Frans Absil Music, website and shop with e-books, free document library, musician tools, compositions and arrangements

Jan 2025: A video tutorial on the creation of a Schillinger rhythmic continuity with a Fibonacci sequence has been uploaded. Since I closed the Patreon account all Companion Documents are now available in the Webshop. Also, quite a few pages on the website have been updated or restructured. Read more >>

Dec 2024: The good news is that I've reached the number of 5,000 subscribers on the YouTube channel. There's also a fresh upload about writing an orchestral continuity from two musical source elements: a melodic continuity built from a string of melodic forms and a set of two-layer triadic polychords. Read more >>

AUG 2024: A two-part tutorials series shows the Schillinger System approach to chromatic harmonization of a chromatic melody. In Part 1 you'll see the fundamentals, with the essential elements of the chromatic system of harmony and a demonstration of the two-step harmonization process. Part 2 is an application example: a four-minute orchestral composition. Read more >>

JUN 2024: SWAM solo string instruments were tested in a rendering experiment using fragments from string quartets by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms and Ravel and uploaded as a YT video. The TouchOSC controller set was expanded with a project for Ample Sound guitars and basses. Read more >>

APR 2024: The YouTube tutorial series on Schillinger Harmonization of a Diatonic Melody (Book 6, Chapter 3) now is complete with Part 3 Chromatic Harmonization and Part 4 Symmetric Harmonization. You'll learn the fundamentals and the application to the full melody from Part 1. Read more >>

JAN 2024: I started a YouTube tutorial series on Schillinger Harmonization of a Diatonic Melody (Book 6, Chapter 3). Different harmonization approaches will be presented, with fundamentals and examples in various musical styles. Two episodes have been uploaded: Part 1, The Melody and Part 2 Diatonic Harmonization. Read more >>

NOV 2023: A conversation between James Blake and Brian Eno triggered this video on what the latter calls 'the arsehole chord'. It discusses the chord structure: the voicing with an exposed minor 9th interval yields a highly dissonant chord. Alternatively, close this interval by inserting a new pitch-class and obtain extended chords in thirds, pentachord sets and two-layer polychords. Read more >>