Joseph Schillinger was a Russian-born composer and teacher, active in New York in the 1930s. Today his name is largely forgotten and his books are not widely read.
Schillinger was a natural teacher and communicated his musical knowledge in the form of a precise written theory. He attempted to use mathematical expressions to describe art, architecture, design and most insistently, and with most detail and success, music. Gershwin spent four years studying with Schillinger. During this period he composed Porgy and Bess and consulted Schillinger on matters concerning the opera, particularly its orchestration. At the same time another Schillinger student, Glenn Miller, famously composed the hit ‘Moonlight Serenade’ as an exercise for his teacher. John Cage visited Schillinger in 1943 and was apparently greatly impressed by his ideas on rhythm.
The Schillinger system is based on the premise that time is the fundamental dimension in music and therefore begins with the 'Theory Of Rhythm'. 'The Theory Of Rhythm' is based on the very simple idea that rhythm occurs when two or more separate sources of pulse are combined. It is assumed that the two sources of pulse begin at exactly the same moment but that their frequencies are different. Schillinger refers to this process as 'interference'. Schillinger uses numbers and graphs to represent and calculate rhythmic patterns generated by pulse 'interference'. The numbers represent durations between pulses and do not tell us anything about their final musical presentation. For example, the following are both acceptable: 2 is represented as a note held for two beats or a note held for a beat followed by a rest of a beat.
'The Theory Of Rhythm' is just 1 of 12 books that make up the Schillinger 'System Of Musical Composition'. Many areas of music are coverd: pitch, harmony, counterpoint and orchestration. Numbers and the methods first encountered in the 'Theory Of Rhythm' are use consistantly throughout whether it be to construct scales or the entry of orchestral parts. Clearly if Schillinger had been around at the advent of the computer age he would have been a composer who wrote algorhythmically. In fact he predicted in 1943 that soon composers would through the use of machines be in complete control of their craft.
For a more detailed discussion of Schillingers ideas and examples of their application in composition can be found at MRAC pages: http://www.mrac.demon.co.uk/mainpage.html
