwZw?feature=share MM:  https://youtube.com/shorts/7uLipaM0Ta0?feature=share Very often I'll "re-purpose" my aphorisms by using them for song lyrics if they sound musical. ("Aphoristic Pop").

  The technical term for "borrowed" chords is "modal interchange", meaning the universe of chords can be expanded from the seven chords available in the primary key through a reciprocal interchanging process. Using the metaphor of the solar system, with Earth as a starting point, the orbit of Mars is the first source of additional chords. If you are in a major key you can go there to obtain more chords from the parallel key (not relative key). In C, the parallel key is C minor, and vice-versa. Using the circle of fifths, the next "planet" is Jupiter, and would be G Major, or its relative minor, E minor. Since it has one sharp, it will give you all the chords that have F# in them, such as B Minor, D Major and D7. Using the circle of fourths , ascending from C, the next destination is F Major and F Minor, one flat and four flats respectively. This could give you access to Bb major and Bb minor triads, C7, Db Major, Eb and Eb7, G minor and G half-diminished ...

  12 cubes (6x6x2) for each interval in the chromatic scale using only black, white and red. Can be displayed on a shelf, or hung on a wall. Each cube is currently prepared for shelf display with felt on the back edges to prevent cubes from scraping. The cubes can also be tiled together in different ways like building blocks to teach chords and intervals. A very unique work done in the style of Josef Albers or Alexander Calder. Work is fully documented on its own website for information and archival purposes. Cube 1. Unison Cube 2. Minor Second Cube 3. Major Second Cube 4. Minor Third Cube 5. Major Third Cube 6. Perfect Fourth Cube 7. Diminished Fifth Cube 8. Perfect Fifth Cube 9. Minor Sixth Cube 10. Major Sixth Cube 11. Minor Seventh Cube 12. Major Seventh

  To calculate an interval requires visualizing it on your instrument. This exercise helps both interval identification on the staff, as well as interval identification on guitar and or keyboards. It also gives you a good foundation for reading music. The mnemonic I've used here is: Some kind of C to some kind D is some kind of second. Some kind of C to some kind E is some kind of third. Some kind of C to some kind F is some kind of fourth Some kind of C to some kind G is some kind of fifth Some kind of C to some kind A is some kind of sixth Some kind of C to some kind B is some kind of seventh. But it will also need to be drilled beginning on D, E, F, G, A, and B, yet not on every chromatic scale degree: Db and D# are "some kind of D", Eb and E# are "some kind of E", and so on.  ***  Video Lesson: Quiz: Loading…

  A piece exactly 60 seconds in length with a number sequence as lyrics. It can also be performed in reverse order. A fun game for children and adults alike. Tempo and bar lengths can be changed for the same 60-second target and lyrics can be swapped out for other sequences that are singable or otherwise musical. *** The AI-generated version. It understood the strophic rhythmic pattern in only 1 of 7 iterations, but the result is kind of interesting. It couldn't generate a similar result for the second "verse" with 1098, 765, etc. Different words can also be used to swap out the numbers. The voice it used was appropriately robotic.

My latest "minute song". The idea would be to make an album 15 minutes long--but not all bass stuff. This is written on bass but could have lyrics added later. It's also interesting that in such a short song there is a modulation to a very rare key, C# Major. It sounds so simple, even overly simple, but there's a complexity in it.    Melange by Lee Barry

  A 2-chord Joe (Am/Ebmaj7(#11)) using two chord scales: A minor pentatonic (or A natural minor) and Eb Lydian. Or you could use a C major scale alternating with a Bb major scale, or C major pentatonic and Bb major pentatonic. The key is to alternate between the B-natural and Bb and E-natural and Eb as the chords change. In some metaphorical way, the Bs and the Es are "mirror reflections" or opposite. Etude: Chord Scale Alternation by meta4s

  A 2-chord Joe (Am/Ebmaj7(#11)) using two chord scales: A minor pentatonic (or A natural minor) and Eb Lydian. Or you could use a C major scale alternating with a Bb major scale, or C major pentatonic and Bb major pentatonic. The key is to alternate between the B-natural and Bb and E-natural and Eb as the chords change. In some metaphorical way, the Bs and the Es are "mirror reflections" or opposites.   Sum 1: Nostalgia Galaxy by Lee Barry   Video:  

Music composed specifically for places (a psychogeography), to be played as background music while involved in some other activity, using headphones at a low volume allowing ambient sounds to bleed in. Download individual tracks:  

   A song of portmanteaus: "mysteronomy" (a hybrid of mystery and astronomy: "He had a deep love for mysteronomy"). Or "mysterectomy" (like hysterectomy--"she had her mystery removed"). Mysteronomy Weaving webs through history In veils of anonymity Lost in a sea of subjectivity We still mistake freedom for free A synedoche Weaving threads through you and me A way towards relativity Lost in a maze of reactivity We still mistake the two for the one Mysterectomy It's the end of our uncertainty The truth of our cosmology Lost is a space of subjectivity We still mistake the earth for the sun  Rough backing track:  Melange by Lee Barry

  Changes: Proxima B (Groove In G Minor) by meta4s This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .

  I'm calling this "Western Flamenco" because it suggests nylon string rasgueado and other nylon techniques. It's the first song I've written with only one verse, topically about the mystery of the 60s music venue and Lynch's Lost Highway . The Refrain is nonsense or marginally suggestive wordplay.  The Topanga Corral (It's gonna break your heart) The Topanga Corral (You're gonna get a new start) The Topanga Corral (It's gonna break your heart) The Topanga Corral (You're gonna play a new part) In the beginning A lost highway was found In the world of the neo-noir Mystery on a VHS Took a sharp turn At the roadhouse When I went back It was burned down In a shark tank For the dark shark Took a left turn For a right start Topanga Corral by meta4s   *** Some interesting AI spins--with subtle Doors reference:   

9/20/2005                     On the advent of cell phone video: Is it a new medium? How does it affect perception?  [Musing On Music Mostly LLM: Prompt: " Discuss the evolution of film and video and its effect on perception "]      9/20/2016             What all musicians should love is the process, both at compositional and performance levels. Sometimes I love the potential in ideas that I get, even if the first demos don’t fully express or resolve them. If all I get is a nice set of changes, I feel a sense of satisfaction and/or relief that the muse is still there.             9/20/2017             Orange Peel, 19 x 25 inches, acrylic on paper with iridescent copper patina. (Third in the ‘Leaf’ series (Goldleaf, Silverleaf). Copper patina makes the work bright and pastel in sunlight and darker and dramatic...

Very often when I'm taking photographs of architecture I take note of the interstitial space between buildings (or sculptures), and how they frame the sky to the edges of the photograph.   In 2015, I experimented by cutting the shapes on a laser cutter with translucent blue Plexiglas. The next phase of the project will involve mounting them within frames. In certain ways, they are an homage to Joseph Cornell’s cut paper silhouettes as in “Varietes de Mineralogie”  or the silhouettes in the Ledger Book of William Bache . In terms of human universals they are a "classification of space"  *** Prototypes with 4 blue LEDs powered by 2 AA batteries. Since they draw so little power, they can stay lit for months, although they progressively fade, which is an interesting "happy accident". A "sunset" frame would be interesting.    VIEW MORE IMAGES Also see Architectural Deconstruction If you would like to follow this project, please subscribe to my Mailing Lis...

  DGDG is an interesting tuning to experiment with. You could view it as an "Open G" for bass (or G5), or as a combination of bass and cello tunings, or a "cello sandwich" with fifths bookended by fourths, or as "Drop D-G").  It has a nice movable major 7th chord using a combination of fretted notes and natural harmonics (in this case alternating a major third apart), and demonstrates how you can use alternate tunings to generate song ideas, even on a bass. I probably would not have discovered the two oscillating chords on other instruments. Once I start to track up an idea it starts to change. I had used it for a heavier proggy arrangement, using strumming, which can work well as rhythm guitar parts. What started as delicate noodling while watching a movie turned into something much heavier with some added synth atmospheres.  Lead Sheet (Tab)

  A new piece in DGDG tuning for 2 basses, one playing the melody and harmonics and the other a "bass" part. Both should be played in this tuning, but it can be played in standard tuning. New Churches by meta4s

                        Next in the series of orchestral miniatures. Astrolabe No. 19 by meta4s

  A 6-bar bass line that modulates down by a major third 3 times, then repeats. Score: Power Of Three by meta4s

  Another one of my instrumentals initially driven by a title and a few lyrics, but never singing on it (not me). I was watching a video of David Lynch talking about his morning routine and why he still smokes. The title idea was Meditation, Coffee and Cigarettes which suggested a tango or Latin feel, with some lap steel (which Lynch loves). In the outro, I came up with a repeating phrase played in octaves on a Jaco-y fretless based on the 2-chord vamp in the song proper.   Frontiers by Lee Barry

  Very often after I finish a mix I experiment with different treatments. Sometimes I arrange them for ensembles, in this case a string piece (either quartet of string orchestra), or just an outro vamp . This is the released version --a riff on Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine in some minimal ways. That track was released in 1967, but the vibe was very mid-60s psychedelia. I noticed a shift around 1966 when songs were sounding darker and using more minor seconds, which early metal picked up on, primarily Black Sabbath.  It's also interesting to trace its evolution: originally it started as a bluesy guitar piece, "Drugstore Prints" , low-quality machine photo prints from Walgreen's, reflected in the lo-fi sound.  Dynaxiom 1622 applies: A piece of art or music is a touchstone for a future context. In essence, it awaits unknown connections and circumstances that might occur in the future--with meanings that the original artist might not have realized. (Always consider ...

  An example of a re-use of other writing, in this case a response to a Quora post about sailing around the globe, then used as a metaphor for being "On the Road".  Frontiers by Lee Barry The Road by meta4s *** The AI versions. Horrible. This is an example where AI music just doesn't deliver. It's produced, as opposed to my bedroom version, but the music itself sucks. It doesn't understand 12/8 feel. The prompt: A 12/8 blues shuffle with a distinct Americana vibe, building intensity up until the outro vamp, trading solos on guitar and sax , R&B, Male Vocals, Choir, Harmonized Vocals, Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Piano, Organ, Saxophone, Keyboard, Steel Guitar  

  A "scoring" of Michael Heizer's "City" complex in Nevada. (Music For Places II) From a lecture by the art historian Kirk Varnedoe: "Part of my art is based on an awareness that we live in a nuclear era," Heizer says in an interview in 1984. "We're probably living at the end of civilization." His project in the Nevada desert, a great monumental series of abstract forms, equates the erosive force of centuries— the blunting of ruins and grand residues of past societies—with the explosive force of the present. He makes clear that Complex One is situated close to a nuclear blast site, and that its angled front wall is designed to serve as a blast shield, deflecting the power of a nuclear bomb." Heizer's elemental forms collapse time into a view colored by a millennial, almost apocalyptic sense of the present.  Lap Steel Mix:

   A jazz head composed mostly of add-2 chords.   Noondreams (9-22-1995) by meta4s   9/22/1995  For the Fall Equinox:

  I hate tpyos--especially when they're burned in, and it's the "single" on this album of music for miniature dioramas. ( More on this room )    

What I find particularly interesting about the second version is the vocal is just dummy lyrics--similar to what we do at the beginning of a song when we don't have words yet. The rhythm (or wordrum) is a repeating phrase or vamp that can have words filled in. The first version has a Talking Heads vibe, the second something Mark Hollis would do. Both paintings by Ed Paschke:  First (Title Unknown), Second "Caliente" *** This originally started as song-as-word-game, using pronouns, verbs, and words ending in -ated, and in this case alphabetical, set against a blues shuffle rhythm. There is no vocal (at least at this point), but the words create the rhythm of the piece. He got celebrated He got dedicated He got elevated He got fabulated He got infiltrated He got liberated He got militated He got negotiated He got occupated He got perpetrated He got repatriated He got substantiated    It's the final track on the Frontiers album. In the repeating phrase in t...

   The usual way that I work is to sit down with my songwriting diary, which is essentially an unorganized collection of song titles, lyric lines, and couplets, and I attempt to match them with what I'm noodling around on, or riffs I've already recorded to some extent. In this case it was a line of poem by A. Pushkin, quoted in Alexander Luria's book, The Mind of a Mnemonist , "Small Wonder, is it? Kharita". I notated the natural rhythms of the words as follows. The tune was extrapolated from that one seed. This is more of a placeholder lyric and different lyrics can be swapped out later.   

  One of my Composition Strategies is "Accretion", and that's what happened here. As I was reading Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, specifically paragraph in the "Blue of Distance" chapter, jumped out as particularly musical. I already had some angular guitar music that I was noodling on and I married the two. Anything with the word blue in it compels me right into cool-school jazz. Edges Of Blue by meta4s

  I know this might seem maudlin, but it's fitting for our time. The first verse was actually inspired by magnet poetry, which I used in the studio to generate lyric ideas. The genesis was random, but a deeper meaning was revealed. I found the Melville quote much later, which fit perfectly.    We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. - Herman Melville    Threads by meta4s I fish for answers to questions Floating in the salty seas Soon to be devoured By the hungry ocean waves Exploring the dark cloud of yesterday That hangs above my head No silver lining or gold lame Only frayed and hanging threads Threads will take me places Where every soul is strange Looking puzzled at the faces Not connected with any name Always looking through the veil Obscuring what is real What I seek I find again Such a bargain, such a stea...

  A song based on an errant phrase that I used as a lyric, which I think is Rumi, but I can't find the source. It is essentially a jazz piece and is mostly instrumental. (A song about uncertainty)  Mystery Rumi by meta4s A prior interation:    

  GALLERY

  Gapper/Snipper, 8x10 inches, photo collage.  An architectural image cut-up an reassembled to change the angle perspective from plan to side view.   #2013

  First track for "Central Coast". Something march-like and motivational. Determined by meta4s

  First ditty of the year Frontiers by Lee Barry 1/4/2025: Interesting version generated by AI, and in the Phrygian mode: