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

Jul 2026: Two episodes of the video tutorial series on Schillinger Harmony of Fourths are available on the YouTube channel. Part 1, The Fundamentals, follows the Schillinger System book chapter, but with fresh examples. In Part 2, The Extensions, I go beyond the book and present the approach with variable root cycles, transformations, key and mode, and part density. Read more >>

Mar 2026: Watch the three-part series on Geometrical Inversion Variation in the Schillinger System of Musical Composition, where the fundamental forms original, inversion, retrograde and retrograde-inversion are used to create melodic and harmonic continuities. There also is a video tutorial on how to import Superior Drummer 3 MIDI grooves into Steinberg Dorico with correct notation and playback. Read more >>

Aug 2025: During the last months I've been preparing for a live concert, playing solo instruments and full horn sections on the Akai EWI, in combination with the Audio Modeling Camelot software on a Mac laptop. This involved intricate software setup, as illustrated in a set of two YouTube videos. Read more >>

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 >>