In music [[performance]] and [[music education|education]], the '''Berklee method''' is the [[music theory]], terminology, and practice taught at [[Berklee College of Music]], the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. The "Berklee method" was founded by [[Lawrence Berk]] after study with [[Joseph Schillinger]] regarding the latter's "elaborate [[Schillinger System|system]] of composition that employed mathematical [[permutation (music)|permutation]] and combination process to generate [[rhythm]]s, [[harmony|harmonies]], and [[melody|melodies]]".<ref>Hazell, Ed, and Lee Eliot Berk. ''Berklee: the First Fifty Years''. Boston: Berklee Publications, 1995. Print. P. 10 quoted at "[http://library.berklee.edu/archives Berklee Library: Archives]", ''Berklee.edu''. [http://library.berklee.edu/archives_content/schillinger_house/index.html Pop up] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719150409/http://library.berklee.edu/archives_content/schillinger_house/index.html |date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref>
Later, attempting to codify [[jazz]] and [[popular music]] practice, the Berklee method often differs from [[common practice]] harmony and [[voice-leading]] rules or guidelines since the form and function of jazz and popular music differs from common practice form and function. For example, ''Berklee Music Theory - Book 2'' recommends the following [[accompaniment]] for a given [[lead sheet]],<ref name="Schmeling">Schmeling, Paul (2006). ''Berklee Music Theory - Book 2'', p.34. {{ISBN|0-87639-066-1}}.</ref> while this progression does not occur in common practice theory since all the chords are seventh chords and unprepared [[consonance and dissonance|dissonant]].<!-- There's actually nothing wrong with this from a common practice perspective. See http://www.mgariza.com/nondominant-seventh-chords/ or examples in http://www.dinsic.com/download/2341 --> [[File:Berklee method accompaniment example.png|thumb|Accompaniment acceptable in the Berklee method<ref name="Schmeling"/> but not in common practice theory. {{audio|Berklee method accompaniment example.mid|Play}}]]
[[Branford Marsalis]] notes how Berklee music theory may be an inadequate description of traditional jazz as well having a tendency toward prescriptivism: "Berklee has its own system of doing things, the Berklee way, the Berklee method. They basically say that when you write things that are theoretically against the Berklee method, then they're incorrect. Even if they sound great. Musically they sound great, but theoretically it's wrong, so it's wrong. Which is not the purpose of music. Music theories are just theories."<ref>David Andrew Ake (2002). ''Jazz Cultures'', p.144. {{ISBN|0-520-22889-8}}.</ref>
==See also== *[[Four note group]] *[[Kodály Method]]
==Sources== {{reflist}}
{{Music methods}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berklee Method}} [[Category:Jazz music education]]
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