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Composing Secrets : 1.Tracks and Instruments

Topic started by rjay (@ 206.152.113.140) on Thu Aug 24 12:45:43 EDT 2000.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Composing Secrets - Tracks and Instruments

Most songs have the following structure:(you can
think of them as parallel tracks)

1. Melody
2. Bass
3. Chord/Accompaniment
4. Drums
5. Percussion

Melody is sung by the singer or could be the
'solo' played by an instrument, when singer
is taking breath. In most music,
melody states the theme of the song/composition
and carries the emotion. All the other tracks
should provide a context to what is says or
reinforce and enhance it.

Human voice, flute, sax, trumpet, and synthetic
sounds serve well as melody instruments.

Drums set the basic pulse and rhythm and there
are many drum kits: acoustic, jazz, techno(used
in ;chandralekha - Thiruda; for example), power
(pottu vaitha kadhal thittam) and many many more.

Bass is usually played by a double bass - huge
violin, plucked like a guitar, or with a guitar
itself. With electronics, synth bass sounds are
generated from keyboard itself(kadalikkum pennin
kaigal - has a wonderful synth bass sound
in its intro.) Slap, Electric, Fretless,
are a few more common sounds. I will get you
recordings of these in isolation.

Accompaniment or backing is usually provided
by piano or guitar class of instruments.
And there are two types: block chords, where
you play the whole chords and hold them,
versus arpeggio and broken chords where
you strike the notes one after another.
In most western music, piano and guitar
are 2 pieces of the five piece orchestra
(voice, piano, guitar, strings, drums)

Strings typically provide counterpoint,
but can also play accompaniment.
My definition, Counterpoint is nothing but alternate melody
which either responds to the lead melody
or plays against it. Examples to follow.

Percussion is the name given by westerners
to all non-western beat instruments! ;)

Shakers, Morocos (chicku chiku) and sticks
and claves and others are examples.

Even bongos (from Africa) and our Tabla are
named percussion, but they are actually
drums because they can play alone and provide
rhythm without the drums.

We can proceed learning in two ways:

(i) We will explore the General midi sounds
128 instruments (16 categories and 8 in each)
and one drum kit. We will take each sound one
by one and learn to identify it and see what
its unique value is and how it has been used
in TFM. I can upload audio demos.

(ii) We can later see the song structure along time
axis (measures) - in terms of intro, theme, break, pallavi
, charanam structure and learn how orchestration
is effectively varied to serve the needs of
the listener at each position.

Basically, tracks and measures are the two
dimensions to understand a composition.

As an aid we can pull apart some famous songs of your choice to see how they are put together. And I can take one of my own compositions and share what thoughts and decisions guided its creation.

Game?
Here is a link to the tutorial that RJay has prepared:
Melody Making Exercise.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Uv (@ ) on: Tue Jun 3 10:23:49 EDT 2003
  
  rjay
  romba busya irrukeengala?
  looking forward to hear more from you.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.122) on: Tue Jun 3 13:21:56 EDT 2003
  
  UV
  
  One of the apps I am developing went to production - so the last week was very busy. Another personal event will make me busy the following week. Sorry for the interruption.
  I will catch up soon...
  
  RJAY
  
  
• From: arnoldsamprakash.s (@ 202.9.149.25) on: Mon Jun 9 08:42:52 EDT 2003
  
  sir,
  I need practical experience for compose music
  through you. how can contact you.
  iam keyboard player.
  i am studying music at south india film institute
  kodambakkam, chennai
  
  
• From: satsona (@ 203.199.192.162) on: Wed Jun 11 02:58:29 EDT 2003
  
  Rjay,as i said before, i like to relate genius to hard work in the right way,rather than a those called as born-genius. I was fed up of people saying, so and so is a born genius,and they don't require any hardwork for it. Since long I wanted some proper explanation for it.The info given by you is apt for that. Man, u can write a separate book on this ..something which relates Music and Mind analysis:).
  
  And 1 more thing, for child prodigies like Mandolin Srinivas,Ravikiran etc., I feel, apart from Personal efforts, some combination of genes somewhere in the ancestry got manifested in this generation.Just my thoughts.
  
  cheers
  
  
• From: satsona (@ 203.199.192.162) on: Wed Jun 11 03:23:58 EDT 2003
  
  arnoldsamprakash.s
  
  nice to hear about your course.is it the one which is in the same street in which ARR's house is situated..at Subbarayanagar,Kodambakkam?
  wanted to know what exactly is the course there like? do they teach western music or do they teach anything specific to Indian Film Music--like Sound Engineering etc.
  
  Please give your mailid.
  my mailid is sonasat@hotmail.com
  
  Cheers
  
  
  
• From: Harish (@ 202.56.239.202) on: Thu Jun 12 12:35:24 EDT 2003
  
  Satsona
  Talking about the memory, let me put some light over the biochemistry involved as I have graduated in it. Well, you know the brain is made up of neurons (nerve cells). They are the building blocks of our brain like the bricks for a building. There are millions of them which are connected to each other at places called synapses. Acetylcholine is a chemical secreted by the nerve cell junctions which pass information from one nerve cell to another in the brain. NOW COMING TO THE MEMORY PART. It is proved that the biochemistry make-up of each and every person is different. When an information passes through a set of neruons a path is built for that information in the brain. This path is reinforced by the amount of acetylcholine secreted and the duration for which it remains in the junctions. So more the amount of acetylcholine and more the duration for which it remains at the nerve junctions the better the memory traces formed which can get converted into a long term memory with subsequent revisions.
  Now, this thing varies with every person. So let us give full credit to the hardwork put by a person in analysing a data and his personal initiation to memorize the data rather than stressing on born genius.
  
  You have already rightly put it "hard work in right way"
  
  I am sorry if I was very technical but I think it is very much in layman.
  
  Harish Iyer
  
  
• From: Sridhar Seetharaman (@ 67.83.146.59) on: Fri Jun 13 05:35:36 EDT 2003
  
  Did any of you guys try the techniques discovered by RJAY? Sharing will help.
  
  
• From: (@ 216.210.128.249) on: Fri Jun 13 11:50:47 EDT 2003
  
  Lot of inertia to overcome.
  Like so many Tamilians (should I say Indians), we love listening to someone. When it comes to trying out, we are extra cautious/slow.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123) on: Fri Jun 13 16:56:05 EDT 2003
  
  Harish
  
  Thanks for the update on memory processes. THe only amend I have for you is that the biochemical processes may be two-way: if you have a good brain structure, it faciliates analytics and if you do deliberative processing, brain structures and biochemistry alter to allow it (exercising the thinking muscles). Einstein's brain seemed to have huge number of glial cells (cells that glue and scaffold actual neuronal connections). Whether it was when he was born or it grew as he applied his mind, is debatable though. In the end, I would favor the theory that says deliberation rewires the whole brain.
  
  Yogic practices such as pranayama have a direct
  effect on the brain chemistry and structures. I wont be surprised if Ilayaraja's learning ability and creativity owe a lot to his daily meditation routines.
  
  Last few weeks I have been reading extensively on memory training (stealing time from my newborn baby ;) - both academic papers as well as practical manuals. I heared to an excellent audio tape course by Kevin Tredeau.
  
  'THe memory book' by Lorayne and Lucas
  is the best practical guide and Higbee's 'Your Memory: how it works and how to improve it" is a very thorough (semi-academic) book, written by a Ph.D. are the best I have read.
  
  I was searching for a one-trial-learning technique (without need for repetition) and have come close to getting it. The key is (a) get a clear impression of the new information (b) break it into known parts and create a vivid picture of it (not just a concept) (c) link it to known information (your existing knowledge framework) either in a meaningful way, or in a totally bizzare way using strong emotion or action.
  
  Nature vs nurture debate is coming to favor the nurture side as we learn more about the brain. (last weeks Time Magazine)
  
  After all, the major difference between animals and humans is the ability to retrain the instincts.
  
  Incidentally, a good memory is half the battle in gaining understanding. Writer Sujatha once said people sometimes are awed by his gnanam and he replies it is more due to gyabagam than gnanam.
  
  However, trained memory seems to involve ability to pass information to LTM (long term memory, which is the store house) directly with fewer repetitions. THe only way for this seems to be elaborative rehearsal and encoding (what they used to call "explain with reference to context" in our school) as against the rote repetitions (maintenance rehearsals). So in a sense you cannot have good gyabagam without a good gyanam.
  (In other words, ability to organize incoming data and place it in a retrievable place requires having a well organized framework). Maybe our 'geniuses' learn early how to parse complex pieces into clear components and catalog them. Sujatha says he got his breakthrough when his English teacher dissected short stories in class.
  
  Two thoughts: (i) codifying geometry into axioms and algebra into steps allowed what was previously genius activities to be done by the masses. (ii) invention of a compass makes anyone to draw a perfect circle.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123) on: Fri Jun 13 16:58:47 EDT 2003
  
  I vouch that my next post will be on composing..!
  
  ;)
  
  rjay
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.121) on: Thu Jun 19 12:22:34 EDT 2003
  
  Four bar phrase - the building block of composing
  
  New composers usually get stuck where to start! There are ideas and possibilities floating around in your musical vision but very difficult to crystallize it into a song.
  
  Four bar phrase comes to a rescue.
  
  Here is the deal. You are going to learn how to compose a phrase that runs for four bars.
  
  How do you count four bars. Simple, take the song Mustafa Mustafa
  
  As you sing
  Musta Fa Musta Fa
  
  count FOUR beats by using your forefinger - like your are the conductor of an orchestra, one beat falling on each of these wordlets.
  
  You have counted one-bar or one-measure now.
  
  So continue counting you find that
  
  Musta Fa Musta Fa
  Dont Worry Musta Fa
  -kalam nam thozhan musta
  Fa - - -
  
  THis is a four bar phrase. A building block.
  Creating a four bar melody is the key to composing.
  
  See the second line (anupallavi) Day by day, it is
  the same 4-bar melody reused.
  
  Take the charanam -
  You will see
  
  first 4-bar phrase
  repeat this first one
  second 4-bar phrase
  third 4-bar phrase (oh-oh-ohho)
  
  So the charanam is 4 4-bar phrases long.
  
  Now get to the preludes and interludes - you will see 4 bar phrases most of the places.
  
  Many many songs, the pallavis are 4-bar longs, anu pallavis are 4 bars, charanams are composed with 3 different 4 bar melodies, Instrumental solos are 4-bar based.
  
  2-bar phrases may be used in bridges and transition between these 4-bar themes.
  
  Thinking in 4-bars gives structure to composition and also makes the task more manageable.
  
  Most of my compositions are 4-bar theme based. Travel by dawn, Dancing in the moonlight, River,
  Harlem nights and Symphony Humsadhwani are all
  built using 4-bar melodic phrases.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: UV (@ 134.113.4.168) on: Tue Jun 24 12:13:08 EDT 2003
  
  Hi rjay
  here is something that be interesting in our discussion regding geniuses
  Genius- An Obvious Truth Or An Eternal Mystery?
  http://www.sulekha.com/articledesc.asp?cid=306624
  looking forward to your reply :)
  
  

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