Showing posts with label khamaj. Show all posts
Showing posts with label khamaj. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2009

My first attempt at composing music

Ajay Chandran, a fellow blogger who composes Hindi poetry and Ghazals, presented a challenge for me, a few months back. He asked me if I could compose a tune for one of the songs he had written. He suggested a classical rendering. This is my very first attempt at composing something. It was pretty hard to start out with a blank canvas and come up with something that conveyed the emotion of the poetry. The theme is Viraah (Separation).

I realize this is pretty elaborate and deep for someone who is not very much into classical music. This is meant for a more musically inclined audience. The composition starts off in Khamaj, transitions to Pilu and ends in Bihaag. If heard on headphones, the background score on the keyboard is discernible. I just tried to play simple chords that gelled with the transition of the basic frequencies across the song.

I got feedback from Murali Venkatraman, a talented composer and an avid blogger on this composition, which was useful. Though I failed to incorporate a lot of the suggestions in this, I hope to use them for the next time, if there's one. One thing that's easy to note is that the composition lacks a rigid rhythm structure, which Murali also pointed out. It's only loosely structured on an evenly spaced three beat cycle. I hope to improve on such weak points as I do more of this. I would really appreciate your feedback, positive and/or negative, as I found this project difficult and am ready to grab whatever I get that would better equip me for my next time.

Ajay's posts of this song:
Muziboo
Uhuroo


I thank Ajay for this opportunity and the lovely lyrics. And here's hoping for more such opportunities!