Lee Barry Composition Diary

The distorted bass is the bull in the china shop because the original is so wispy and breathy--the initial feeling I got from the lyrics when I began to write the music. As primarily a jazz player--or I played a lot of jazz in the past, the music is very harmonic and vertical with large extended chords. But the bass reduces it to the roots and to the chords stripped of their extensions. Embracing denial is an escape from certainty, so the edgy approach also fits.

A miniature piece exactly a minute long. (64 bars in 5/8 at eighth=320). The chords are inverted so as to make step-wise ascending and descending bass lines.

An idea generator.  Video Examples: The Original Book:     Alternate Tunings For Bass by Lee Barry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License . Based on a work at www.box.net . Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://barrystudio.blogspot.com/2020/08/alternate-tunings-for-bass.html . Miscellaneous Loops/Demos:    HISTORICAL NOTE Unconventional tunings, or scordatura (It., from scordare, to mistune); were first used in the 16th century by Italian lutenists. They were primarily used to facilitate difficult passages, but also used to alter timbral characteristics, reinforce tonalities through the use of open strings, and to extend the instrument's range. Violin scordatura was employed in the 17th and 18th centuries by Italian and German composers, namely, Biagio Marini, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Pachelbel and J.S. Bach; whose Fifth Suite for Unaccomp...

This was a set of changes that I wrote around 1990 on an old acoustic that I bought for $50 in 1978. The original had the title ‘Americo’, that apparently is the name of an insurance company now. The original demo recorded on now-ancient technology, a Tascam Portastudio I bought in 1988. It's a personal flight of nostalgia I like to take because the new arrangements can be vastly different yet share the spirit of the beginnings. Lap Steel part: Technically it is in the Lydian mode, but not really. It has a Spanish flavor, hence the title. But I have changed it here to Dorothea, at least temporarily.

Similar to Chromatic Windows , Phases are a series of color systems whereby a color sequence is mapped across a shape sequence, e.g. mapping 5 colors across 6 shapes across 5 objects. There are some artists that use the actual paint chips, but I am using their virtual equivalent and designing the actual "chips." The color sequences are completely customizable in context with the color of the wall.  The RGB values used are below. If you want to match them to wall colors, here is a handy conversion tool .   RGB values for the 5 colors: 1. Signal Red: 170,60,35  https://www.color-hex.com/color/aa3c23 2. Light Blue: 88,135,142  https://www.color-hex.com/color/58878e 3. Black: 30,30,30  https://www.color-hex.com/color/1e1e1e 4. Deep Cream: 200,165,110  https://www.color-hex.com/color/c8a56e 5. Eau-de-Nil: 100,135,120  https://www.color-hex.com/color/648778 RGB values for the 4 colors: 1. Jubilee Blue: 195,220,230  https://www.color-hex...

One of my musical metaphor pieces based on the Intervals series--in this case an augmented octave, which is essentially an octave displaced by one semitone, commonly known as a minor ninth or "flat nine". The shape of the octave in the series is a perfect circle. The offsetting or overlap of the circle (as in a Venn diagram) is its "augmentation". How the two circles interact with each other is different for each piece. 8x10 Giclee prints available (as triptych only). Contact me if you would like a set. 1. Augmented Octave No. 1: Color Burn 2. Augmented Octave No. 2: Lighten 3. Augmented Octave No. 3: Luminosity Using the music metaphor to images of the Moon and phase-shifting and intervals ("double-stops"). #2014 #minimalism

 Integration of Lines (Lines That Always Meet), 8"x8" graphite on paper Isolation of Lines (Lines That Never Meet), 8"x8" graphite on paper #minimalism #2014

If you notice, perfect intervals such as octaves and fifths between a stopped note and its harmonic are out of tune, and the thirds and sixths are in tune--at least on my Jazz Bass.

Phyrigian blues exactly one minute long, 33 bars @132 Video: