Ganathipan explains how his thinking of music changed with his sport-tragic nature
I love my rugby league. As someone who forced my parents and sister into peripherally listening to the dulcet tones of Ray Warren and the Channel 9 commentary team, I'm excited for this season, which I think has progressed phenomenally. Tight games and some upsets have definitely been worth putting up with the recent colder weather.
One thing I've always enjoyed is the versatility of skills and personalities a rugby league team is built around. Not unlike the music groups I've been a part of. In fact, I've often wondered... Can I explain a Ganathipan band in rugby-league terms?
I think I've come up with something. Admittedly, this revolves around 23 years of watching both with practical experience in only one. But why do I care? I think there's a part of me that wants to believe in commonalities in how different human systems connect. What better way to test this than through this analogy!
I'll assume if you're at this point that you know the 13 positions filled in a rugby league team. What I'll attempt to do is convert these to musical instrument roles I aspire to via noting my own rugby league dream-team. For the sake of the analogy, we'll consider an attacking phase of play. (N.B. If you see an instrument-name you haven't heard before, do take the time to look it up!)
From the ruck, the dummy-half or hooker has the 1st responsibility of controlling the tempo and the dynamics of the attack. Quite akin to a drummer you might say. The drummer is key to creating the framework and energy through my music and by controlling the rhythmic groove, has the first say in how people move with the pulse.
Whilst Cameron Smith is arguably the greatest in the position, my favourite is Danny Buderus. His variety of long to short passing was analogous to understanding the space a drummer needs to consider when emphasising the interaction with keys/guitar/bass vs the percussion unit.
What both Smith and Buderus did well was work with their halves and full-back. I myself prefer it when the halves and fullback work together on a play, because it often means there's greater organization off the ball by spacing their running backs and forwards appropriately. That cohesion is similar to what the guitar, bass and keys need to sync up their harmonic accompaniment. However, assimilating that with the groove that the drummer puts together in the first place is pivotal (pun intended). Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler easily form the halves pairing of my choice, with Billy's all-round fullback game, to me, heartbreakingly ahead of Darren Lockyer.
All 3 playmakers' creativity in using lead & decoy runners in their passing games is like how keys/guitar should decide voicing and spacing between chords and how they set-up context for the various melodies, countermelodies and extra percussion riffs.
Similarly, their running games were used effectively, whenever they felt momentum and energy needed to pivot around them. Not dissimilar to a keys/guitar/bass player taking the melody and sometimes driving chords through it to decide where the context of the piece moves to.
Lastly, their innovative kicking games, especially that of Joey's, focused or flipped the point of attack in the most remarkable of ways, like keys/guitar and bass would work together to change chords and thus context of a song. Let's not forget the banana kick and how that influenced the style of the late-20th century.
In a Ganathipan arrangement, extra flavours are added within the percussion, in the spirit of creating multicultural music. It tends to start with an instrument such as a mridangam, djembe or cajon which plays closely with the drummer which sets up an important part of the rhythmic groove. In that way, a ball-playing lock attributes nicely for what I aspire for, someone like a Brandon Smith or Isaah Yeo, that keeps the opposition guessing.
I'd probably choose Brandom Smith for this analogy given that in some pieces, djembe, mridangam or cajon are the main percussion accompaniment instead of drums. The way he uses his game can either be as a running forward (repeated rhythmic riffs) or with a passing game (a set fill that follows the drums), creating extra rhythmic space for chords and melody.
However, even with a solid framing of 2 main percussion instruments, there are oftentimes more repetitive riffs which need to be played by supporting percussion, such as shakers or salangai. They're the front-line soldiers doing the underrated work to solidify the tempo and groove from, amongst others, the dummy-half. Consistency is the key.
To me, no one set of front-rowers typifies this better than Shane Webcke and Petero Civoneciva. Individually, the way they push forward through the defensive lines on its own can be as arduous as watching 1 person with the same shaker pattern. But in the context of their respective teams, they get the sets or the piece moving and are the real unsung heroes.
So now that the harmonic and percussion groundwork are set, the next step is working out who's best suited to have melodies and countermelodies. For more complex lines or ones lighter in texture, instruments such as the veena, erhu, tin whistle and guzheng tend to be heard more and often get the limelight by having those main parts.
That's certainly similar to when a spreading of the ball out-wide results in a centre/winger claiming the spoils with a try. Athletes that has agility, balance and explosive speed in their technique and play are often ideal. Players like Josh Addo-Carr, Greg Inglis, Latrell Mitchell and Semi Radradra perhaps.
Like a melody in a song, it's clear when any of the players have the ball and the way they stride with the ball does metaphorically show the different ways of approaching melodies. A powerfully simple run or using complex, delicate footwork are the analogous extremities of how a solo tune can be executed.
Fox's speed, Latrell's strength, Radradra's power and Inglis' agility could be reflective of how different a veena may play a melody or countermelody to a tin whistle, erhu or guzheng. All these instruments are equally effective in conveying a mood when putting them in the correct contexts.
That just leaves the 2nd-rowers; the Sam Burgess's and Sonny Bills of the team. Here, the emphasis is around the hole-running with great offloading and catching skills key. This, to me, alludes to 1 of 2 things, musically:
- More powerful + simpler counter-melodic lines (Think trumpet, trombone, cello and double-bass)
- Extra Percussion adding flavour to the rhythmic gaps in the Percussion groove (e.g. Cajon/Djembe)
Both players leave a mark on how their team plays in relation to combining subtle finesse to their toughness and brutality of their power game. The brass/strings lines that I add to my compositions tend to require the same mental resolve holding seemingly unrelated rhythms and lines that in fact hold great significance in building or softening the dynamics of the piece.
Let's put this thinking into practice. Say I put together a 13-piece band to play my song 'Ecstasy' live. Here's the instrument importance I'd consider for this piece. Note I've added a few instruments to the original line-up for the sake of the analogy.
1. Piano (B. Slater)
2. Tin Whistle (S. Radradra)
3. Veena (L. Mitchell)
4. Erhu (G. Inglis)
5. Bul-Bul Tharang (J. Addo-Carr)
6. Bass (B. Fittler)
7. Guitar (A. Johns)
8. Salangai (S. Webcke)
9. Drummer (D. Buderus)
10. Shakers (P. Civoneciva)
11. French Horn/Organ (SBW)
12. Cello (S. Burgess)
13. Cajon (B. Smith)
The bass drum and cajon set the drive of the piece which the guitar and bass follows. Both guitar and bass create harmonic and textual foundations which the piano supports. Bul-Bul Tharang has the main melody and scores the metaphorical 'tries' but can't do so without the support of the main accompaniment. Shakers present a repetitive pattern that allows a go-forward in the piece which the Salangai can also support. The Tin Whistle, Erhu and Veena allow for unison/octave passages of the bul-bul tharang melody with ornaments of other traditional phrasing elevating the piece. There's also the possibility of improvised/unexpected countermelodies & lines that cause a positive surprise. The subtle sustenance of instruments such as french horn, cello or organ would allow for the chordal voicings of the guitar, bass and piano to be solidified.
This above thinking allows me to consider what strengths from each musician when we perform Ecstasy, or any other piece for that matter. It may also be evident that regardless of the size of band, there's a capacity to apply a similar thinking. Each role must be chosen sparingly and with the intention of complementing the creation at hand.
Hope that was a fun read! For those with seemingly unrelated interests, I'm sure you can relate to the joy of these coming together in unexpected ways. Here's to bringing multidimensional connection to our lives!
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