Hello to All !

When I started writing a series on (in letter format) WCM introduction lessons in IR-Yahoo club (and Ilaiyaragam Yahoo Club), I never thought I could sustain writing so much and so long !

I express my sincere gratitiudes to all those club members who encouraged me to do so and especially my thanks to Dr Vijay and Mr Vel Ramanan who allowed me to post those lessons.

This present attempt is to consolidate and re-post them in this blog so that all those postings are available at one place and many who missed them earlier can read them now. A little bit of editing I will try to improvise wherever possible.

Your comments are always Welcome
CSR

Lesson-1 : Let us get started !

Hi All,

For all those who are having some apprehensions of various WCM terms being used in various discussions, and strongly believe that it is difficult to understand WCM:

I want to explain these in phased manner in simple (to the extent possible) way. On regular basis I want to put some hints kind of thing for casual reading !

Today we will see some general Concept of music only.

Just we will do the comparison of its building blocks like our language.

Language needs letters Alphabetical A to Z - Music also needs alphabetical viz. notes. Fortunately it needs only 7 letters A to G to denote seven notes.

Collection of letters form the words - Here also collection of various musical notes form the words like equivalent .

Words collected together form the sentence and convey some meaning - Here in music also collection of bunch of notes makes the musical phrases and convey certain feeling (sad, happy, comic, thrilling, frightening etc).

The way we talk with modulation, keeping a gap, with comma, semi colon, full stop etc., raising and lowering of voice etc. musical phrases also "express" its feelings through such equivalent technique .

Ok, we can just talk and communicate, but is that enough ?

We want to document, record and convey it to others, sometime we wanted to communicate without talking and this is done by writing ! Similarly music also needs to be written down for recording, documenting and conveying the exact meaning to others !

( Now you understand, How IR can maintain the disciplined silence and still communicating with every musicians ! B'coz he write notes and everybody follows , with perfect understanding nothing going wrong !)

We write the languages in 1-line, 2-line, 3-line 4-line notebook. (More we grow, we go on reducing the no of lines and finally landing up with no line at all !)

We are not fortunate enough to write a 5-line notebook in our life isn't it !

Now for music we use 5-line notebook called manuscript, each set of 5-line is called a Stave.



It is natural, if we have 5-lines, there will 4-spaces in between.

So A to G can be written on these lines and in between spaces in ascending order from bottom to top in line-space-line-space ..... and so on.

With these background in mind, we can proceed with the preliminaries of WCM !

Let us get started, OK ?

Lesson: 2 - Still in Preliminaries !

Hi All,

Unlike other subjects, music is predominantly a matter of “feeling” .

All of us already “feel” the music, but only the degree of extent of feeling varies, that’s all.

So let us concentrate on some of these feelings and let us apply the “Differentiation” technique :

Take Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiran song. In the beginning, the flute states “Chinna kannan Azhaikkiraan” . Then followed by Dr Balamurali Krishna stating that sentence. (click below to listen!)



You already feel the difference between a flute and Dr BMK’s voice. Don’t’ you ! That’s all enough to state that ”there are difference between voice and an instrument ! “

Similarly there are differences between various instruments, various voices..etc. Same china kannan if sung by SJanaki, you differentiate that ! Similarly, a flute varies from Guitar from violin etc….

Certain thing characterize these differences and without even knowing the terminology we are consciously or unconsciously aware of this fact !

Aware and Keep on developing this differentiation capability . That’s the basic skill required for developing musical capabilities !

Next thing, listen to “Thulli Thulli…” of Chippikkul Muthu (or Suvvi Suvvi of Swathi Muthyam ) Initially, SPB makes some Aalaap like “Aaaa Aaaa" (click below to listen!)



His voice travels to high pitch, drop down, goes bottom of his voice, picking up slowly raising and again reaching top…

So some range of sound level he is showing in that song…

OK. You feel this also…! What else ! So even with the same voice, the song is made up of some travel between various levels of very low to very high…

Keep on developing this differentiation capability also to find the high and low as well as the relative difference feeling !

Now, take the case of “Anne Anne” song. A heavy low voice isn’t it ! (click below to listen!)




Then you listen & feel the IR voice in any other song, the pitch which appears somewhat above that Anne Anne . isn’t it…!.

Then compare with SPB, SJanaki, and the shrieking piece of ‘Thendrale Paatezhudhu.." of Swarnalatha…. !

If you are asked to draw a horizontal line and allocate some range for each of these singers from left end to right end, you can easily do that ….

With some overlapping….In some order ….

Same way you can differentiate the range that can be covered by various instruments, from bass guitar, violin, flute etc ….

Its all about the feeling and most of the time your feelings are right ! In a scale of say 100 %, each of these voices or instruments cover say 30 to 60% only, and the starting and ending point differs for these ranges.

One good instrument cover all these ranges is the Piano or the Keyboard.

To summarise, following differentiation is understood :

-Difference between a Voice and an Instrument

-Difference between the high and low level in the same instrument / voice

-Difference & Comparison between the range that can be handled by different voices/ instruments and their relation

We are already doing these differentiation; only thing required is to consciously increase these differentiating skills.

Western Classical music writing system has all the terminologies and methods to cover and represent the above voice ranges.

Knowing the above subtle differences helps in identifying the right singer or right instrument for the right song/ situation !

IR’s ingenuity of selecting the right kind of instruments and voices based on the range requirement is well known!

In a good music composition, you shall cover all these ranges and represent them at appropriate time for appropriate duration.

WCM often tries to do that with Harmony technique ! Our ultimate goal is to understand that Harmony !

Lesson-3 : A Snapshot of a Short-Score !

Hi All,

Even before getting into any basics, I want to introduce the General Scheme of WCM notations.

For many of you, this might have remained elusive the meaning of these symbiols. But it will not remain hereafter!

Let us have a brief encounter with these notations!

Kindly observe closely the following figure :




The above show a sample score sheet in “Short-Score” format.

You can visualize the following :

Two sets of 5 lines called "Stave" – Each set has 5 lines and 4 spaces in between.

There are certain black notes - a closed black dot kind of thing which are attached with a vertical line/stem either upward or downward as the case may be

Now concentrate on top 5 line.

Top 5-line starts with a kind of symbol
– This is called Clef
– in this case Treble Clef
– Indicates which part of key board the notes or belonging to
– in this case it denotes the high pitch notes (above middle-C) -

After the clef symbol, you see the # symbol.
– This is called the key signature
– it is written now on the 5th line in this treble clef
– This helps in fixing & identifying the Scale (crudely Raagam equivalent) of the song

After Key signature, u can see letter “C”
– it is called Time signature
– it helps in identifying the Time factor of the song

Then you can see the notes written
– either on the lines or in the space between (see the black dots - forget about the stem )
– each denotes a particular note A, B, C etc depending on which line or space it is placed

In the top 5 lines of Treble Clef, if u further notice,
- there are two sets of notes are there – first set of notes forming the top line, with stem upwards
– the second set of notes with stem downwards forming the second line
- Each set is for one particular instrument (or voices), so 2 instruments covered (or 2 sets of voices)

• Are you clear of the top 5 lines contents ?

--------------------------------------------------------

Now concentrate on bottom 5 lines



Now it is easy to follow the same pattern for the bottom 5 lines also :

– the clef symbol is called Bass Clef
- Here also same key signature, only line on which the # symbol is placed is different (4th line)
- Here also the same Time signature , same "C" is there
- Here also notes placed on lines and in spaces
- Here also 2-sets of notes one with stem upward, other with down ward; these form the 3rd and 4th line of song
- Each set is for the 3rd and 4th instrument or voices as the case may be

------------------------------------------

• IF u r clear on the above points, now concentrate on following additionally derived and summary of facts :



o There are 4–lines ie 4 instruments or 4-voices indicated, each having different notes to follow – Two in Treble Clef and Two in Bass Clef.

o There is a big bracket covering the both Treble Clef and Bass Clef – meaning all the notes of all the clefs are to be followed and sung simultaneously

o So all the 4-lines, ie 4 instruments/voices to sing/ play simultaneously BUT ALSO IN SYNCHRONISATION with each other.

o So there is a vertical relation / association between all the four instruments/ voices
– meaning when the first note of instrument-1 is played all the remaining instruments also play their part of first note and so on following the time pattern

o This relation SHOULD NOT be missed and synchronization maintained – which is the job of music Conductor

o So the Vertical relationship as well as Horizontal relationship of notes is what forming the HARMONY, which SHALL FOLLOW CERTAIN RULES ! (Hundreds of it …..!)

o Usually the very first top line is what u call as melody line which the Singer sings and other 3 are using instruments or again voices.

o It is not necessary that all the time all the 4 lines )we call it 4-parts) are must for Harmony, it may be 2-part or 3-part or 4-part .

o BUT whether 2 or 3 or 4-part Harmony,, the Harmony RULES MUST BE FOLLOWED in music composing !

IR religiously follow these Harmony rules in every micro-seconds of his MUSIC !

Lesson-4 : Mapping of Tones and Notes : Part -1

Hi All,

I want to make clear one thing :
1) Becoming proficient in playing a musical instrument (like a pianist, guitarist….etc)
2) becoming expert in musical theory (like a composer, conductor, arranger……)
3) understanding the basics of the theory portion of music ( appreciators like we fans of IR want to become…..)
are three different subjects together.

Currently, we are pursuing the last & third option which is simple to follow (and incidentally may lead to the other two also, if somebody having the guts and determinations to pursue).

So ours is very soft option, and easily attainable goal.

So cheer up !

Now, I take the liberty to refer to the following figure of Keyboard or Piano or Harmonium which I beleive many of you may be already familiar.

• At the leftmost corner, it started with a white key.
• Then a sequence of black and white keys follow that forming a pattern.
• If you count 7 adjacent white keys in sequence, you visualize this pattern ends.
• So 7 white keys and 5 black keys in between forming a total 12 keys complete one pattern. Let us name this one pattern as one Octave.
• After this octave, one another octave follows and so on and you reach the end of the right hand portion of the keyboard/piano
Now let us get into the naming Conventions using the 7 letters A to G (for the time being conveniently forget about those intervening black keys):
• The leftmost white key in this piano is Called “C”
• The next white key is called “D” and so on
• After reaching “G”, the next white key is “A” , then “B”
• Then again Back to “C”
• So omitting the black keys in between, the white keys of the first Octave is C-D-E-F-G-A-B
• So next Octave is again C to B and so on……till we complete octaves of keys

Now, the natural question is, if there are so many C and D and so on, how to differentiate this ?
• For this purpose, the whole range of keys are divided into two major groups, viz. Treble and Bass.
In your music player also you are already using the Bass and Treble adjustments ! So you feel the difference, and know this already…!
Sound at lower pitch are refined and made clear while adjusting bass and sound of higher pitch are made clear and appreciated if Treble is adjusted.
So concept of Bass & Treble is clear. Same is applied to keyboard, lower octaves and upper octaves….!
• Usually, the reference key "C" with a particular frequency (indicating the starting range) is marked as MIDDLE – C .
• All the keys starting from middle-C and above..proceeding towards right hand side are called Treble portion
• All the keys below the middle C upto the left corner of the keyboard are called the Bass portion.

(to be continued in Part-2)

Lesson-5 : Mapping of Tones and Notes : Part -2

(continued from Part-1)

Yes… how to represent the keyboard keys in WCM method ?

Refer to the following figure which maps the keyboard key and the notation on the Stave




Each note of the keyboard is now represented on paper now.

Starting from Middle-C onwards in Treble Clef....... and below that using Bass Clef.

The notes are proceeding in ascending order from the bottom of the line to top

For the time being forget about the various shapes of the musical notes written over these lines and spaces.

Just concentrate over the letter written on a line or space and make the relationship it refers to the key mentioned in the piano / keyboard.

That’s All !

Do you feel like suddenly a wide door is opened towards an unknown house and see the inside of a big hall (cinematically…!)

Yes we have indeed entered into the WCM Palace…..!

We are very clear about the Alphabets of WCM now ! Aren’t We ??

People who wants to become proficient and expert can attempt to mug-up these line and space representations of A , B, C etc. in different Clef system (You always will become the front benchers and can become darling of the teachers ! ).

Others Just relax & enjoy and Be happy about whatever you have known so far !

We are always wiser than yesterday !

Lesson-6 : Mapping of Tones and Notes : Part -3

Let me summarise the previous learnings :

WCM follows 12 key system for an Octave. Consisting of 7 white keys and 5 black keys in between. Each octave is a repetitive pattern of these 12 keys.

Range division in a piano is based on the reference key called Middle C. Octave starting with Middle C and above are represented using Treble Clef. Octaves below the Middle C are represented using Bass Clef.
In Treble Clef, the bottom most line starts with letter E and proceed in ascending manner F, G etc. etc . in alternate Line and Space manner. Same way in Bass Clef, Bottom most line starts with G and then proceeds in ascending manner.
To find the notes on a stave there are some short cut method, which makes our life easier….
In the Treble Clef… the letters on the lines are E, G, B, D, F . So Remember the Sentence …..
Every Green Bus Drives Fast…..
In Treble Clef, the letters coming in the spaces are F, A, C, E.
That’s it…. Remember the word……… FACE
Same way for Bass Clef, for the letters on Lines, remember the sentence :
Good Boys Deserve Fine Apples
In Bass Clef, for the letters coming in the spaces, remember the sentence :
All Cows Eat Grass
One additional point: the software people use another technique viz. Binary technique in indexing, the “searching from middle" technique.
So my idea is also remember the center line of each clef. In treble clef it is ‘B’ and in Bass Clef it is ‘D’. From this you can find the relative letters either upward or downward…!
Our future discussions, most of the time we may refer these notations, it is better if you could familiarize with them.
- practice yourself to identify a particular note mentioned in a stave
- and find the corresponding letter name mentally
- and its position in the instrument.
- Then relate the sound you hear in the instrument.

(If you could practice so much that by seeing the note in stave, its sound comes to your mind, you have reached the ultimate !!! Most of the musicians working with IR are experts like that …! )
IR is something beyond comprehension..
Even for our normal film songs, He thinks for nearly twenty or more such co-ordinated notes for different instruments at a time and write it down directly on paper. (Symphony writing is still beyond that !)
Creation, Visualization in mind, Dissecting of notes, Writing it on paper…….
no obstruction of flow any where... anytime……
Even assuming that all other skills can be attained by very hard practice & experience…
Can anybody be on Creative mode for all the 24 hours …365 days ....decades together ??? !!!!
Comparatively, our requirement is very simpler…
Just able to read a note at a time .. at our own speed.. and finding a match on the instrument… at our own time & speed…You can attempt it…. Ok..?

At least you shall gain this much confidence…. that , If staff notes are given,
- One can (even if you are not able to do that somebody else can…..) relate and sing/ play the instrument and
- by the same way if somebody sings or some instrument is played, it can be represented back into the staff notes ….!
That's it !