Thumbi Vaa 1

For the first time I made a serious attempt in representing Raaja's music as Staff notations. The piece I have taken for examination is the Pallavi of the one of the greatest Malayalam songs.. "Thumbi Vaa " from the movie 'Olangal'. I took the Concert version of this piece performed by Raaja himself during his "A musical journey" concert that was played live in Italy circa 2003.

I took the orchestra version because the bass pattern in this track are proper minims (half notes) and hence easy to follow as compared to the original track where the bass pattern though of lesser no. of notes is of more complex time signature. For additional simplification I didn't consider the minute Sangathis etc., Just the lead melody on the treble clef and the cello tracks on the bass clef.

Here is the Original part of the track:
Thumbi Vaa (Concerto Version)

And here is the sheet music for this phrase:



A quick guide to read the above notation is that:
Its a score with 4/4 Time signature and the key signature is C minor. I have used "Repeat volta " where each line has to be played twice instead of unfolding them as many times and cluttering the score. As a sample, I employed one slur on the second line to represent the gamakam (ga ma ga ri).. A sheepish attempt at best.. !!

This score also explains the Contrapuntal technique in a very basic form where two melodies are played simultaneously with different patterns and also sometimes in opposite directions crisscrossing each other..
Click here to Download this notation as pdf.

And here is the output of the notation in midi format:
Thumbi Vaa (Midi Version)

If you want to see the tracks played in real time mapped against Piano Keys, I suggest that you download this midi file here and play it using the Van Basco midi player that can be downloaded here. It gives you a much more clearer idea of how the notes are divided and played simultaneously.

This is a very basic first attempt and I have no idea if the score is written properly. Therefore I would really appreciate if someone gives a open review of this score (CSR ..?); Also please note that the notes in the sheet music are identified by raw hearing and I would be happy to know if there is any odd note that isn't in sync with the original..

Finally to put things in perspective, this the language that the musicians world over communicate with each other. Can you imagine, this is the language with which Raaja wrote the notations for Thiruvasagam or Guru or Hey Ram and musicians from Hungary who never knew anything of Raaja or India or Tamilnadu could play it instantaneously in exactly the same way that he intended. Isn't that amazing..?

In the future, I hope to unravel many of such Raaja's classics in its purest form !!

And Yes, I also hope that the PT Sir would be proud of the black sheep now !!


Special Credits:
1.) A wonderful software called Lilypond that helped me notate this score. Its an automated engraving system that can generate printable sheet music in a traditional plate.. It has some extremely handy features such as midi output as well as image output of the score. And its FREE... (Hail Open source !!)

2.) Simple and complete Musical theory pages of the Connexions website such as this one that helped me bolster my basics and clear some doubts that arose while notating this score.

Tremolo 0

Ask anyone, what is the single most factor that differentiates Raaja's songs from the rest. The answer is bound to be "Orchestration".. Or in more simple terms the art of making a (fairly big) team of musicians working in unison to produce the desired results. Or in colorful language, Orchestration its the art of writing screenplay to the story called Melody.

One such tool available to write the screenplay is employing the String Ensemble as Tremolo strings. Wikipedia defines Tremolo as "A regular and repetitive variation in amplitude for the duration of a single note". If that sounded too text-bookish, try this.. I would like to define it as a way of employing the String ensemble to sketch a measure with innumerable bow strokes; Or dividing a bar into notes of minimum perceivable time signatures; Or decipherable atomic notes per unit measure; The strokes have to be so fine, that on casual listening it should sound disguised as a normal sustained long note but on careful listening it is actually made of multitudes of strands.. Simple speaking, Think off Haldiram's Soan Papdi :-)

I would like to start off with the song Maalaiyil Yaaro (Chathriyan):
A casual look at the prelude, and you could be excused for thinking its made of full notes
"Pa ga Ma Pa
Pa Ma Ga Sa "
Prelude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

In reality, each of the notes specified above are made of tiny flakes of same note lasting for abysmall duration each.. Something like:
Papapapapapapa gagagagagagagagag mamamamamamama papapapapapapaapapa

Listen to the above track again.. there you go!!

Note: As far as I know, the Tremolo time signature is spontaneous and is not a strict derivative of 1/4x lasting notes (i.e., not necessarily 1/32 or 1/64th time signature).. basically its asymmetrical within each count but totally put together lasting for the given notated duration.. You can clearly see that pattern in this track and all the tracks to come...

Same phenomenon is observed all over this song.. I am posting this very short beginning of 1st interlude. There are just 2 bars.. Each starting with pizzicato strings (Technique of plucking instead of bowing a String instrument like Violin.. This is worth another blog post..) and finishing in Tremolo strings..
1st interlude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

Now look at the background of "Nenjame".. The desired effect is achieved solely by Tremolo:
Anu Pallavi of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

Also in the 2nd interlude some beautiful Tremolo well disguised as full notes:
2nd interlude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

As in the previous clips, The pattern in which Raaja equates Tremolo effect with the pain of prolonged wait in Love symbolizing the return/ arrival of lover is rather unique ('Pirivaatraamai' in Tamil Ilakkiyam (!!??)). The irking wait for the partner is epitomized by one of the most beautiful tremolos of Raaja... The prelude of Sundari..

Maniratnam's picturization of early morning mist (Courtesy: Santosh Sivan..)
Solo Flute (and Solo Lady on screen)..
A landscape resembling Newzealand-ish outdoors of 'Lord of the Rings' with mountains, lush greenary and lakes...
And Tremolo..
Wow.. Wow.. Wow..
Prelude of 'Sundari Kannal'
PS: Actually you can watch this Tremolo in action. There are two occassions. once in Jeya TV's Andrum Indrum Endrum.. Now let me recap the definition of Tremolo.. A regular and repetitive variation in AMPLITUDE. Watch Raaja in this video from seconds 48 to 52. The Amplitude of Tremolo raises and falls as gestured by Raaja.. !!

A much more pronounced Tremolo in action in this song is noticable in "Raaja Raajadhan " Live show in Dubai.. that can be watched here http://sinnakuddy1.blogspot.com/2008/02/live-show.html --> Video no: 2 --> Seconds from 22:38 to 23:20. What happened was, clearly the Audio technician sitting in the channel mixer hasn't heard the song before and doesn't have enough knowledge of the song..(this might sound preposterous to you.. but take it from some one who has played 200 stages.. A technician who knows the song upfront is a very very crucial part of the stage show where live music is played by orchestra involving more than 6 channels or so.. stage feedback and mixing are two external factors which can make or break a show irrespective of your team's talent and hard work. The show is worth nothing if your sound mixer technician for the day is a stupid like in this case...) So the technician here, saw a hoard of animated violinists and thought that's the main part of the song and increased that channel's volume least realizing its the Flute and Oboe that was taking the lead there.. The result was a cold blooded murder of a beautiful phrase.. All the hard work of the orchestra goes down the drain.. But I was jumping when I saw that because I could hear the Tremolo uninterruptedly and could understand the transitions more vividly.. A horrible gaffe but it brings a hidden area to forefront even though the result is not pleasing to hear..

There are probably hundreds of songs by Raaja employing Tremolo.. I am copy pasting tracks top of my head..

Prelude of 'Kaatru Poovai'(I Love India)

Prelude of 'Unnai naan' (Kannukkoru Vannakilli)

Last but not the least, The superb Pooerukonum Purantharanum from Thiruvasagam

I would like to close with one remark. Often I get asked by my friends, why am I so biased with Ilaiyaraaja..? Well, I am not averse to other composers.. I definitely am a big fan of quality music where ever that comes from (ARR included, for instance..); but there are reasons why my veneration towards Raaja is unflinching..

Let me again quote Wikipedia: "In music notation tremolo is indicated by strokes through the stems of the notes (in the case of semibreves or whole notes, which lack stems, the bars are drawn above or below the note, where the stem would be if there were one)".

Show me another composer in India/ South Asia who is capable of "indicating these strokes through the stems of the notes" and making a bunch of 40 violinists from Chennai play it..locally right here.. Fully cognizant of the fact that 9 out of 10 who listens these tracks where looking at the hero (probably a Murali or a Ramarajan or a xxx) or the heroine (a Bhanupriya or an Ambika or..) and not noticing the Tremolo..

Well, that's definitely a reason good enough for me to revere for..

Trombone 0

My first tryst with Trombone was in the year 02. My manager then, a gentleman by the name of Ben was a trombonist at a local brass band. I accompanied him on a couple of occasions during his practice sessions and attended their orchestra's live show once as well (well.. I had free tickets..!); When I heard the timber of the instrument, the background musics of Tom & Jerry, especially of the types when Jerry is spoiling Tom's beach vacation or when he is meddling with Tom's lady cat etc., flashed in my mind. I was truly fascinated to see such a looong instrument. The complicated maneuvers to produce such amazing notes were equally fascinating.. Especially when performed in unison by a group of them...The instrument is truly one of its kind.. (To orient yourself to it, you can either read the wikipedia, which I found rather technical or you can read a simpler account here . Also Youtube has tons of videos on Trombone solos although most are jazz based that requires an acquired taste of listening. )

While the instrument is usually played as an Trombone ensemble in Brass bands - accompanying the main theme by giving punching phrases lasting all of single or two counts typically during the end of the given bar, the potential of this instrument to perform a solo act is second to none.

Actually Trombone is quite common in the Indian film music scenario. In the background scores, it is usually played together with other brass instruments to convey the de-facto 'Thigil' (suspense) effect.. like when the villain approaches the hero from behind with a Knife !!!! While in the movie songs, its used heavily as well particularly for partying songs, patriotic songs etc., Works of RD Burman employed a great deal of Brass instruments including Trombone. AR Rehman uses it as well (even today in songs like 'Azeem-O-Shaan-Shahenshah') But this instrument has always predominantly been used as part of the larger Brass ensemble. Pathoda Padhinonnu.. (insignificant !!); Whatever limited scope that existed for a solo in the interludes of movie songs was besieged by more flamboyant instruments of the brass family. After all, Baagyaraaj and Balakrishna look much "cooler" pretending to play the Trumpet or Saxophone in the interludes, rather than err.. a Trombone !

My interest on this lovely instrument was revived after I came to know that it was one Mr. Blasco Monsorate from the Goan Jazz circles, who usually plays Trombone solos for Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. Fascinated by the idea of trombone solo in regional film songs, I went about searching for them .. What I found were clips of mere 15 and 20 seconds.. but then to think that in a song of 4 minutes where more than half is vocals, this is rather a healthy proposition of length given the plethora of instruments. Besides, the exercise of extracting them and listening in isolation might pave the way for non-trombone aware listeners to appreciate the instrument.

1. Prelude of Sangeetha Megam..All along I was thinking this is trumpet. But I think this is in fact trombone (while in the last part of this section, a trumpet can be heard, floating out of no where and joining the trombone); The tone of trumpet is clearly sharper than Trombone.
Prelude of Sangeedha Megam

2. A Solo trombone starts at the end of 2nd line (oh..Kannal kaanugayaam) and continues through the 3rd and 4 line in the background
Aruna Kirana Deepam

3. 2nd interlude of "Hey I Love you.." Orchestration of this song is very very trendy.. Even Today
Hey I Love You

4. In the interludes of 'Suttum Sudarvizhi', the Trombone can be heard intermittently amidst the orchestral colossus.
Suttum Sudar Vizhi

5. Here is Japanil Kalyanaraman:
Vaaya Vaaya

6. And "Vaanam Kezhe" (Thanks Ramesh for the find):
Vaanam Kezhe

7. 2nd interlude of "Ennama Kannu".. Trombone solo repeated by trumphets;
Ennama Kannu

There are much more applications of trombone by Raaja. Rock n Roll beauties (Ram bum bum, Vaanamenna Mel irukka), magnum opuses ("Sundari kannal oru") etc., But as I said they were always part of a wider Brass section .. Solos hidden in (even well known) songs was quite interesting (well.. atleast for me!) Hope you liked it as well.. Please leave a comment when you can think of more Trombone solos in Raaja's songs...

And finally...

When Jazz meets Banthuvarali, we are treated to arguably the best trombone solo ever written in India by an Indian and played by another (Blasco):
Is It Fixed

Can you beat that ..?

Chords For Dummies 0

Often while reading musical reviews or discussions of Ilaiyaraaja (or any genre of music that evolved in the past 50 years for that matter) a popular 'hip' word that one comes across is Chord. While a formal definition or a technical description of that word is available all over the internet, you are expected to be musically 'educated' or at least be aware of the basic anatomy of music to understand those references. Getting more confused, you would usually run for cover to your flamboyant 'expert' next door on the internet. Since he is often throwing this fancy word at you and proclaims to no end that "Wow..What Superb Chords..", you ask him "What exactly is this 'chord' thing? Can you pin point?" or "I am terrified by these Major 7th or minor 9th chords that you mentioned? what are they?", you will most likely see faces that resemble a rabbit caught under the headlamps midway down the road and receive "Hee Hee... Oh.. Adhuva..!!" as the answer.

Many years ago as a novice Carnatic initiated when I started hearing these terms, at least that's the response I received from the umpteen number of guys whom I approached thinking that they were 'Genius' (because of the way how they presented themselves and fooled around innocent people with their Jargon laden talks)

That was the time when I was scared to death by the western classical music in general and the concept of Chords in particular.. With no reliable guidance, with no internet and with no means to practice, all I had was Raaja's songs and loads of determination.. The quality of music tracks then was not of as much crystal clear quality as today, nor did I had these super gadgets of "bass boosting" players or "noise reduction" headphones or "rip off" softwares to eliminate unwanted tracks and just listen to the sound you want in isolation. With a worn-out 2 in one cassette player (which, to copy the popular comical Tamil Adage - would not even fetch me any date fruits!!) and with my ears pressed against its speakers in a manner that would put water tight Swiss watches to shame, I would rewind any given Raaja song at least a hundred times just to play back phrases of two seconds again and again until that exotic chord was fished out of the abyss from deep beneath the vocals and rhythm and the recording noise..

I had many such Raaja songs that served as personal companions to overcome my Chordophobia" :-) The lesser known "Vaanengum Thanga Veen Meengal" from the movie 'Moondram Pirai' is one such song..

As a beginner, You just have to listen to the prelude of this song to get your first direct rendezvous with the Chords..
What you keep hearing in the Prelude of this song until the Flute starts are all nothing but chords.. (Well, the chords continue in the background after the flute starts as well.. but in the first few bars you hear pure unadulterated sound of how a chord feels)

(I already used a term called 'BAR'.. Lets assume a person with little technical background of music hears this song. To initiate him/ her as well as to bolster everyone's basics, lets proceed using some simple non-technical words; So I split this post into two halfs.. Beginner's lounge is the main blog post and I leave the 'technical' stuff separately on the Appendix so that the main post remains lucid)

Part I - Chords For Dummies:

Stage 1: Identify a 'Bar'

The song starts with plain guitar sound played periodically..That is, in the prelude of this song, if you simply start counting 1 2 3 4 along with the song's speed, you will here this. As you go on and hear the prelude you will also realize that there is a repeating pattern to this guitar sound.. And you will 'feel' this repetition involuntarily after every 4 counts..

Hearing that clip again you can recap to be sure that what you heard lasted for 4 counts. This is called One Bar, or rather this lasted for the duration of one Bar. (Please note that a Bar doesn't always last for 4 counts universally in all songs. Songs with 3 counts, 5 Counts, 6 counts and 7 Counts bar are also common in Indian/ World music, although not as common as 4 count based Bars.)

Exercise 1:
Listen to this prelude bit. How Many Bars did you listen?

Stage 2: How does a given Chord Actually 'sound'?

Lets take the same reference bit used for illustration of stage 1. In this one bar of music, you heard a SAME guitar sound through out (although on your 4th count you heard two sounds played fastly. But Lets ignore how that 4th count was divided for the moment)

What you just heard is nothing but a MAJOR CHORD played each time when you counted 1 or 2 or 3 or (the two quick sounds on) 4 . This is an example in isolation, of how a given Chord 'Sounds'.. (a given major chord in this case)
Exercise 2:
Listen to this famous song. Except for the Janaki's voice, what else did you notice in the background?

Stage 2b: Something Extra
Having known how a chord actually sounds, now lets go to the next challenge. That is to identify a slightly more complex 'sound'. "Vaanengum" was the song that helped me grasp the concept of Major 7th chords.. So I would like to continue with it for the illustration..

(For your ready reference, here is the the First bar again.) Now you can already notice that when the second bar starts, the 'sound' of music (!) slightly changed.

Second bar = counts 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = Guitar in the same PATTERN as the 1st bar.. but the SOUND OF THE CHORD IS DIFFERENT

Agreed..?

What you just heard during the counts 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 is nothing but a MAJOR 7th CHORD..

So dear readers, again as I noted before, the objective here is not to get you technically savvy of a Major 7th chord's anatomy. But just to enable you to listen to a (relatively) 'special' type of chord in isolation. That's all.

Mini coffee break:
So now Raaja conducts a revision to you so that you can understand doubly for sure what you have learnt now .. Because the whole stuff is neatly repeated for you..

So here are the first 4 bars of this mystical song.
You have already mastered the first 2 bars.
Third Bar = same as First bar (Feel the sound of a chord.. note where the bar ends)
Fourth bar = Same as Second bar (You started a new beat cycle now.. What you are hearing is a relatively special chord);
Exercise 3:
Hear to this bit. (This is the prelude of the song "Kiss Me" from the band 'Six pence none the richer')
Please focus on the first two bars. What is the similarity that you noticed with the "Vaanengum" Song?
Additional Q: How many bars did you listen now ? ;-)
Closing Note:
I want to close by saying that, its very easy to learn the concept of chords just by following Raaja's songs.. No other source is needed.. I for one am eternally thankful to Raaja for this..

I am still scared to death by these concepts and by no means capable of dissecting and analyzing each and every chord of Raaja's songs..But now the difference is that at least I know 'what' I am scared off.. I know the face of this mysterious force, as opposed to get chickened out by the fear of the unknown..

I feel this post's objective is met if you also sign off with the same feeling..

Appendix - An inside view:
This is more of an 'Absolute' interpretation of the samples used so that the musically initiated readers can take home more. Please don't bother yourself with it if you think its too much of information.

1. The First bar of Vaanengum is actually a F# Major chord.
(To be specific, one can feel this chord already relates to the Aadhara Shruthi of the song.. so this chord is nothing but the the Root major of the song.. i.e., the song's key signature is F#). To be more technically correct its played with the omission of the Major third (i.e., A#) on one track and with the inversion of "5 + 1 + 3" (instead of "1+3+5") in another faint track. The bass is played on the alternating half count and is touching the root note F#.

2. The Second bar of Vaanengum is actually the M7th of the ROOT. i.e., its the F# Major 7th chord which in turn is nothing but the F# Major chord + its 7th note on the major scale which is 'F'. (Major 7ths are also noted as M7th for simplification). As a matter of fact the prominent chord sound that you heard in the bar appear more like the minor triad of the Major Third (i.e., A# minor). Its the bass which still anchors at F# which reassures the final Major 7th delivery (i.e., Bass of F# note + the A# minor traid = F# Major 7th)

(Extended) Stage 3 : Chord progressions:

Now lets go to the next step called CHORD PROGRESSION, which is not exactly worth loosing your sleep right now if you are a beginner. On the other hand, now that you know how a chord sounds, you may still follow this section to merely know the "Changing of Chords" in a bar/ set of bars.

Fifth Bar = G#m G#m G#m F#/C# = minor Triad of the major second (i.e., G# minor traid for 3 counts) and the root F# major on the last count of this bar. (Please note that the last F# major is notated as F#/C# since its played with the inversion of 5+1+3 suggesting that its F# major chord played with the inversion of bass note as C#) .
So this is Second Progression Down

Sixth Bar = B B B C# = Perfect Major fourth on first 3 counts and perfect Major 5th on the last count.. So right from the beginning of prelude the progression can be (roughly) summarized as: F# - G#m - F# (With the emphasize on A#) - B - C# .
This is a lucid Fifth Progression UP that loops back to the root when the flute starts..

This is relatively a heavy topic.. So lets park it for now..

Key for the exercises:

Exercise 1:
4 bars

Exercise 2:
Chords.. Chords.. மேலும் Chords:-)
(To be exact, the chords that you heard are of the sequence:
Am F A| A Dm - F|Em G C Am|F E Am||)

Exercise 3: The similarity between Vaanengum and Kiss Me is that:
First Bar = Root Major chord
Second Bar = Root Major 7th chord
i.e., the chords of the opening two bars are of same make. Even though the key signature of both the songs is different (Vaanengum is F# and Kiss me is D), similarity can be clearly felt in respective 'relative' descents. Kiss Me's progression is: Root - Major7th - 7th - Major 7th (i.e., D - DM7th - D7th - DM7th). So if this helped you to make the 'connection' and 'receive' the 'sound' of a major chord and its major seventh together, then you cracked it..
Additional Q: There were 8 bars in that original Exercise 3 question.

Note: we discussed about just the Major7th in this post. We didn't touch upon the dominant seventh (a.k.a 'THE' 7th) type of chords (that I mentioned in Kiss Me's progression); There are various types of chords and each of them has a distinct character. We just touched upon two (popular) variety. Thats all.. If there is enough interest, lets see if we can extend this exercise to each of the known types using Raaja's songs.