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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: (@ 132.183.203.46) on: Thu Jun 26 14:24:37 EDT 2003
  
  I like Feynmans (physicist) answer to the question in the book 'No ordinary genius'.
  
  He says that it doesnt matter if you are born with something or not. What matter is the curiousity to play with things. Whether it be mathematics or the physical laws or musical notes. You are only focused on that, then whatever comes out of you is beyond that.
  
  No one went and told the young Mozart, 'you are a genius in music, so go ahead and compose'. He just loved to play with notes endlessly, and what came out of it speaks for itself. His music appears to be all spontaneous and effortless but he himself has said that he worked so hard on it.
  
  so let us not get obsessed with this genius thing, just do what you think is fun to do, and enjoy it!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: RR (@ 203.199.213.3) on: Thu Jun 26 22:31:50 EDT 2003
  
  On the matter of genius, I remember reading an article about Bach in THE HINDU where it was
  writen that when someone asked Bach about the secret of his success he said"Hard Work". The writer of the article commented that the word "genius" was yet be become fashionable in those days!!
  RR
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.122) on: Tue Jul 1 10:21:16 EDT 2003
  
  UV, The article is very well written, thanks for the link and sorry for the delay in getting to it.
  
  
• From: vijay (@ ) on: Fri Aug 8 15:57:43 EDT 2003
  
  I'll keep reviving this :-)Rjay you can continue on the present trend of composing and other topics etc. which you were discussing in the SOTD thread. I am also interested in knowing your speculation on what kind of music would the next big MD of TFM going to bring with him? Some interesting speculations can be discussed. Considering the trend of TFM which started of as being CM and kept incorporating more and more elements from other music cultures is there anything curently left to be imported/explored? Something like a lightclassical/Newage/European folk mix? :-) Or has ARR pretty much exhausted everything?Is it going to be technotrance or something like that?
  Its always difficult to know in advance what the next big trend is going to be, but once it hits us, then it all seems so seemingly obvious :-)
  
  
• From: selva (@ 172.185.244.98) on: Fri Aug 8 21:07:23 EDT 2003
  
  vijay,
  
  Thats an interesting question. whats the next big trend going to be???
  
  Isn't it quite obvious that the next big trend in TFM is letting TFM to rest in peace and cremated with all due respect. Music in Tamil or for that matter in India has depended too much in film media for popular expression. It is time for Indian or Tamil music to break free from the clasps of cinema and establish its own identity through Albums.
  
  If we have to always get the cue from the West, then so be it. Lets release singles. Boys could very well have been an album on its own right. Why complicate matters with A.M. Rathnam or Shankar or for that matter Mani Rathnam. I won't be surprised if these directs end up making music videos instead of cinema to capture the minds of the MTV generation.
  
  
• From: selva (@ 172.185.244.98) on: Fri Aug 8 21:16:31 EDT 2003
  
  Ilayaraja had expressed long ago that he wasted his time in film music. A R Rehman has said right from the beginning that he was a reluctant entrant into film music and reiterated this with relief when he brought out Vande Matram. He is showing enough signs that he is no longer interested in film music.
  If these two 'trend-setters' of TFM since three decades feel this way, is it any surprise that TFM is the way it is today? Ofcourse, one can kid himself otherwise if he/she so wishes!!!
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 68.51.215.28) on: Fri Aug 8 21:47:13 EDT 2003
  
  There is still not enough market for individual albums and our MDs want the fame/money that film music brings them. Even if ARR was to release a pop album today I am not sure it would sell as much as his film albums.Plus as long as our films demand music that is where the attention is going to be.
  Also remember, but for films, neither IR or ARR would be household names today :-)I still think films give a lot of interesting situations for different ideas. ARR can do period pieces like Lagaan/Bhagat Singh, "art" movies like 1947-Earth/Fire, trendy subjects like Boys and so on..
  Added to this is the BGM where ARR hasnt concentrated much so far.So films do give quite a lot of scope for good music. Its just that MDs, after they have reached a certain level, done enough albums, and have attained enough fame, feel that there is nothing more they could do for film music and they pass comments like they have wasted time on film music etc etc. when the fact is they needed TFM to reach that level in the first place. That is when the next IR or ARR bursts onto the scene:-)
  
  Anyways my original point was about evolving trends/styles/genres in music composing, not on how the music should reach the masses.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123) on: Tue Aug 12 14:41:47 EDT 2003
  
  Vijay, on friday, you asked the question on my speculation about what the next big music trend going to be. My immediate response was - if I knew it, I would be the next big MD! Still, it is important that I give my best possible answer, even though it may not answer the question!!
  
  We discussed sometime back in another thread about breakthrough MDs and I remember discovering there that breakthrough MDs create new paradigm in every department of music - melody, harmony, accompaniment, singing, production, song concept - each is different. In each aspect, their music should be a quantum jump from the previous generation.
  
  This is why, good hit writers
  In order to accomplish that they should somehow tap into new sources, not easily mastered by
  other contemporaries. Ilayaraja mastered the vast tradition of WCM. Rahman mastered the ambience genre and art of digital production. What are the resources that are rich but not yet tapped in TFM?
  Tough to answer, if you look how Rahman himself
  is not clear. His Lagaan was a retro hit (hit because of good melodies and excellent use of traditional styles, not because of new styles), Kannathil muthamittal did not have a breakthrough song (for instance, Smayee or Pachai niramae were breakthrough songs). Boys songs are new attempt at
  emulating Pop Top 40. That seems to me like a new format and American Top 40 has lots of gems which can be harvested and re-packaged.
  
  Another way of looking at it. In all fields, things go around in circles - from simplicity to complexity and then back to simplicity. So my guess is that the next big MD will be a minimalist. He will amaze not by the richness of the compositions, but by the emotional impact he has with very little. He will be totally free of any gimmicks and shocks. He or She.
  
  Raja's breakthrough came because he was in addition to being a composer, a good arranger and conductor. He could create new styles that use
  arrangement techniques are the basis.
  
  Rahmans breakthrough came because he is in addition to being a composer, he is a good arranger and a good producer. That gave him the edge. He could think of new styles that use production techniques as the basis.
  
  The next big MD is likely to be a singer/songwriter/composer, allowing him or her to take the art to a whole new level.
  
  And it is very likely he will be a big hit
  globally. I wont be surprised if we hear English songs in Tamil movies in another 10 years.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123) on: Tue Aug 12 14:43:24 EDT 2003
  
  Or more possibly, Tamil songs in Hollywood movies.
  
  

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