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Monthly news items, video links and blog on the Frans Absil Music website

News Archive 2018

December 2018: Schillinger System Diatonic-Symmetric Harmony: The Bass Part

Watch the YouTube video tutorial:

  • Schillinger System Diatonic-Symmetric Harmony: The Bass Part (22:20). This Schillinger harmony type by definition combines diatonic roots with independent chord structures. This normally yields a diatonic bass part, except when using the chord groups G6, G64, or a special case of chord inversion. This tutorial demonstrates these principles and the best approach to a bass part with altered notes. You will find this movie in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.

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November 2018: Harmony Tension Level Control Video Tutorial and New Composition

New content:

  • Harmony Tension Level Control: Schillinger, Hindemith and Pitch-Class Sets, Part 1 Triads (27:38). Control the tension level curve in a chord progression, using the Schillinger Diatonic-Symmetric Harmony System, the chord classification scheme by Paul Hindemith and a Pitch-Class Set interval vector mapping. This episode shows the fundamentals for triads, presents three chord progressions and one orchestral music cue example. You will find it in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.
  • YouTube video of the composition Redo Or Undo Last Action by Frans Absil Redo Or Undo Last Action >> is a composition for electric guitar and string orchestra. It is a tribute to a foreign friend who passed away recently. The piece was written after an extended period of computer stress, during which not only precious files were lost. (On this page there is a description of the piece, plus links to the PDF full score and the Soundcloud audio). The piece is also on YouTube: Audio and the making of 'Redo Or Undo Last Action' (9:32)

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September 2018: Dissonant Chords in the Schillinger Diatonic Harmony System: An Overview

Watch the YouTube video tutorial:

  • Dissonant Chords in the Schillinger Diatonic Harmony System: An Overview (27:37). This episode summarizes the essentials from the separate tutorials on the Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Chord. Aspects discussed are chord structure and position, preparation and resolution of the dissonant 7th, 9th and 11th, and root cycles. Two new example diatonic chord progressions are presented in detail. You will find these movies in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.

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August 2018: The Eleventh Chord in Diatonic Harmony video tutorial

Watch the YouTube video tutorial:

  • The Eleventh Chord in the Schillinger Diatonic Harmony System (26:01). The 11th chord in diatonic harmony has three dissonant chordal functions 7, 9, and 11, that require preparation and resolution through careful voice leading. This tutorial discusses the S11 chord structure and position, and dissonance preparation and resolution techniques through suspensions, descending and ascending stepwise motion. Usage of the 11th chord is demonstrated with chord progressions and an up-tempo rock music example. You will find these movies in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.

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July 2018: The Siege of Lemongrad

Last month I saw the movie The Death of Stalin (director: Armando Iannucci) with the wonderful score by Christopher Willis. The music is in period style, with a socialist realism idiom. At first I thought that the score was a compilation of musical quotes with new transitions. But then in an interview I read that Willis had spent months studying scores to identify the Shostakovich and Prokofiev style elements, before coming up with his amazing original score for large orchestra.

YouTube video of the composition The Siege of Lemongrad by Frans Absil So I decided on a homework assignment and see how far I could get spending significantly less time over a period of weeks. I reread the Dover score of the Shostakovich symphonies No. 1 and 5, listing typical style elements. Then I spent a couple of days sketching a piece as a condensed score. After that I wrote the full score for symphony orchestra in Finale (find it in the composition list on this site), before moving to Logic Pro for a Midi mockup. As usual, creating a more or less realistic synthetic orchestra is a labour-intensive process, especially on my old 12 Gb Mac Pro. For pragmatic reasons, I limited myself to the Spitfire Symphonic Library, bounced regions with specific instrument articulations to audio, then did the mix.

In the YouTube video, there is the audio mixdown, with an annotated condensed score and cartoonesque graphics, telling a mockery story about the fictitious Siege of Lemongrad. I hope you'll enjoy watching this experiment. Happy summer holidays 2018!

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June 2018: Reusing Compositional Elements From the Tristan Act 3 Prelude

New content:

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May 2018: Composing with a Pitch-Class Set: the Orchestral Score for the 'Nika Albi' Trailer

There's a fresh YouTube video tutorial and new audio demos on SoundCloud:

  • Composing with a Pitch-Class Set: the Orchestral Score for the 'Nika Albi' Trailer (12:25). PC-Set 5-Z17 (Allen Forte prime form numbering) is used as the unifying source in the atonal orchestral score for the Spitfire Audio Albion ONE 10th Anniversary trailer scoring competition. PC Set properties, derived chord structures and melody are demonstrated. Form and set application shown in an annotated condensed score. You will find it in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.
  • New ambient and film music audio demos on SoundCloud. Here's the link:
  • The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect from 25 May 2018. In compliance with the GDPR there is a statement that applies to the website and webshop. Read my GDPR Compliant Privacy Notice >>

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April 2018: Ninth Chords in Diatonic Harmony video tutorials

Watch the YouTube video tutorials about 'Ninth Chords in the Schillinger Diatonic Harmony System':

  • Part 1: Fundamentals (21:02). Using the 9th chord in diatonic harmony requires careful treatment of the dissonant chordal functions 7 and 9. Part 1 presents the fundamentals: the S9 chord structure in root position, the stepwise descending resolution and the three preparation options.
  • Part 2: Progressions (21:43). This episode discusses three diatonic chord progressions with the ninth chord S9, and a short piece of mood music. You will find these movies in the Music Composition Techniques playlist.
  • Read more about these and other YouTube videos. Descriptions and links.

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February 2018: Euclidean Rhythm in Police Precinct Five movie

After reading the Godfried Toussaint 2017 paper I applied an Euclidean rhythm in a thrill music cue. This composition uses various rhythm and orchestral techniques. In the example there is a combination of fandango, Euclidean and cross-rhythm. A YouTube video discusses this piece in detail:

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January 2018: Two Videos and One Copyright Claim

I decided to participate in the January 2018 Spitfire Audio scoring competition. My entry is an orchestral score for the Albion ONE 10th Anniversary trailer movie. The short piece in atonal style is called 'Nika Albi' and here's the media: Albion ONE trailer movie with soundtrack >> | Description >> | PDF Full Score >>

Two videos were added to the YouTube channel and there is a disappointing start of 2018:

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