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MSV COMPOSING STYLE PART 2

 
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N Y MURALI



Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 920
Location: CHENNAI

PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 8:32 pm    Post subject: MSV COMPOSING STYLE PART 2 Reply with quote

MUSIC IS NOTHING BUT SOUND. YOU TAKE A HARMONIUM OR A KEYBOARD AND PRESS ONE KEY. YOU WILL GET A SOUND. IT IS CALLED AS SWARAM IN INDIAN MUSIC. WE ALSO SPEAK AND IN THE PROCESS WE CREATE A SOUND. A BIRD CREATES A SOUND. A MOTORCYCLE CREATES A SOUND. IS IT THEN MUSIC. WELL NOT. SO THE SOUNDS THAT ARE NORMALLY GENERATED WHILE SPEAKING IS NOT MUSIC BUT THE SOUND YOU GENERATE WHILE SINGING IS MUSIC. THAT MEANS IT GENERATES A TONE. AS MENTINED EARLIER YOU PRESSED A KEY IN THE HARMONIUM OR KEYBOARD YOU GENERATED A TONE. YOU PRESS THE VERY NEXT KEY AND HEAR THE SOUND. YOU WILL SEE THAT THIS GENERATES A DIFFERENT TONE WHICH IS HIGH IN PITCH TO THE EARLEIR ONE. LIKE THIS IF YOU KEEP ON PRESSING THE NEXT 12 KEYS FROM THE ORIGINAL ONE YOU HAVE PRESSED FIRST THAT MEANS YOU HAVE COMPLETED A SCALE. THE 13TH KEY IF YOU PRESS WILL PRODUCE THE SAME KIND OF TONE TO THE ORIGNAL 1ST KEY BUT WITH A HIGHER PITCH. IF YOU PRESS THE 14TH KEY YOU WILL GET THE SAME TONE AS THE 2ND KEY IN A HIGHER PITCH AND SO ON. LIKE WISE IF YOU PRESS THE IMMDIATE NEXT LEFT KEY TO THE IST ONE YOU WILL HEAR THE SAME TONE AS THE 12TH KEY BUT ON A LOWER PITCH. SO THE PITCH THAT IS LOWER TO THE 1ST KEY IS CALLED THE “KEEGH STHAYI” AND THE PITCH FROM 1ST TO 12TH IS CALLED THE “NADU STHAYI” AND THE PITCH FROM 13TH TO 25TH WOULD BE CALLED THE “MEL STHAYI “ OR “UCHA STHAYI”.

NOW WHEN A SONG IS COMPOSED AND IF IT HAD TO BE SUNG BY A VOCALIST THEN THE SHRUTHI HAS TO BE DECIDED WHETHER THE VOCALIST CAN PRODUCE THOSE TONES. NOW LET US ALSO UNDERSTAND THE KEY NAMES SO THAT IT WOULD BE USEFUL WHEN WE DISCUSS ABOUT HIS COMPOSTION.

IN THE HARMONIUM OR KEY BOARD YOU WILL NOTICE THE KEYS ARE IN BLACK AND WHITE COLOUR. YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE BLACK KEYS WILL BE IN THE SET OF 2S AND 3S GROUPED TO GETHER. THE LEFT LOWER WHITE KEY FROM THE LEFT OF THE 2 BLACK KEY IS CALLED SRUHI 1. SO IF YOU TAKE THAT WHITE KEY WHICH IS SHRUDHI 1 AS THE AADARA SHRUDI OR SIMPLY “SA”
THEN WE CAN MAKE OUT ALL OTHER KEYS AS FOLLOWS. I WILL GIVE BELOW A TABLE WHICH WILL HELP YOU IDENTIFY THE KEY WITH THEIR SWARAM NAMES THEIR CORRESPONDING WETERN KEY NAME AND I ALO GIVE YOU A NUMBER SO THAT EVEN IF YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE OUT THE NAME YOU CAN EASILY IDENTIFY WITH THE NUMBER. ONLY THING IS YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE TO FIND OUT THE 1 ST KEY WHICH IS THE WHITE KEY TO THE LEFT OF THE LEFT BALCK KEY OF 2 SET BLACK KEYS.
NO SHRU SWARAM NAME WESTERN COLOUR
1 1 SA (SATCHAMAM) C WHITE
2 1 ½ RI1 (SUDDA RISHABAM) C’ (C SHARP) BLACK
3 2 RI2(SADUSRUDI RISHABAM) D WHITE
4 2 ½ GA1(SADHARANA GANDHARAM) D’ (D SHARP) BLACK
5 3 GA2(ANDHARA GANDHARAM) E WHITE
6 4 MA1(SUDHA MADHYAMAM) F WHITE
7 4 ½ MA2(PRADHI MADHYAMAM) F’ (F SHARP) BLACK
8 5 PA (PANCHAMAM) G WHITE
9 5 ½ DA1(SUDDA DAIVADHAM) G’(G SHARP) BLACK
10 6 DA2 (SADUSRUDI DAIVADHAM) A WHITE
11 6 ½ NI1(KAISHAGI NISHADHAM) A’(A SHARP) BLACK
12 7 NI2(KAKALI NISHADHAM) B WHITE

NOW THE 13TH KEY WILL BE THE SAME ‘SA’ OF THE 1ST ONLY IN HIGHER PITCH AND AGAINT IT IS CALLED ‘C’ IN WESTERN BUT THEY MENTION THIS WITH THE INDICATION OF HIGHER PITCH. LIKEWISE FOR LOWER PITCH THERE WILL BE INDICATION SO THAT YOU WILL WHICH KEY TO PRESS.
YOU NEED NOT HAVE TO REMEMBER THE NAMES LIKE KAKALI NISHADAM ETC BUT IF YOU KNOW ONLY AS NI1 OR NI2 IT IS SUFFICIENT. IF YOU KNOW THE WESTERN NAME OF THE KEYS IT WOULD BE MORE HELPFUL.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT COMPOSITION STYLE YOU NEED TO KNOW THE ABOVE AT LEAST.

MSV ALWAYS USED TO SAY FOR NEW COMPOSERS THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE ATLEAST A FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CARNATIC MUSIC. THE REASON IS THAT IF YOU HAVE LEARNT THE BASICS OF CARNITC MUSIC THEN IT IS EASY FOR YOU UNDERSTAND THE OTHER STYLE LIKE HINDUSTANI, FOLK, AND WESTERN ETC.

WE WILL ALSO KNOW LITTLE BIT ABOUT CARNATIC MUSIC. THE VERY IMPORTANT FACOR IN CARNATIC MUSIC IS THAT THE SONGS ARE COMPOSED IN PRE GROUPED TONES WHICH IS CALLED RAAGA. FROM THE ABOVE TABLE YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE TOTTALY 12 DIFFERENT TONES BUT THEY ARE IN GROUP WHICH IS SEVEN. THAT IF YOU CLUB BOTH ‘RI’S,’GA’ ETC YOU WOULD GET AS SA, RI ,GA, MA , PA, DA, NI WHICH IS SEVEN. THAT IS WHY THER IS A GENERAL SAYING AS SAPDA SWARAS. ALL COMPOSITION WILL BE FORMED WITH THE HELP OF THIS 7 SWARAS. WE ALL KNOW THE SONGS “YEZHU SWANGALUKKUL ETHANAI PADAL” WHICH MENTIONES ABOUT THIS 7 SWARAS. THOUGH IT IS CALLED SABDA SWARA ALTUALLY THERE ARE 12 DIFFERENT TONES OR SWARAS.

SO THE RAAGAS ARE PREARRANGED WITH THE HELP OF THESE 12 TONES. TAKE FOR INSTANCE ‘SA’, ONE OUT 2 ‘RI’ , ONE OUT 2 ‘GA’, ONE OUT 2 ‘MA’, ‘PA’, ONE OUT 2 ‘DA’, ONE OUT OF 2 ‘NI’.
SO YOU WILL GET SA, RI, GA, MA, PA, DA, NI AND THAT WILL BE ONE RAAGA. THE RAAGA WHICH CONSISITS OF SEVEN SWARAS ARE CALLED SAMPOORNA RAAGA OR MELA KARTHA RAAGA.

ONE SCHOLER BY NAME VENGADAMAGI HAS CATALOGUED ALL THE RAAGAS WHICH IS GENERALLY FOLLOWED. SO IF YOU PUT PERMUTATION OF THIS YOU WILL GET AS MANY AS 36 MELAKARTHA RAAGAS. BUT IN REALITY WE HAVE 72 MELAKARTHA RAAGAS. THE REASON IS IN CARNITC MUSIC WHILE THEY TAKE THE SWARAS THEY ALSO ASSUME BOTH THE ‘RI’S AND THE FIRST ‘RI’ IS KNOWN AS ‘RISHABAM’ WHERE AS THE SEOND ‘RI’ IS ASSUMED AS ‘GANDHARAM’ FOR THAT PARTICULAR RAAGA. EVEN THOUGH BOTH THE ‘RI’ ARE CALLED AS ‘RI’ S THEY PRODUCE DIFFERENT TONES. THIS IS THE UNIQUE FEATURE OF CARNATIC MUSIC. YOU ALL WOULD HAVE NOTICE IF YOU HEARD CARNATIC STYLE SONGS THERE IS A THING CALLED ‘KALPANA SWARA PROYOGAM’ THIS IS NOTHING BUT PRONOUNCING THE CODE NAME OF THE SWARAM WITH THEIR ORIGINAL TONE. UNLESS YOU PRACTICE WELL AND PERFECTIONED THE ART OF PRONOUNCING THE CODE NAME WITH ITS OROGINAL TONE YOU WILL STRAGULE. YOU WILL PRONOUNCE CODE NAME AS ‘RI’ WHERE IS YOU GENERATING SOME OTHER TONE. MORE DIFFICULT WILL BE WHEN YOU ARE FACED WITH A RAAGA WHICH HAS BOTH THE ‘RI’S. BECAUSE WHILE RENDERING THE KALPANA SWARAM YOU HAVE PRONOUNCE ‘RI1’ AS RI AND PRONOUNCE ‘RI2’ AS ‘GA’ WHICH IS VERY DIFFICULT. FOR EXAMPLE THERE IS A RAAGA CALLED KANAKANGI WHICH IS THE FIRST MELA KARTHA RAAGA IN VENKADA MAGI’S CATALOGUE WHICH HAS BOTH THE ‘RI’S. IN THIS RAAGA THE ‘RI1’ IS PRONOUCED AS RI AND ‘RI2’ IS PRONOUNCED AS ‘GA’ WHILE YOU GENERATE THE ORIGINAL TONE. WHREAS IN THE RAAGA MESHA KALANI (OR SIMPLY KALYANI) WHICH IS 65TH IN THE CATALOGUE IT HAS ONLY ONE RI WHICH IS THE ‘RI2’. IN THIS CASE YOU HAVE PRONOUNCED ‘RI2’ AS ‘RI’ ONLY WITH THE SAME TONE. THAT IS IT VERY DIFFICULT TO MASTER CARNATIC MUSIC AND ESPECIALLY IN VOCAL. IF IT IS INSTRUMENT PLAYING LIKE VEENA OR VIOLIN YOU CAN MANAGE BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO PRONUNCE THE CODES SO YOU GENERATE THE TONE BY PRESSING THE STRINGS AT THE RIGHT POSITION.

PLEASE DO NOT WORRY IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO UNDER STAND THIS BECAUSE THIS KNOWLEDGE ARE NOT REQUIRED FOR US TO UNDERSTAND COMPOSTION. THE 72 MELA KARTHA RAAGAS WHICH AS 7 SWARAMS IN IT ARE CALLED SAMPOORNA RAAGAM. WHEN YOU PLAY OR SING THESE SWARAMS IN AN UPWARD DIRECTION THIS IS CALLED AAROGANAM. AND WHEN YOU DO IT IN THE DOWNWARD DIRECTION IT IS CALLED AVAROGANAM.

NOW IF YOU REMOVE ONE SWARAM (OTHER THAN ‘SA’ WHICH IS CALLED THE AASHARA SHRUDHI) OUT OF ANY ONE THE 72 RAAGAMS, YOU GET 6 SWARAMS. LIKE THIS YOU CAN KEEP ON DOING ONE SWARAM AFTER ANOTHER IN A PARTICULAR MELA KARTHA RAAGAM YOU GET COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT TUNES. THE RAAGAS DERIVED FROM THE ORIGINAL MELA KARTHA RAAGAS ARE CALLED JANYA RAAGAS AS THE TAKE BIRTH FROM THE ORGINAL MELA KARTHA RAAGA WHICH IS ALSO CALLED THE THAI RAAGA OR MOTHER RAAGA.LIKE THIS YOU CAN HAVE MULTIPLE RAAGAS WITH VARIOUS COMBINATIONS. IT IS TOLD THAT THERE COULD BE AS MANY AS 36000 RAAGAS. SOME SAY IT COULD BE AROUND 100000.

NOW IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE UNDERSTAND ANY OF THE ABOVE SO BE IT. ONLY THING WHAT YOU NEED KEEP IN MIND IS THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN 36000 PRESET MELODIES CALLED RAAGAS ARE THERE AND YOU COULD USE ANY ONE OF THEM TO COMPOSE YOUR SONG. THIS IS HOW CARNATIC KEERTHANAIS ARE COMPOSED AND SUNG IN SABAS, TEMPLES ETC.

SO WHEN CINE MUSIC CAME IN TO EXISTANCE THERE IS NO SURPRISE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO COMPOSED SONGS FOR THE MOVIES HAVE TAKEN THE READY MADE RAAGAS FOR THEIR COMPOSITION. AND MOST OF THE COMPOSERS DURING 1930S AND 40S WERE ALL CAME FROM CARNATIC MUSIC BACKGROUND AND SO IT WAS NATURAL FOR THEM TO USE THE EXISTING RAAGAS. EVEN THE ACTORS WERE SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT CARNATIC MUSIC OR OTHERWISE THEY WONT HAVE A CHANCE. ACTING WAS SECONDARY FOR THESE ACTORS. BUT KNOWLEDGE OF CARNATIC MUSIC AND VOCAL RENDERING OF MUSIC WAS THE FIRST CRITERIA. SO CAME GREAT PEOPLE LIKE THYAGARAAJA BAGAVATHAR , P U CHINNAPPA, OR T R MAHALINGAM TO QUOATE A FEW NAME. BUT THINGS CHANGED IN THE LATE 40S AND EARLY 50S WHERE ACTING BECAME IMPORTANT AND PEOPLE WERE GIVEN PREFERENCE FROM THE DRAMA BACKROUND. THE MUSIC COMPOSITION AND PLAY BACK SINGING WAS TAKEN BY SEPARATE GROUP AND THE MAIN ACTOR NEED TO ONLY MAKE THE LIP MOVEMENT FOR THE SONG. SO A NEW BENCH OF TALENT CAME TO THE SCENE LIKE THE GREAT G RAMANATHAN, S M SUBBIAH NAIDU, K V MAHADEVAN ETC. IT WAS DURING THIS PERIOD THAT MSV CAME IN TO THE PICTURE. CHANGES WERE HAPPANING REGULARLY IN THE TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY AT THAT TIME . EVERY ONE HAS TO KEEP THEMSELVES UPDATED FOR THE CHANGE AND SHOULD BE WILLLING TO CHANGE THEMSELVES FOR THE CHANGE NECESSIATED. MSV CAME OUT WITH HIS OWN STYLE OF COMPOSING DURING THIS PERIOD . IT DRAMATICALLY CHANGED THE TAMIL FILM MUSIC INDUSRTRY TO A NEW LEVEL. THEN CAME THE GOLDEN PERIOD FOR MUSIC BETWEEN 1960 – 1980 OF TAMIL MUSIC WHICH I MENTIONED EARLEIR. NO OTHER MUSIC DIRECTOR WOULD HAVE MADE HIS IMPRINTS LIKE MSV DID IN THE TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY. AS PER THE DATA AVAILABLE IN THIS SITE, HE CAME TO THE INDUSTRY IN 1952 FROM THE MOVIE PANAM. HE HAD BEEN VERY BUSY UPTO 1995. EVEN NOW HE IS COMPOSING AT THE AGE OF 79 FOR A MOVIE. THAT MEANS FOR THE PAST 56 YEARS HE IS IN THE INDUSTRY. OF COURSE TODAY HE NOT AS ACTIVE AS HE WAS 20 YEARS BEFORE. IF HE IS IN THE INDUSTRY FOR OVER 6 DECADES, THEN HE MUST BE HAVING A SPECIAL METHOD OF COMPOSING. AND IF YOU ANANLYSE HIS SONGS FROM 1952 TO TILL DATE YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT HE HAS CROSSED 3 GENERATONS. TO KEEP THREE GENERATIONS OF FANS IN YOUR FOLD IS QUEIT EXTRODINARY.
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