Singing -- Technicalities
S. Narasimhan
Singers -- Technicalities
-------------------------
I received many emails with comments (for and against) regarding my
opinions about singers in my last post about Music Directors. In the
following, I compare various singers and the technicalities involved
in singing for movie songs.
Since, typically it is the music director who selects the singers, we
need to look at the requirements from the music director's point of
view. The first and foremost requirement is that the singer should be
able to hit the right notes. Typically, a filmi singer does not get
the opportunity to rehearse a lot in the studio (as studio time costs
money) and also he/she does not get enough time in the song to warm
up. In classical music concerts, singers spend about half an hour
exercising their throats. Restricted studio time requires that the
singer picks up the tunes fast (Mukesh is an expensive singer that
way). Since singers who have been classically trained already possess
this ability of hitting notes right, they would be preferred. However,
classical singers come with a handicap. Often, they unconciously
introduce meends (slides between notes) and gamaks (shaking a note).
One prime example is Manna Dey. Manna Dey can take a perfectly
romantic song and make it into a bhajan by introducing these meends
and shakes. That is why he was quite unsuited for normal filmi singing
(In the new breed of singers, Hariharan has this problem). He sings
the semi-classical songs quite well, though (Most of his hit songs).
Most successful singers in movies are classically trained but have
managed to overcome this habit -- Lata, Asha, Rafi, Yesudas, Chitra,
Vani Jayaram et.al.
Skill in hitting the right note precisely also gives the composer the
freedom to compose songs with innovative chord and note sequences
without having to worry about whether the singer can deliver. For
instance, in the song "Ededo Ennam Valarthen" (Punnagai Mannan) sung
by Chitra, Ilayaraaja has used all the notes of the 12 note octave (11
in vocal and the extra one in the interlude) in the melody. He
couldn't have dared to do that with S.Janaki singing it. Similarly,
RDB could compose the complicated songs of Ijazzat since Asha is a
great singer. Hridayanath and SDB depended on Lata.
Secondly, since there is almost always an accompanying background
music, the singer should hold a note only as much as required.
Improvisations, delay in entry and exit of notes is not acceptable for
the simple reason that he/she will throw the background music off-key
(unless the background music plays only the chord sequence as in Jazz)
This is very unlike classical music singing where the singer can play
around with the tal, the only requirement being that he stick to the
rhythm cycle. Hence the singer should have a keen sense of rhythm and
should be precise.
Third requirement is the ability to convey emotions in the song.
Again, since a song lasts only a few minutes, the singer should be
able to convey ups and downs in the emotional content of the song
quickly. Eventhough background music (ascending and descending
strings, for example) enhances the emotional content in the song,
singers have most of the responsibility of conveying these emotions.
In my opinion, Kishore Kumar is the best in this (Eg. Pal pal dil ke
pas and about 100 other songs). In Phoolon Ke Rang se, note how he
conveys the sad moment of "pal pal mujhe tu satati", and yet in the
following lines cheerfully says "lena hoga janam hame kayi kayi bar".
In the verse, note how he says the word "sanson" (pronounces it very
softly, since sans is supposed to be tender) in "sanson ki sargam,
dhadkan ki bina". The song is full of such subtle singing (Kudos to
SDB). Another SDB-KK gem is Badi sooni sooni hai (Mili). Note how KK
conveys the lonely longingness in his singing. The emotional content
is KK's singing was so much that the music directors could often do
with least of background music and interludes (Eg. Mere Dil me aaj kya
hai). KK himself complained that the music directors exploited him.
Fourth requirement is a decent voice. In my opinion, anyone can get a
good voice. The key to good voice is proper vocalisation which can be
done through training (Melodious singing has nothing to do with the
voice as such. It depends on the ability to hit the notes and note
transitions exactly). Vocalisation refers to the origin of the sound.
Four voice origins are possible: throat, nose, lungs, stomach
(diaphragm) and combinations of these (Classical musicians say that
one can even use their head, as in skull, for voice origin. I fail to
see how this is possible.) When one is singing from the throat it
means he/she is using only the vocal cords (voice box). This is same
as the sound origin during normal talking (excepting those nasal
voices). The sound is of nasal quality when along with the vocal
cords, the air column in the throat to nose area vibrates. This often
happens when one is sad, since there is a tissue around the throat
which closes the opening to lungs (partially) when one is sad. This is
the reason why Mukesh with his nasal voice could convey sober emotion
very well (Eg. most of his hit songs).
The voice origin is from the lungs when the air column in the lungs is
allowed to resonate with the vocal box. This happens normally when one
shouts. Singing from lungs requires lot of control so as to prevent
noisy rendition. In my opinion, Kishore Kumar and Rafi sang this way.
KK modulated his voice much much more than Rafi and hence prevented
shouting (Nonetheless there are many singers out there who think KK
shouts). I would say it is Rafi (and of course Mahendra Kapoor) who
regularly ends up shouting instead of singing (Eg. Duniya Ke Rakhwale,
Dil Ke Jharoke mein tujhko). Using lungs often aids in protraying
highs and lows, harsh and soft sound quality quite well. Jagjit Singh
also uses his lungs for voice origin and since he exhales uniformly
through his mouth while singing, the voice quality is very soft and
rich. However, that is suited only for ghazals. Filmi songs require
more ups and downs (Eg. Khaike paan banarswala). T.M.Soundararajan in
Tamil films, could convey emotion very well and that was the main
reason why he stuck around. Although he was often nasal, when needed he
could use his lungs. He also had this uncanny ability of changing the
quality of his voice for different actors (SPB tried the same for
Kamal and Mohan, but didn't succeed as much) by modulating his voice
origin.
The fourth voice origin is from the stomach when the diaphragm is
allowed to regulate the air flow and the air column from the throat to
the stomach. Most hindustani classical music singers sing this way.
Listen to Bhimsen Joshi, Jasraj et.al. They attain extraordinarily
good quality voice and voice volume because of this. This is the main
reason why they often don't even need a microphone to sing. The whole
auditorium reverbrates with their voice. I cannot think of any filmi
singer who can do this.
Fifth requirement apparently seems to be the ability to sing in high
pitches. High pitch singing often makes even a bad song sound better
(if not anything atleast it wakes up the listener). I think this is a
bad trend set by the old singers (except Saigal) due to the lack of
close range microphones. Lata Mangeshkar is one person whom I would
hold primarily responsible for sustaining this trend. You could often
hear Kishore Kumar struggling to sing at her scale in their duets (Hey
meine kasam li, kora kagaz tha ye man mera). Rafi could manage that
high pitch with Lata and that's why I think Rafi has many more duets
with Lata than Kishore. (Asha often sang lower than Lata.) The trend is
continued by Kavita Krishnamoorthy (she's screechy at higher notes)
and Alka Yagnik. Chitra is a refreshing change. Her scale is much
lower than Lata and hence sounds normal.
Speaking of singers....
S.P.Balasubramaniam used to do mimicry in his college days. He seems
to have this extraordinary voice and lung control. After singing in
Shankarabaramanam (I hear that he learnt Carnatic music for singing in
that movie), he also acquired the skill of hitting the notes exactly
and a good quality voice. Before that he used to sound quite nasal
(aayiram nilave vaa). Similarly, P.Susheela and S. Janaki often sound
nasal. Same is true for Bhupinder, who does possess a rich male voice
but is often nasal and sounds sleepy. Shailendra was a refreshing
young voice (in Bobby) but after that he found it hard to hit notes
right. Udit Narayan has a great voice quality, but again often goes
off-key slightly (in almost all songs). Nitin Mukesh, Shabir Kumar,
Kumar Sanu are irritating singers who have nothing to offer. Credit
should go to R.D.Burman for making Kumar Sanu sing properly in 1942
ALS.
--Narasimhan
Ashok
>
>
>
> Singers -- Technicalities
> -------------------------
>
> Four voice origins are possible: throat, nose, lungs, stomach
> (diaphragm) and combinations of these (Classical musicians say that
> one can even use their head, as in skull, for voice origin. I fail to
> see how this is possible.)>
> --Narasimhan
>
I have come across comments by opera buffs that some great opera singers
use their skull cavity as resonating chamber. I am not sure what it means
or how they can tell!
Ashok
Dennis Doty
a layman like me its enthralling to read such posts.
Personally I think, singers are merely instruments, if you will, of MDs
just like a guitar or a sitar is. The burden of exploiting the talents of
a singer falls mainly on the MD. As you pointed out a mediocre singer like
Kumar Sanu sounded good in 1942 ALS only due to RDB. Prior to that KS
got on my nerves thanks mostly to Nadeem Shravan, Annu Malik etc. So it is
an MD that can make even a geeky instrument like an accordion sound good
if used sparingly and in good taste as in a song from a Dev - Hema movie,
Shareef Budmash I think, the words go someting like " Nain choora ke
raaton main, YuN hi baaton, baaton main............aaj nahin tho
kal........aisi bhi kya jaldi hai". You gotta excuse my broken sentences ,
Iam bad with words, be it Hindi, English or my mothertongue malayalam.
I dont mean to rile anyone but I just dont like the way Yesudas and SPB
sing in hindi songs because the accent really bothers me. They have
fabulous voices and they sound great in their respective languages or in
south indian songs in general or even in movies where the character is a
south indian like in Ek dhuje ke liye. Besides there's no MD of RD's
calibre and taste to modify their voices to mainstream Indian music and
camouflage their accents with exciting music.
Why hasn't Amit Kumar made it big, I wonder. I thought he sounded good in
Gurudev,Inderjeet,Tum karo Vaada ( all under RD of course). Recently I
heard a delightful song from "Mr Azad" under Bhappi 's direction,"Diya
diya de diya dil tujko diya" sung by Kumar Sanu (I think) and a sexy
female voice whose name I know not.Will appreciate if anyone out there
sheds some light on that.
Some time ago I heard in an interview with Kalyanji that he had problems
with Hemant Kumar not keeping time with the beat of a song and that they
had to do several retakes to finish recording of that song in Bluff Master
"Hai dil, tum kahin na ja" Incidently, KA's music in that movie was
terrific as it is in most of their movies. IMO they are second only to RD.
Would it take a genuis to figure out that I am,
Burleigh (An RDent fan)???
Jaideep Vivekanand
>I have come across comments by opera buffs that some great opera singers
>use their skull cavity as resonating chamber. I am not sure what it means
>or how they can tell!
>Ashok
Hi Ashok,
There are some breathing exercises in yoga (pranAyama) which consist of creating sounds that resonate in the brain (helped by postures, mudras, that close the ears). Though these exercises are meant for relaxing, I can kind of relate to how these might be used for the purpose U mentioned (though how the skull can be used to resonate a sound outside it beats me!!). I would assume a singer would use this technique to either fix his/her pitch b4 a song, relax b4 a song or just feel good durng a recital!!
Anyway, all the resonating boxes I am aware of have holes on them....
Jaideep
Georgy Porgy
>Ashok <ADhar...@WorldBank.org> writes:
>>Ashok
>Hi Ashok,
>Jaideep
Blinkin' dont generally spin stories...
George
Jaideep Vivekanand
if u want to make a point, make a point! Else mmmmmmmmm!
yours truly
Jaideep Vivekanand
An interesting article!! A few points and counterpoints...
>exercising their throats. Restricted studio time requires that the
>singer picks up the tunes fast
Not really... These days the background is recorded with junior artists doing
vocals...(all those guys and girls from Madras Music College!). A copy of the recording is given to the main singers who then record later...
>Secondly, since there is almost always an accompanying background
>music, the singer should hold a note only as much as required.
>Improvisations, delay in entry and exit of notes is not acceptable for
>the simple reason that he/she will throw the background music off-key
>(unless the background music plays only the chord sequence as in Jazz)
>This is very unlike classical music singing where the singer can play
>around with the tal, the only requirement being that he stick to the
>rhythm cycle. Hence the singer should have a keen sense of rhythm and
>should be precise.
I totally disagree that improvisation puts the background of!! In fact coming
into a line off-beat has an awesome effect (if done judiciously, of course). This not the same as going out of beat which implies a breakdown of the rhythm!!
You also seem to have got the Jazz part a little off!! Jazz is one of those few musical forms that allows constant interplay of the solo instrument\vocal with the background of the bass and the percussions. In fact very few Jazz background is restricted to simple chord playing. Jazz has given rise to walking/running bass, slaping bass, dual solos, etc etc
Are you trying to say that a classical singer need not have a keen sense of rhythm and be precise!!!! Maybe with Hindustani where the emphasis is on "sur". But Carnatic music demands an extremely strict to the beat. And the beats used in classical music are MUCH MORE COMPLEX! Light music hardly goes beyond 4/4, 4/8 and 3/4 90% of the time!! Compare that to 7/8, 5/4, etc considered pretty straightforward in Carnatic music. In fact, I have always found that a classical musician can get the hang of western oriented beats much easier than the other way around!!
>Third requirement is the ability to convey emotions in the song.
Dead right here!! Like Janaki's rendering of Ponmeni Urugude!! I think she's simply too good in that song...
>Fourth requirement is a decent voice. In my opinion, anyone can get a
>good voice. The key to good voice is proper vocalisation which can be
>done through training
YUP!! This is unfortunately not strictly done in both Carnatic (when compared to the rigourous training of Hinustani singers) and definitely not done in light music!!
>Fifth requirement apparently seems to be the ability to sing in high
>pitches.
SAD but TRUE!! Somehow Indian music directors have been obsessed with high, sugary sweet voices! Also due to the fact that there are SO MANY duets! So if the female has a decent pitch the male has to sing DEEEEEEP else the female has th screech. Usulampatti was a refreshing change...when Swaranalatha sang the chorus in the same pitch as the guy!
As you say, Chitra's awesome...probably the best till now in South Indian light music...
>right. Udit Narayan has a great voice quality, but again often goes
>off-key slightly (in almost all songs). Nitin Mukesh, Shabir Kumar,
>Kumar Sanu are irritating singers who have nothing to offer. Credit
>should go to R.D.Burman for making Kumar Sanu sing properly in 1942
>ALS.
BULL'S EYE!! In the whole of India can't we find better singers!!!! Real sad...
>--Narasimhan
A real fun article!! Lets have some more....
-- Jaideep
Reva Chandrasekaran
>>Third requirement is the ability to convey emotions in the song.
>Dead right here!! Like Janaki's rendering of Ponmeni Urugude!! I think she's simply too good in that song...
Have to disagree; see tirade below.
>>Fifth requirement apparently seems to be the ability to sing in high
>>pitches.
>SAD but TRUE!! Somehow Indian music directors have been obsessed with high, sugary sweet voices! Also due to the fact that there are SO MANY duets! So if the female has a decent pitch the male has to sing DEEEEEEP else the female has th screech. Usulampatti was a refreshing change...when Swaranalatha sang the chorus in the same pitch as the guy!
My daughter has a good description for this kind of singing done by
Indian female playback singers; she says it is as if they swallowed
helium before starting to sing. I myself think that it is an unnatural
fixation on the pubescent voice pitch. In fact, Janaki has spoilt
many a good melody for me. That it is hard to follow the lyrics
in her screech is another frustration I feel when listening to her.
My tastes run for the more earthy and normal sounding voices like
that of Susheela and Leela in Tamil, and Geetha Dutt and Mubarakh
Begum in Hindi. (Don't know any of the recent singers' names!)
Anyhow, could someone tell me the name of Khyaam's wife? I know
(believe?) she has sung some songs in films.
Reva
>>--Narasimhan
>-- Jaideep