Harmony Tension Level Control: Schillinger, Hindemith and Pitch-Class Sets, Pt 1

[@luigicociglio7621]

Congratulations Frans, great job and the final example is truly convincing and in my opinion. BTW did you incorporate in your studies the tecniques presented in book II and III by Hindemith (2 and 3 voice conterpoint)?

[@FransAbsil]

@Luigi Cociglio, Thanks for the kind words and positive feedback. Glad to hear that the examples seem to support the concepts presented in this series on modern harmony. I studied the other two Hindemith volumes and it is very interesting to compare his 'exercises' with the Schoenberg book on tonal counterpoint and the Jeppesen book on the Palestrina style. However, the Hindemith counterpoint approach does not return explicitly in these tutorial; might be a good idea for future episodes, though.

[@mackenlyparmelee5440]

Sounds very good!!!

[@FransAbsil]

Thanks for the feedback. I do my best to create examples with realistic sounds, and that may involve quite a bit of editing in a Midi mockup.

[@mackenlyparmelee5440]

@@FransAbsil well it sounds great. I've actually gone to your website as of late and started to study the root cycles of the schillinger system. It makes a huge difference with my chord progressions and controlling the level of tension. However, I haven't really moved too much out of simple diatonic triads and tetrads. I'm interested in learning more about reliably constructing non-functional progressions that aren't solely based on stacked thirds, so I guess I'll be watching this video many times over. I'm aiming for a sound that moves freely between traditional and modern. Do you have any suggestions for more material? Is it worth finding a copy of the schillinger system?

[@FransAbsil]

@Mackenly Parmelee. Recommending the Schillinger System of Musical Composition (SSoMC) may raise controversy; in particular caused by his remarks on the artistry of the masters and some of his claims. On the other hand, his writings may stimulate creativity and develop craftsmanship. The theory of traditional, tonal harmony (The Special Theory of Harmony, that you are referring to) is a great overview (confirmed by my many analyses of classical music masterpieces with the SSoMC as part of my background). Mixing musical acoustics fundamentals with statistical analysis of traditional compositions yields a generalization. And that is the strength of the work: a set of techniques that may help the (beginning) composer. The root cycles and tension curves approach are part of that. I try to reconcile the SSoMC with other theoretical approaches, as I did in this video tutorial, where the chord classification scheme by Paul Hindemith (another structural thinker) is mirrored with SSoMC diatonic-symmetric harmony. The result is a larger chord structure set, including tonal and modal triads. Did you try this technique for experimentation? Where you happy with the result? Did it develop your control over the harmonic language? The SSoMC books should be available in hardcopy as the 2003 reprint by Clock & Rose Press (USD 195); be aware, that it takes many hours to read (peculiar notation at times), understand and apply the techniques. That is where I am trying to help through my videos and online teaching. You may find used copies on the market. Other sources (a subset) are books on PC Set theory, the Antokoletz book on Bartok, the Tymoczko book on the Geometry of Music, and careful inspection of online content. Thanks for your contribution to the discussion.

[@vhollund]

It sounds like you refer to way too many concepts without explaining them first What is a positive root cycle f ex? From the examples towards the end it becomes real but you should explain what we hear, not just the technical aspect I'm sorry if it sound ungrateful, I do appreciate the amount of work you put into it, most of it just flew over my head and I know functional harmony extremely well Maybe you can recommend the litterature to read before trying to comprehend this tutorial Thanks and kind regards PS. I have studied the traditional composing techniques described in the teachings of A Schoenberg

[@FransAbsil]

Thanks for the feedback. In order to improve the tutorials I do need additional information. Could you give an example of the kind of description you expect when you refer to 'explain what we hear' (I guess near the middle of this episode where I demonstrate progressions)? As to the explanation of concepts. The Schillinger System requires familiarisation with the nomenclature. To that end I prepared 2 video tutorials a while ago. See the 'Video Watch Tip' (at 1:40). I insert such references to other content regularly. You will recognize the equivalence of Schillinger Diatonic Root Cycles and functional harmony root movements. All books by Schoenberg are great, Schillinger contains more generalizations. Useful references for this video are the Hindemith, Forte and Schillinger 2 Volumes mentioned in the introduction. However, my goal is to provide aspiring composers with practical tools for expanding their harmonic language and tension control, without the need to read the books in great detail. I do my best to 'interpret' these books and present the 'essentials'. Sometimes indeed I will be moving too fast, I may cause confusion, and therefore I appreciate the feedback about when that is happening. Does this help?

[@leonardvanbiljouw5330]

Hindemith in English "The Craft of Musical Composition" Book I: ISBN 13:978-0-901938-30-5

[@FransAbsil]

@Leonard van Biljouw Thanks for adding the bibliography reference to the English version of the Hindemith book, as published by Schott Music GmbH, and still available.

[@JuanLopezMarquez]

do you know any spanish version?

[@FransAbsil]

@Juan Lopez. Sorry for the late answer, but I was never notified about this comment. To my knowledge there are only the English and German book versions. Maybe somebody will leap in with information about additional translations. Have you tried reading the book? Hindemith writes a lot of text, showing his superior knowledge and and analogies with other domains, all in support of his method. Myself I have to read multiple times, study diagrams and staff notation examples, then add underlining and pencil annotations in order to grasp the essence. So I admit that this is not easy to read material, but doable. Hope this helps.

[@nigelhaywood9753]

Chromaticism. 🙂. Chromatism is something to do with biology.

[@FransAbsil]

@Nigel Haywood Thank you for this colourful critici-cism. You are right about my spelling and/or pronunciation error. Fortunately the video was not taken down, since these blunders may damage the general public. I'll try and do better from now on ;-)

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i disagree, it is still a free word.