Schillinger System of Musical Composition (for Composers) Part 1

Bibliography:
Analyses of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess and I Got Rhythm Variations:
Levinson, Ilya. "What the Triangles Have Told Me: Manifestations of the Schillinger System of Musical Composition in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess," Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1997.
See also:
Arden. J. (2006). Keys to the Schillinger System, course A: Basic principles and foundations. Harwich Port, MA: Rose Books.
Arden, J. (2011): Old Tricks New Media: Schillinger Techniques are Relevant to All Kinds of Contemporary Music Irrespective of Style, Contemporary Music Review, 30:2, 127-141
Schillinger, J. (1946). The Schillinger system of musical composition. New York: C. Fischer. Schillinger, J. (1948). Mathematical Basis of the Arts. New York: Philosophical Library.

[@brunorivas7013]

Keep doing these videos, they are soo interesting

[@ThreeBeingOne]

Life changer, thank you sir.

[@LilKevo303]

amazing- more please!

[@zoemartlew]

ooh this is SOOOOO amazingly useful THANK YOU for that incredibly clear and lucid explanation, Milton! I knew that Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm" is based on Schillinger principles, and now can see basics of how it works. Brill!

[@miltonline]

Thank you!

[@timthompson468]

Interesting. I just received Schillinger’s two volumes today. As you mentioned, it will take years to get through the text, but I think it will be fun to enter some of his examples into a DAW to get a better understanding of how music is made.

[@miltonline]

It's really well suite for a DAW. In fact a lot of the representations are essentially piano roll representations.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

love it!!

[@ricflaudingvideos]

I work as a composer-Arranger-orchestrator (London Sym/Prague/Nashville Recording Orch/many others. Studied Schillinger for several years with J. Shaffer Smith who studied with Schillinger. Though I don’t apply it strictly. The discipline alone is worth it. That was years ago.

[@miltonline]

How fascinating, I'd really like to chat to you about that if possible!

[@ricflaudingvideos]

@@miltonline Happy to do the same. I now live in Texas (from LA). How do you suggest we talk? Glad to see Schillinger finally getting fair recognition.

[@miltonline]

@@ricflaudingvideos Wonderful. Have emailed you on your site...

[@ricflaudingvideos]

@@miltonline I'll check in a bit. Thank you.

[@ricflaudingvideos]

@@miltonline I just emailed you. Let me know you got it via email. Thank you.

[@LilKevo303]

it would be awesome to have musical examples to go with the compositions!

[@lambertronix]

i haven't heard the name schillinger in a while! denman maroney's "temporal harmony" is very similar to this

[@christopherpaul1810]

I began studying the SSMC in 2010 with Philip DiTullio (R.I.P.) and have written well over a hundred musical works using the presented theories. Before that, I did not know anything about musical composition other than how to read notation (and play a few instruments). In my opinion, The Schillinger System is the way music theory/composition should be taught in schools. Shame it was taken out of accredited curriculum.

[@miltonline]

Fascinating thank you. Feel free to share a link to your catalogue!

[@christopherpaul1810]

@@miltonline tried sharing a link twice and twice was deleted

[@miltonline]

@@christopherpaul1810 oh no- not me doing that. Probably a KZbin restriction. Will look into it.

[@christopherpaul1810]

@@miltonline Algorithms these days are out of control. There is a link however on my you tube page it's a sound cloud link

[@dat_chip]

KZbin removes comments with links in them. It's quite frustrating.

[@OldCanadianguy953]

I got through about 3/4 of this video and I’m more confused than when I started. Isn’t there a “Cole’s notes” condensed version of this in plain English?

[@James-io8lj]

Have you encountered the French 18th century Trioletes and Tricolets?

[@steveallenmashburn8815]

I think a @ b (a against b) is a better notation than the two symbols that Schillinger used.

[@ThreeBeingOne]

Can I get a power point or pdf of these slides? Also thanks again!!

[@delmonteloic4070]

Hey there, coming let to the party. Do you know if they are any new editions on schillinger system ?

[@miltonline]

Not that I know of. The books are really collations of lecture notes which are somewhat disparate. However a new edited edition would be awesome…

[@rossharmonics]

Jeopardy - What method does James Stewart use in the Glenn Miller Story?

[@rossharmonics]

James Stewart as Glenn Miller takes June Allison playing his wife run into Schillinger and Schillinger says when he sees June Allison that now he knows why Miller (Stewart) hasn't been coming for his lessons. After they leave, June Allison asks Stewart why he hasn't been going for lessons. The answer: Money. She starts saving money for a fund to support Miller's (Stewart) career. When he starts up his lessons, he writes the Moonlight Cocktail.

[@gwilymprice4442]

Do you know of Stanchinsky's B Major étude (1909)? Stunning little piece if you haven't, with highly complex polyrhythms for the period, some unusual harmonic twists and a canon. If I've understood the video correctly and my dodgy maths is correct, the rhythm in it is 5:3 in the upper stave, with the melody in (5) 3s, and the arpeggiated figures in (3) 5s, which gives r = (3+2+1+3+1+2+3)/15, which itself is in a 5:3 polyrhythm with the lower stave in (5+4)/9 (ignoring the switch to (3+3+3)/9 around the central climax), giving an overall r = (9+6+3+7+2+3+6+9)/45. This is before the (5) 3s of the melody each split into two semiquavers.

[@miltonline]

I don’t but thanks for sharing, I shall explore..

[@keithlehman2033]

I've been studying his work for a few years but I don't understand how 3 1 2 2 1 3 equals C D# E F# G# A. Can you explain, please?

[@miltonline]

They are semitone gaps between notes in the scale. C to D# is 3. D# to E is 1 etc

[@atticusakelly]

If you have a moment and are so inclined-what on earth is a complementary factor? I can't find an explanation anywhere and it seems crucial to understanding this. Any help is appreciated!!!

[@atticusakelly]

Like, what does it mean for 2/2 to equal 1 1(2), but also 2/2=2 2(1)

[@miltonline]

Simply x * y = z therefore y * x = z Musically speaking this means for example the complementary rhythm of 3 groups of 2 eighth notes is 2 groups of 3 eighth notes.

[@atticusakelly]

@@miltonline this was a fast reply and very helpful. Thank you 🙏

[@atticusakelly]

@@miltonline last question-the thing that is really tripping me up here is where are we getting 2/2 from. I can’t seem to wrap my head around it.

[@miltonline]

@@atticusakelly I'm not sure where that is exactly but it would seem 2(1) and 1(2) was intended. These books were collated from numerous notes and are not immune to errors. His terminology is not entirely consistent or standard and not always clear or succinct. Hence his very niche appeal! I've tried to remedy that a bit with these vids.

[@dominic.isidore]

I'm really confused why 1/2 equals a quarter note. Can you explain? If that was a time signature wouldn't that mean that there is 1 half note in each measure and a half note gets 1 count?

[@miltonline]

Yes confusing. So Schillinger was unusual in that in his system you can decide what the basic time unit is. 2:1 means a group of 2 ‘time units’. Those time units can be half-notes (minims), quarter notes (crotchets) or anything. You’ll notice he fleshes out his examples with example time units.

[@JazzRuMagazineVideoChannel]

It's SchillinGer (as in finGer), not Schillingjer. Sorry.

[@ZenMountain]

What on earth? Jeezus. I couldn't understand anything.