The purpose of this book is to assist those who want to create original music outside the popular music system and beyond the traditional functional harmonic system. However, it is not a book extolling the virtues of experimental music by leaving the past behind. The book takes a harmonic approach, since this seems to be one of the core gifts of Western music, and moves away from the conventions of tonal music and traditional arranging in a systematic fashion, attempting to link tradition and convention with personal exploration.