TIMBRE
Having touched the item ‘cine songs, it struck me as to why
not on ‘TIMBRE’. Not many have the occasion to notice the term ‘timbre’. It is
something that relates to the quality of ‘sound’ typical to a person [singer]
or a musical instrument. Obviously, musical instruments stand out by virtue of
their ‘tone’ continuous or discrete in flow. For instance, flute or Shenoy or
Nagaswaram can be used to make a continuous stretch of tone though variable by
amplitude. On the contrary, strumming instruments [string instruments] can be
used to make discrete notes though the time lag between successive notes could
be compressed to the minimum; yet they cannot deliver ‘continuous note’ in the
true sense of the term.
While the basic features of different musical instruments
help us to discern differences among them from their timbre, some instruments
may camouflage each other unless the listener has a very clear perception of
their differences. For instance, the tones from the strings of ‘VEENA’ and
‘SITAR’ may seem to resemble each other for many; those well-trained in
recognizing their timbre can readily pinpoint as to when and where a particular
instrument is played. A similar
confusion is likely between the tones of ‘Mridangam’ and ‘Dolak’ or between ‘BONGO’
and ‘Congo’. But all these examples are valid only for persons not familiar
with the tonal qualities of instruments in each pair. While varied instruments
differ by their tonal output, some human voices seem to resemble closely. Say
for instance, the South Indian singers KJ Yesudas and P Jeyachandran share
close resemblance, though discernible at certain critical junctures. Likewise some strong
resemblance prevails between the voices of Mr. Mano and that of Shri. S P
Balasubramaniam. There are some stage singers who manage to reproduce tonal
quality near that of the original singer by apt modulation.
There are some voices that can never be ‘imitated’. Take the
cases of playback singers –S.Janaki and Mrs. Vani Jayaram, their voices cannot
be ‘reproduced’ by others. Some voices are unique by their high resonance
timbre as those of Shri. M K Thiagaraja bhagavathar, Shri. PU Chinnappa. We
have had the fortune of listening to some high resonance singers Shri. TM
Soundararajan and Shri. Seerkazhi Govindarajan and quite a soft voice of PB
Sreenivos. We can ill afford to forget the indomitable Shri. T.R Mahalingam or
his high pitch delivery of songs. The moment the name is mentioned, we mentally
recall the voice readily due to their distinct ‘timbre’. From those of typical
timbre we appear to have slipped into a zone of TIMBER in voice. Yes, the
current scenario is replete with rough and crude voices being fielded in the
garb of reflecting ‘native style’. Several spheres including even the domain of
higher education witnessing a decline by dilution, stringent selection of
voices are items of by-gone history. No wonder Timber [in place of timbre]
makes headway in recording of voice.
Prof. K.
Raman
Immediately noting the word timbre
ReplyDeleteI am forced to think of wooden logs.
My uncle in Kerala was a timber merchant. But after going through your blog I find how the timber makes difference in Veena and sitar. When I want to hear the sound of Sitsr , I switch on the song from Nenjil ore Alayam . In almost all film directed by Sridhar you can hear sitar sound. Only with bamboo flute is prepared and for nathaswaram and Veena a particular wood is preferred.
Wonder it is that timber makes difference in tones.
K.Venkataraman
Very informative article for cine-music fans.
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