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?
Responses:
- Old responses
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 11:04:16 EDT 2003
I will continue to post here. I have also
created the yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rjay/
to make sure the series can be accessed easily by those who come in late...
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:04:52 EDT 2003
How to identify the structural tones in a melody
Structural tones are the most emphasized notes in a melody
that form its overall structure.
Typically notes stand out as structural notes if they are -
1. Longer than their neighbours
2. placed in important locations of a measure (beat 1 or beat 3)
3. Placed in most important locations of a phrase - beginning and end note
4. repeated consequitively
5. embellished using neighbours - either SRS or SNS or SRSN
6. embellished using a jump to.
7. If 4 notes of same length and emphasis are played then the LAST one is probably
structurally significant.
Todays exercise: Take a melody and identify its structural tones.
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:20:21 EDT 2003
Vijay asked:
Rjay, I am also more interested in knowing about how MDs go about notating "Thaala nadais". For example if you take "Bharathi kannamma neeyadi chinamma" song, you hear a short Tabla piece just preceding the charanam and leading to the first line. How would you go about notating such pieces if you were the MD and if you had to communicate it to the percussionist?
Vijay
I think some MDs might be proficient in konnokol (syllabilization of percussion).
We can see glimpses in many songs - Jegana Jegana Jum Jum, Tha tharikita thaka, almost most of the nattuvangam songs (my favorite being Enakkul oruvans Ther kondu vandavan's nattuvangam)
There are also folk examples - dum dumakku dum (alai payudhe).
And Ilaiyaraja has specifically answered your question in the prelude to
Eduthu naan vidava from Pudhu pudhu arthangal. (He goes - rhythm ennaannu sollanuma-
Jhumkku JhuJhummku)
As in anything else, there are classical ways and folk ways, what is interesting is that
composers early in life learn this vocalization/verbalization representations. I have my
own theory that having such a representation helps them grasp patterns and reuse them
much better than those who dont. It is like having a language to describe a new world.
My own ability to perceive music dramatically improved when in my school,
I saw a classmate vocalize instrumental interludes (he would use Thuththooo thudhuthoo
for flutes, Reerri for String sections and almost an unique syllable for unique sound).
I think most of us do that. In fact there are many vocal percussionists, who would create
drum loops using multiple parts of the mouth!
Bobby Macfarine's Dont worry be happy is
an extremely well done example of a whole song built with vocal layers. Interestingly, I have heard that early black slaves in U.S. created the tradition of vocal accompaniment and harmony because (i) they did not bring their rich african instruments and (ii) they were not allowed to play any European instruments.
Back to your questions, my guess is MSV in that particular song would have even just asked for a
lead-in from Tablaist or there should be a way in the rich Tabla bol vocabulary to say that!
Guessing from your question, you may be able to say that.... right?
My own approach- I have not yet worked with real percussionist, so I either play on my
Keyboard or tweak on the editor!!!! Srikanth is a master of percussion and given a sound module, can easily create the illusion a real person playing a real instrument!!
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:22:19 EDT 2003
Mind boggling examples of Srikanth's percussion work using Planet Earth sounds are in his latest album Bharathi.
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:22:33 EDT 2003
Mind boggling examples of Srikanth's percussion work using Planet Earth sounds are in his latest album Mahaakavi
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:23:59 EDT 2003
Coming to think of it, my classmate's dad was a
nattuvangam artist!!
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 12:30:44 EDT 2003
Ilaiyaraja's instrumental solos are very vocal -
(imitating a human voice and employing the phrasing and breathing of human singing). See the bass flute in the majestic beginning to O manae manae manae unnai thaanae. Maybe he still composes using vocalization in his mind! That is a good way to make solos catchy and singable - not just the song!
- From: tholainthu_ponavan (@ 67.125.25.37)
on: Thu May 15 13:26:13 EDT 2003
r jay are you a musician..? any songs done by you..?
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 13:38:18 EDT 2003
tholainthu,
I am not a musician. I am trying to be
an amateur human being!
Regarding songs, I have published every attempt
I have made, without considering their quality,
boldly at http://www.mp3.com/rjay
So, I am writing not as an authority in music, but as a learner and co-stumbler. So these are only as useful as what a reader makes out of it!
rjay
- From: ki ru (@ 192.138.150.249)
on: Thu May 15 13:55:17 EDT 2003
what are jathi swaras ? I understand tha na naa are used to notate the sandham (learnt from an IR interview, you can also hear this in varumaiyin nimar sivappu song). Also, these were used as the seven notes themselves to sing(before sa ri ga ma pa da ni) traditionally. Probably, this is what folk musicians still use.
I am not sure how many of our MDs communicate the sandham like this to the lyricists.
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 13:59:15 EDT 2003
As promised I have uploaded a small real audio,
on melody making in the yahoo group files section. It is a live capture I did this morning - with my hesitations. I just talk about an exercise where you start with a single phrase and try to improvise on a scale, creating a simple melody.
Bear with the sound quality and let me know if it was any use. Based on feedback, I will try to improve it.
MS, bb, is it possible to add to a newtfmpage and add a link, if you think it will be useful?
- From: UV (@ 134.113.4.168)
on: Thu May 15 14:42:04 EDT 2003
rjya looks like you have to approve membership to listen to the songs ;)
UV-ganesh
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 14:59:25 EDT 2003
I think it is the default setting and I will find a way to fix it. Sorry for the trouble.
- From: bb (@ 206.154.118.2)
on: Thu May 15 15:43:36 EDT 2003
rjay, can you send the file or the location to me? I will do the necessary.
- From: Udhaya (@ 64.136.26.31)
on: Thu May 15 16:51:24 EDT 2003
Hearty thanks to other_side for reviving this gem of a thread and renewed thanks to rjay for just being the splendid amateur human being and musician that you are.
- From: rjay (@ 156.77.105.123)
on: Thu May 15 17:00:27 EDT 2003
Udhaya,
Thanks and refer back to the Chords page for some nice discussions yesterday...
- From: vijay (@ 68.51.215.28)
on: Thu May 15 22:38:59 EDT 2003
Rjay, thanks for your inputs. For now, I will just let you continue on your write-ups on melody and will take this up again probably when you are discussing the rhythm part.
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