The Schillinger School of Music

les and fashions are proclaimed and then pass in an instant. Under these circumstances, the study and practice of music needs to be undertaken ever more objectively and accurately in order to pe*****te to the heart of a musical context. In this respect, the SSMC is a practical a tool and a creative stimulant that can enable the practitioner to move beyond habitual perspectives and cultural barriers. Joseph Schillinger (1895-1943) was a product of the renowned Russian system of music education, established in the last decades of the 19th century and dedicated to creating world beating musicians. He studied at the St Petersburg Imperial Conservatory of Music and by his early twenties was already a rising star of the Soviet music scene. Sensing the coming oppression, Schillinger left Moscow and arrived in the United States of America in 1928. By this time he had realised the problems associated with traditional Western pedagogy and developed an alternative, which was published as The Schillinger System of Musical Composition after his death. During his lifetime, his ideas were outrageously successful, particularly amongst those outside the Classical establishment, and he became famous as the advisor to many of America’s leading musicians and composers. His student, Lawrence Berk, founded the Berklee School of Music, where the System was part of the curriculum until the 1960s. Those who adopted his techniques wrote music in startlingly diverse styles - from George Gershwin to Earle Brown, Benny Goodman to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey to Henry Cowell. The System is a vast work, some sixteen hundred pages covering every area of composition from melody to harmony to orchestration. Most importantly, it is based on the principle that rhythm is the foundation of all musical elements. It approaches composition in terms of pattern making. Numbers are used to describe all musical dimensions and reveal shapes and forms obscured by traditional notation. Schillinger’s ideas show that the contemporary plurality of music is really an illusion and can be understood in very simple ways, as he himself states. "My system does not circumscribe the composer's freedom, but merely points out the methodological way to arrive at a decision”

So why is this method not more widely used? Unfortunately, Schillinger died suddenly and no one of sufficient charisma took his place. His books were deemed too complex, rational creativity was falling out of fashion and the administrators of his estate, fearing dilution, discouraged efforts to explain and promote his ideas. Approach

When I first read the System, I was amazed by the fascinating and complex puzzle of pattern and geometry. Hidden beneath a formal surface of algebra was a compendium of spells, not so much a system, but rather a handbook of practical solutions for composers. But the Schillinger’s writing also provoked questions and doubts. The ethos of the System seemed rational to the point of being counter to musical instinct and feeling. Surely, musical inspiration arises spontaneously, in the mind's ear of the composer. Intellectual skills might be of use after this point but the big idea comes from deep inside not from the conscious, planning, strategising brain. How could the formulae of the SSMC connect to that intuitive imagination? Years of working as a professional composer and teacher have convinced me that it is an indispensable aid, a guide to the application of musical mechanics and a catalyst to creativity. Surprisingly the formal rigours of Schillinger’s techniques stimulate ingenuity rather than stifling it, which illustrates the truth of the old saying necessity is the mother of invention. To begin with, one must simply understand and observe the formulae and techniques offered in the SSMC. At first, the products of this work can seem wooden and unmusical but later, the constraints imposed by a technique begin to nourish the imagination. The SSMC prepares the way for future creative freedom and is well worth the time and effort required to master it. Once a threshold of understanding has been crossed, it is possible to compose freely and spontaneously from the imagination drawing on formulae or procedures whenever they are appropriate. Over the years, I have introduced Schillinger’s ideas to numerous musicians from varied traditions from across the world. They have often found his approach provocative, it demands discipline and determination but as the success of Gershwin et al testifies, the rewards are great.