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Educating the TFM surfers on various theoretical aspects of FM ....Music

Topic started by Madhan (@ 202.41.117.3) on Fri Jun 12 11:21:55 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Friends, as an ardent music lover, I have certain pending reservations regarding the usage of TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY while discussing music. I have a sincere suggestion to make - there are various terms like "LAYA MEDHA VILAASAM"(once used by Subbudu, the music critic to describe ARR's music), "Shruti Bedham","Chords progressions)(favorite area of our Srikanth ), "Apaswaram" and many others very frequently used .
I request all music knowledgeable peole to contribute as much as possible to this thread giving the best, accessible, legible, understandable definitons for various terms like what I have mentioned above , giving apt examples from FM, it can be from Hindi, Tamil or, any language. Let us pursue music with an onus of educating ourselves.

I request Nithin, Udhaya, Srikanth, Srinath and others to jump into this fray and enlighten , the lesser knowledgeable people on the various aspects of TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY in music.

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Responses:

• From: Madhan,Goa (@ 202.41.117.3) on: Fri Jun 12 11:25:02 EDT 1998
  
  First of all, I would like to know the meaning of Laya Medha VIlaasam -
  
  
• From: Ravi (@ envy.cs.umass.edu) on: Fri Jun 12 12:43:55 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan: I seriously urge you to add a 'T' to the FM. :-).
  
  
• From: Srikanth (@ 161.225.48.3) on: Fri Jun 12 13:08:53 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Madan
  I will try to explain in simple terms what ever I know
  Scale or Sruthi
  Most of us know or have heard 1 kat-tie Sruti or 4 kat-tie etc. 1 kat-tie means - a song set in the C scale. 1.5 = C# , 2 = D , 2.5=D# , 3=E and so.
  Scale for the song is determined by the key which a note becomes a proxy to SA
  meaning the if E note acts as the SA then it is E scale of sruthi 3
  Katai was derived from Harmonium key - 1st KEY OR Sa - MUDAL KATAI and so on.
  Pitch - The highest scale a singer could sing without any pisuru but manages to be within scale.
  Pisuru - When singer is unable to reach the note perfectly. (eg: Bhavadhaarani)
  This becomes abaswarm if it goes out of scale completly - Eg:S.Janaki singing in Magalir mattum - Kothu Kothu nu kothanam song.
  Chords : A Three note combination on a given Key
  Major Chords : Rest of the notes other than the Key are all full tone or the notes having a full value. In simple words a major chord can be constructed with this formule 1 + 3 + 5 taking each key on the keyboard as value 1 So C Major will be C =1 from C third note is E and 5th note is G So a C Major chord is C+E+G .
  Guys - Try to build chords for E major and A major and post it - I will continue more.
  If anyone is not able to understand please let me know I will slow down.
  Srikanth
  
  
• From: sree (@ orchid.cs.concordia.ca) on: Fri Jun 12 13:21:02 EDT 1998
  
  Madhan:
  I was waiting for such a thread.It is interesting.
  Srikanth:
  I have few questions.In your explanations for sruthi or scale you have mentioned "SA".What is that?Is is "sa" from " sa re ga ma....".?
  
  So Sruthi or scale acts like an upper limit for singers tone.Am i right?.
  Regarding Chords,Ennakku konjam puriyavillai.Could you explain in detail.
  Thanks
  Sree
  
  
• From: Srikanth (@ 161.225.48.3) on: Fri Jun 12 13:58:31 EDT 1998
  
  Hi
  Yes by Sa I refer to SA in Sa re ga ma...
  Your are right :
  "Sruthi or scale acts like an upper limit for singers tone."
  They cannot sing more than their natural scale.
  if they try to sing more than their natural scale it will result in Abaswaram - . easy job for people like Subudu to tear them into pieces..
  K.B.Sundrambal is considered to have the highest sruthi - try playing here songs it will range
  only around the top most octave in the keyboard. - and Sergazi has a very high scale range for a males voice)
  OCATAVE : A set of SA to NE is called as an OCATAVE. Most of our keyboards have 4 octaves.
  
  Regarding chords - in western music there are harmonics. They associate each note with a chord or harmony.
  For C - E and G are basic harmony - so EGC becomes a major chord. Besides these you have a 5th chord or 7th chord and so on. We will go into slowly.
  
  By any chance do you have a keyboard, If not let me know I will send you some midi files explaining the chords.
  
  Srikanth
  
  
• From: Bharat (@ dsi.mids.com) on: Fri Jun 12 14:10:01 EDT 1998
  
  Hi folks,
  
  Really interesting discussion. Srikanth, don't you think it would be better to point to existing material on the web, to explain chord progressions etc.? I just thought that minor terms could be explained easily (e.g. sruthi, as you explained) here, but for the major stuff, there is no need to replicate information readily available elsewhere. Of course, you could add TFM-relevance to this information in this page, as in your KBS example.
  
  One such site is at http://www.dreamscape.com/esmith/dansm/chords/chords.htm.
  
  
• From: Bharat (@ dsi.mids.com) on: Fri Jun 12 14:12:52 EDT 1998
  
  Correction to above posting: You can get there from http://www.dreamscape.com/esmith/dansm/
  
  
• From: srikanth (@ 161.225.48.3) on: Fri Jun 12 14:35:44 EDT 1998
  
  Hi ,
  Bharat , our tfm guys needs a basic explanation,
  I thought most of the web stuff are little technical in nature.
  Anyway thanks for the link , I will try learn something from there,.
  
  Srikanth
  
  
  
• From: sree (@ viveka.cs.concordia.ca) on: Fri Jun 12 14:52:03 EDT 1998
  
  Srikanth:
  Thank you for the explanation.I was really interested in learning these stuffs.Unfortunately i dont have a keyboard with me.
  
  sree
  
  
• From: Madhan (@ 202.41.117.44) on: Sat Jun 13 13:09:25 EDT 1998
  
  Dear Ravi,
  
  I take it from you - let it be TFM and not FM ....but examples be quoted from outside TFM becomes inevitable, then it should be welcome - what do you say Ravi?
  
  
  Srikanth : Thanksbaa!! regarding both Uchharippu(pronunciation) and Shruti pisuru, even I agree with you that Bhavadharini(BV) has a long way to go - in Kaliyoonjal in Malayalam, BV renders a song "Kalyana pallakkil", with many parts rendered plain flat -- I don't understand how her father allows her to get away with such effortless, callous renditions.
  
  As for high level Shruthi, I was told by my Hindustani Guru that Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna has the highest scale which he can foray into without making any distortions in the actual rendition - I have not had the oppurtunity to listen to his high scale renditions -can you clarify please ?
  What shruti scale would you classify the "Pottuvaithha kaadhal thittam" as?
  
  In this aspect, can we say that KJ Yesudoss is more capable of going down to very low scales than SPB ?
  
  Still nobody has explained what is this "LAYA MEDHA VILAASAM"? is it something to do with "Thaal" - like how a cycle of beats rhytmically coincide with the song's tune - best examples :
  "Idhu sugam sugam idhu" from Vandicholai Chinnarasu by ARR, "mettu podu" from Duet by ARR
  
  In Hindustani classical, we have things like EK THAAL, THEEN THAAL ( the taala structure goes like
  "thee naa thee dhee na", a three beat cycle repeated continously - for instance, most of the songs based on Yaman Raag, (or Mohanam in Carnatic classical)have this thaal structure which is considered best suited for this Raag .. the song "Oru kanam oru yugamaaga" from Nadodi Thendral is based on Mohanam, if I am not mistaken - if so, how is the Thaal structure in this song based on a Ragam which in its hindustani form mostly uses the Theen Thaal structure ?
  
  i would like some interesting insight into this.
  
  Rest in next.
  
  
• From: Udhaya (@ 205.218.142.217) on: Mon Feb 1 22:16:44 EST 1999
  
  Since I've seen Srikanth and Vijay and other musically sound folks lurking in the Df lately, I'm tempted to revive this marvelous thread.
  
  
• From: suresh (@ bellbird.qut.edu.au) on: Mon Feb 1 23:06:11 EST 1999
  
  Way to go!
  
  a music-ignoramus
  
  
• From: Raj (@ hydrec2.hyd.deshaw.com) on: Tue Feb 2 01:30:13 EST 1999
  
  Srikanth...thanks a lot! Ungal thondu valarga, valarga!
  Besh!bEsh!Romba nanna irukku...
  (Ah..here I go again..looks like I cannot get over the Narasus hangover...:))
  Guys, Three cheers to srikanth...Join me :
  Hip, Hip,Hurray!
  Hip, Hip,Hurray!
  Hip, Hip,Hurray!
  
  
• From: neruppu (@ daappc18.daa.uc.edu) on: Tue Feb 2 02:10:33 EST 1999
  
  wow! i'm a rather recent visitor to the forum and i dint know that this thread existed! its exciting and i can't comprehen why it was stunted abruptly. i only hope it carries on longer this time.
  joining cheers:..hurray!
  ..hurray!
  ..hurray!
  
  
• From: Sriram Lakshman (@ ifmxlenx.na.informix.com) on: Tue Feb 2 13:40:25 EST 1999
  
  Srikanth,
  All geared up for the classes on chords progression. Thayavu seithu ingu varavum.
  
  
• From: muthax (@ 12.62.31.62) on: Tue Feb 2 13:44:04 EST 1999
  
  Ravi/Rajaram,
  
  Can't such a fantastic thread be made as an Permanent Topic.
  I am sure the discussions made/to be made can be treasured.
  
  
• From: muthax (@ 12.62.31.62) on: Tue Feb 2 13:54:52 EST 1999
  
  Srikkanth,
  
  1. When u say that, song "X" is in C Scale, does it mean that it is in the middle C position? If yes how would you refer to a song on a higher C scale or a lower C Scale?
  Do you still call it a C Scale song?
  
  2. I guess raga is based on the pattern formation of the few of the 12 notes. Can you elaborate a bit on this by taking a very simple and easy to play/understand raga. This example can be in the form of "Swara raga sudha" a TV programme hosted by the Great Dr.Balamuralikrishna(BMK). First half he sings and explains a raga and in the second half he says "Intha ragathilae varum cinema paadalai ketpom".
  
  thanks in advance.
  muthax
  
  
• From: srikanth (@ proxy1.dpn.deere.com) on: Tue Feb 2 13:59:56 EST 1999
  
  Yes I will go home and explain, it is too big
  from office,
  
  Srikanth
  
  
• From: muthax (@ 12.62.31.62) on: Tue Feb 2 14:48:35 EST 1999
  
  ssssangeetha swarangal ezhaye kanakka innum irukka......... :)))))))))))))))
  
  

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