Topic started by Jeeera (@ 206.175.176.2) on Thu Oct 31 18:02:15 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
This is a woderful article written by somebody. I picked it off the IR's group. This is a huge one but explains in detail how and what he does to compose a song. After reading thsi I was stuck with Awe. Does this man have had any time to do anything else other than mudic. Enjoy!!.
Responses:
- From: Jeera (@ 206.175.176.2)
on: Thu Oct 31 18:21:32 EST 2002
Ilaiyaraja Composes
Ilaiyaraja Composes
An article written by Shri. R. Ananthanarayan
In Western classical world there are two distinct classifications of music. One is ‘program
music’ and the other is ‘absolute music’. The first one is the idea that music should describe
stories and concepts. The other one is making music as it comes to your mind without any preset
ideas. That is the belief that music should exist solely to express musical thoughts.
What Ilaiyaraaja does in films is basically ‘program music’ as he does them for a given
situation or scene or emotions. In films there are two classifications. Creating song music and
creating background score for the completed feature film. In the industry parlance scoring for the
background music is also called as Re-Recording (RR).
Song music
Ilaiyaraaja has a sitting with the Director/Producer when the entire script is narrated to
him. Then they explain the significant cues in the story where a song may fit in. Some times when
they are confused and can not decide a cue for a song, Ilaiyaraaja with his experience suggests
appropriate slots in the story where a song can be used. Some times they may have two
sessions-one to narrate the story and the second session to compose tunes for the songs.
Now assume that they have identified five song situations in this film. Now they start the
process of finalising a tune for each song.
Ilaiyaraaja sings aloud with his Harmonium various tunes for a given situation. Every
thing is recorded on tape. Some times this session will go on with endless tunes from Ilaiyaraaja
and finally the director/producer deciding on one. Some times the session will be over in less than
45 minutes as happened with Director P Vasu for Chinnathambi. Vasu says "One by one as we
went through the situations, Ilaiyaraaja started churning out tunes and then and there we decided
very fast and every thing was over so soon".
When they agree on a particular tune for that song then that tune is recorded in a
separate tape. A copy of which will go to the lyric writer. During this session itself they will decide
the lyric writer for this song. During this composing session, Ilaiyaraaja will have only his assistant
in-charge of vocal section Mr. Sundararajan. This old man is in-charge of maintaining the tune
tapes library.
Once the tune is finalised then Sundararajan will write down the tune in the swara
notation form. This will come in handy to him when he sits with the singers during the voice
recording and also during the song recording with the orchestra. As I said, the day of actual
recording of this tune may be on the same day or quite some time from the time they had the
composing session.
- From: Jeera (@ 206.175.176.2)
on: Thu Oct 31 18:28:09 EST 2002
Continuation...
- From: Jeera (@ 206.175.176.2)
on: Thu Oct 31 18:28:38 EST 2002
On the day of recording when Ilaiyaraaja arrives at the studio at 7 am, Sundararajan is
On the day of recording when Ilaiyaraaja arrives at the studio at 7 am, Sundararajan is
ready with the particular tune tape in Ilaiyaraaja’s room. The director is on hand to give him a gist
of the situation again and also his idea of the song and the way in which he plans to picturise it.
For example, if the director says that while the heroine sings this song he is going to intercut the
scene and going to show some approaching tragedy, then Ilaiyaraaja has to take care of this fact
in his interlude music in the song.
Example is Paadava Un Paadalai song in Naan Paadum Paadal. When Ambika sings
this beautiful melodic song at the studio, the director intercuts and shows the scene where Mohan
rushing in his car which would eventually get into an accident and kills him. The interlude music
will be appropriate to the scene. There is another similar song involving Mohan and Ambika; in
the song Yaar Veettu Roja Poo Poothatho.. in the film Idhaya Koilwhere Mohan sings the song in
the studio while Ambika is shown in trouble. Of course, this song also has some memorable
string passages. Similarly, another good example is the beautiful song Vaanil Vedivelli… sung by
Janaki/Mano in Honest Raj. The wife is singing the song, in a flash back sequence, and when
Vijayakanth sings in the present, after the death of his wife, the rhythm changes totally. The
whole song scenes will go back and forth from the present to the past. In the same way if the
director says that he plans to use a big group of dancers for this duet, then Ilaiyaraaja has to use
chorus voices positively and then he has to structure his orchestration in such a way.
With all this inputs in mind, he listens to the tune once again (he has to, as in between
the time of composing this tune and the day of recording, he must have composed many any
other tunes and also heard many other stories and seen many other films for re-recording).
Normally the string players- Violin, Viola, Cellos, DoubleBass, Brass section, etc. are not
part of the regular orchestra for songs. So if he is going to use strings and any other special
instruments like Sitar, Veena, Sarangi, Shehnai, etc. then he informs his Programme assistants
Kalyanam and Subbiah. It is their responsibility to get the players in time for the rehearsals and
recording.
Now he starts writing the entire song with orchestration in his bound pad. Ilaiyaraaja’s
musicality is more than a talent. The ideas that come to him are, in reality, completed in his mind
and only had to be written down on paper. This is composing at the higherst possible level. This
is the gift that has won him honours as he has time and again demonstrated that he could provide
embellishments or variations for a piece without prior notice or preparation. This is always evident
when he makes on the spot corrections or modifications to the score for a song or background
music as he takes the orchestra through the score for the final take. Contrary to popular belief
that because he writes music and hence he is too theoretical in his music making, he is capable
of making and does make mind boggling changes to the score at the last minute with out it
affecting the over all control of the composition.
He says that once he sits with all these inputs in mind, the entire song comes to him as a
flash at three distinct levels. On the one hand, the complete rhythm pattern of the entire song.
The second is the entire orchestration. And the third is the entire vocal patterns needed. His
problem is the usual one-the mind is faster than his hand. So he says, "As I start writing, the
entire pattern keeps changing dynamically. So what is finally turned out is not the one I got at the
first instance. I don’t know whether the final one is better or the first one would have been the
best combination." He used to ask jokingly, "Is there any equipment available that would get the
entire score from my mind at one go when it strikes my mind at the first instance?".
As is his practice, the score sheet will contain the session time on the top-right hand
corner-whether it is a 7 AM session or an afternoon 2 PM session. Till 1989 Ilaiyaraaja used to
record two songs per day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Some times, he has
even recorded four songs a day with two orchestras in adjoining studios. The top left-hand corner
will have the singer name for this song. He also writes the production company name and the
song name if it has been finalised already with the lyric writer.
Now it is 7.45-8 AM. The score is ready.
What Ilaiyaraaja writes is called Short-Score format in music parlance. That means it is
not a full score yet; still there are a few things that he takes care during the rehearsals/recording.
More over, because the players are all with him for many many years and the chemistry is very
strong, he can take the liberty of leaving certain things unsaid on the score which the orchestra
players will make out on their own or Ilaiyaraaja can verbally fill those missing pieces during the
rehearsals.
On the other hand what he wrote for his work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(RPO) was in full-score format. Because it was a concert hall music that he wrote. Once the score
is published any orchestra in the world could play that music in their programmes. Hence that
score would contain every thing. What the conductors normally change is the tempi and other
minor things in the score.
In a studio recording short-score format, for example, if a flute joins the violins in the
middle of a passage and goes out, Ilaiyaraaja need not bother about writing every thing there. If
he has written the melody that the flute player has to play, then the tempo and scale and pitch
etc. he can verbally instruct during the take. And from his mixing console he can adjust the flute
channel volume with reference to the volume of the violins so that he can decide which should be
in the foreground and which should be in the background.
But in concert music full-score format, this balancing of various instruments has to be on
the score. Writing for live instruments is not an easy task, as it requires deep knowledge about
the range of each and every instrument and also the capability of the players available with you.
You can not write some thing for the violin and ask the sax player to play it (there is no electronics
in a classical Symphony Orchestra, you remember, because in electronics you can do any thing
you want).
On top of this, writing for concert hall music requires a very strong imagination. What do I
mean? Imagine, when the full brass section is playing this passage along with the string section
and if I want to write this flute melody interlude, I should know the level at which to write the flute
portion so that the flute will be heard amongst other instruments in that particular passage. Do
you understand the complexity of writing concert music for a classical symphony orchestra now?
The score will contain every thing. Including the chorus portions, the words or phrases for
the chorus parts, male/female, solo/group, every thing will be there. If he wants a double or treble
flute or some other things like mixing of a solo violin in multiple tracks, every thing will be clearly
written there.
Though he writes in western staff notation format, he marks some of the parts in swara
notation form also in Tamil for the benefit of the players; this is in addition to the western notation.
The orchestra players have started arriving at the studio. They all wait to see the score as
students wait outside the examination hall. Now, senior violinist Judi goes inside Ilaiyaraaja ‘s
room and comes out with the score. Judi’s is in-charge of copying and distribution of score sheets
to everybody. He is also responsible to follow the on-the-spot corrections and adjustments that
Ilaiyaraaja may make during the course of the rehearsal and recording and make sure that these
corrections are made on the individual copies of the players. He has a look at the score and other
members of the orchestra cuddle around him. If the score is a simple one then the players heave
a sigh of relief. If it is a tough one, then they straight away start their practice to be ready before
Ilaiyaraaja arrives for rehearsals. Now the score goes for xeroxing. Some 20 to 30 copies are
made depending upon the number of players.
Ilaiyaraaja has his breakfast in the mean while and by 9 am he comes out of his room
and proceeds to the studio hall. The full orchestra has assembled there and every one is
seriously practicing their portions.
His first stop is with Puru (R Purushothaman), the man in-charge of the complete rhythm
section. Ilaiyaraaja explains to him the general rhythm scale of the song with the clapping of his
hands. He explains the rhythm changes during the course of the whole song and the multiple
rhythm patterns that he wants for this song. He also explains to Puru the kind of sounds he wants
for each and every rhythm patterns. Puru plays some sections on his Octopad and gets himself
clarified. He also plays sample rhythm sounds from his Samplers for Ilaiyaraaja to select. Once
Puru is clear as to what Ilaiyaraaja wants then Ilaiyaraaja moves to the Indian rhythm section
players (comprising Tabala, Dolak, etc.) if they are available and goes through the motions for
their portions in their language as Nadai, Thala kattai, etc. Apart from his Rhythm areas, Puru will
make himself clear about the whole song in general including the portions of all other groups.
Then he stops with his keyboard and electric guitar group comprising Viji Manuel (son of
legendary Handel Manuel) on the keyboards, Guitarist Sada (son of late music director
Sudarsanam) and others. Of course, the score contains every thing including the chords they
have to play. The Keyboard/Synthesizer players will have their portions marked on the score
sheet as SS, SS1, SS2, QX Prog, SSVoice or in the name of some unavailable instruments like
BagPipe, Santoor, Oboe, etc.
In some of the string and flute portions the keyboards would join the live instruments. And
also whenever brass section is playing then also Viji and other keyboard players will join the live
brass players to give a much richer and bigger sound. This is more so due to the non-availability
of that many brass players in the field. Many a time the keyboard gang will be required to join the
live chorus group with their synthesizer voices.
You must have noticed that in many of his songs the string portion is almost a mix of live
strings with keyboard strings. In the same way the flute passages are mostly double or treble
flutes with Neapolean (Arunmozhi, the singer) playing the live flute and Viji providing the support
with his keyboards. Some times Neapolean will play it twice in different tracks so that the final
output will look like as if three flute players were there.
One good example is the song Kaadal … .. by SPB/Chitra from the film Gopura Vaasalile.
Or even the Povoma Oorkolam song from Chinnathambi has a beautiful double flute passage in
the second background. Of course, the Gopura Vaasalile song has a beautiful orchestration with
subtle things like SPB will start the Pallavi and Chitra will repeat it; but when SPB completes the
pallavi, Chitra will join him for the last sentence and from then on start the pallavi all over again
while SPB will withdraw; that is, the last word alone they will sing together. It was a beautiful little
touch. In the same way the song Poo Malaye from Pagal Nilavu sung by Ilaiyaraaja and Janaki. It
is a research material. Both of them will be singing different saranams in different octaves
simultaneously.
Now he goes to the centre of the hall where a score stand with his original score pad is
ready for him.
He first goes through the portions of the string players
He puts them through their portions one by one from the various passages he has written
in this song (he refers them as Backgrounds-1st, 2nd, 3rd, like that; if the song opens with music
then it is 1st BGM, the music that comes after the Pallavi is 2nd BGM, like that it is classified).
Corrects them in their dialogue play as well as group play as First Violin group and Second Violin
group and also with the Cello group. He also makes sure that they understand clearly, in
particular, the rests and pauses in their parts. Of course, abrupt rests and pauses in his scores
are his hallmarks. So is the little things like interludes between the lines in the pallavi or saranam
or some times even in between words.
Once the section wise rehearsals are through, Ilaiyaraaja puts the orchestra through the
full song.
Now Sundararajan hums the vocal part of the song with the orchestra playing the full
song. During this full song rehearsal, which is a sketchy one, Puru’s drum machine will just give a
measured beat to accompany the orchestra because he has not programmed his sections yet.
During this phase, Ilaiyaraaja corrects the orchestra if there is any problem in exactly
understanding his phrasing demands and also the portions involved in song-follow; that is the
players including the string section who will have portions to be played during the song also. In
many of his songs you can find that the orchestra is having a continuous dialogue play with the
singers. An excellent example that immediately comes to my mind is the song Adho Andha
Nadhiyoram… from the film Ezhai Jaathi sung by Janaki, in this song you can find the strings in
constant and vibrant dialogue with the singer in both the saranams.
Some times, if he finds that the orchestra finds it difficult to play a particular phrase or
passage, then he will either ask them to practice again and again and be ready for the take. Of
course, during the take if he still finds them struggling with it, then he would make amendments to
the score. After all, work has to go on.
When I talk about Ilaiyaraaja giving instructions, it is all very precise and to the point. For
an on-looker, it will all look meaningless. In mono syllables or just some gestures. But there is an
invisible communication channel between Ilaiyaraaja and his players.Once this rehearsal session
is over, Ilaiyaraaja retires to his room.
During this period Puru will be busy programming his sequencers and Viji, Sada and
other electronics people with their programming work. Rest of the orchestra will be busy
practicing their portions. This will take quite an amount of time. During this period the Lyric writer
arrives with the song and Ilaiyaraaja goes through the written song and checks whether it goes
with the tune with out any hitch. At the end of this session the final song copy okayed by
Ilaiyaraaja is ready for voice mixing. This is also the break period for Ilaiyaraaja to spend some
time meeting vistors, reading or writing. In fact most of the pieces in his two albums How To
Name It? and Nothing But Wind were written casually during such breaks.
At around 12.30 when his Rhythm section programming is complete and all others are
ready with their parts, Puru gets into the Mixer Console Room and takes on the role of a Music
Producer. (In the music parlance the one who sits on the Mixer Console and listens to the various
channels and balances them to produce the desired results is called the Music Producer).
Now Puru goes through each and every section (key-boards, guitars, rhythms, stringsviolins,
cellos, double-bass, flute… .) asking them to play their parts and balances their volume
levels on the mixer. This becomes more complex with the electronic instruments as they are
directly connected to the mixer and getting the right volume at the console in relation to their own
individual volume settings becomes a little bit complex.
Once done, Judi or another senior violinist Prabakar take on the role of a conductor and
puts the orchestra through the full song. The individual groups like live rhythm players, brass
section, flute and others will be in their respective booths. Only the string section and the
electronic gang will be in the main hall. And Sundararajan will be in the voice booth to hum the
song or some times instead of this a violinist will play the song along with the orchestra to keep
the cue for them.
With the orchestra playing the full song and listening from the Console, Puru tries to
adjust the levels of various tracks and channels and arrives at a level, which he knows Ilaiyaraaja
would accept. Having been with Ilaiyaraaja from his college days, for almost two decades now,
Puru should know better. Once this done, word is sent to Ilaiyaraaja that every thing is ready for
the final take (that means, for the actual recording!).
Ilaiyaraaja listens to the full song from the Mixer Console and gives some finer
corrections and adjustments. Some times, this last minute embellishments would tax the
orchestra so much that they may require a few more practice runs before the take. Once
Ilaiyaraaja is satisfied, they start the "take" process. Again and again this process continues till
finally Ilaiyaraaja says it is through.
Some times, he may listen to the full song play from the console and leave instructions
for corrections and adjustments if any and then leave the rest of the work of actually completing
the take to Puru and others and retire for lunch. He has to write the score for the afternoon song,
you see!
If the song is a complex one then they record a basic track first with the rhythm section
and the vocal cue. Later on they will mix the strings, flute and other portions one by one in
separate sessions.
All these works including the voice mixing sessions with the singers, Ilaiyaraaja used to
do earlier. His able assistants have taken over those run of the mill tasks from Ilaiyaraaja. The
team works like a well-oiled machine leaving Ilaiyaraaja to concentrate on the creative side.
Occasionally Ilaiyaraaja himself will be singing the voice track for the song instead of
Sundararajan humming it or some other violinist playing it along with the orchestra during the
take. For example the famous song Vaa Vaa Anbe from Eeramana Rojave. This is a two-voice
song sung by Yesudas and Janaki. During the take Ilaiyaraaja sang both the parts effortlessly.
Later Yesudas and Janaki mixed their tracks listening to Ilaiyaraaja’s track.
Some times the track version he sings becomes so good that it is retained in the
CDs/tapes while another version by a regular singer is recorded for use in the film.
For example, the famous song Idhayam Oru Koil from IdhayaKoil. Ilaiyaraaja originally
had a version by himself and Janaki sung during the take. Later he had another version mixed by
Balu and that was the one used in the film. In the same way he sang the voice track for the song
Ennai Thaalatta Varuvalo from Kadulukku Mariyadhai. Later Hariharan listened to Ilaiyaraaja’s
track and sung his version which was used in the film. Fortunately they retained Ilaiyaraaja’s track
also without overwriting it.
Later, depending upon their availability the singers will come and mix their voices. At that
time Sundarrajan will be in-charge of the sessions to train them with the help of the tune tape, the
swara notations he has made of the tune and also with the help of the score sheet which
precisely tells you the entry and exit points. If Ilaiyaraaja is available or if he feels the song is a
difficult one, then he will be there to personally mix the voices. In the same way, the chorus
voices are mixed later in separate sessions.
- From: Jeera (@ 206.175.176.2)
on: Thu Oct 31 18:33:08 EST 2002
The article also talks about every major person in IR's troupe and their contributions.
I will continue with the next part which talks about how he does BGM (Re-Recording).
I have intentionally broken up this article. I had doubts first if I can post the whole document in a thread. But with the second attempt I am convinced I can (and could have!!).
Anyway, splitting the BGM separately from the first part, I guess makes it easy to read. So to be continued....
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