Songs Without Words- Some Listener Feedback: To even mention the very idea of songs without words may cause semantic deliberation. If one thinks of songs, there is an implicit assumption that someone will be singing words set to music. However, can a musical composition that has no accompanying lyrics technically be called a song ? For our purposes, we will use the term instrumental composition to distinguish between music either with or without words. On to the music.
In addition to the initial focus group survey asking listeners to choose one of two Frank Sinatra versions of " Night & Day" we also asked listeners to indicate specific reasons for their choices, one important dimension being the impact of lyrics or the story-telling aspect of the song.
Those results are in the process of being summarized as the initial research report.
Having acquired some interesting comments on lyrics and their significance on listener assessment of a song, it occurred to me to ask how would listeners respond to a composition without lyrics. I decided to provide a composition that was relatively unknown to the general public, with a reasonably discernible tune or melody.
Why ? Without previous memory association of either a melody or any lyric cues, the listener would have to engage in some free association to describe their instinctive reaction upon hearing the composition. " Lotus Blossom" by jazz artist Billy Strayhorn is a short piano piece that is played pretty well as written without the normal jazz improvisational treatment that can sometimes make it difficult to hear the unadorned melody. (Rodgers & Hart did write a song called " I Like to Recognize the Tune." )
Some very preliminary findings indicated that , in the absence of any previous connection or association with the piece, listeners had no choice but to engage in some free association responses.
One group of listeners went to brief one word descriptions of what they felt the melody
evoked in them. This would include this statement " Soothing, calming,charmingly simple"
Another more detailed response was " It produced a sad feeling that gradually turned
positive as the melody was musically resolved , ending on a satisfactory high leaving me
with a sense of relief." This could be considered an argument for music as therapy.
One respondent felt that the melody was pretty but that there were too many chord
changes producing a rambling effect, in fact, it was musically unresolved.
Finally, one interesting response was the listener's desire to keep wanting to add his
own lyrics , ones with which he was familiar , in this case " I Only Have Eyes for You.."
One thing does seem clear: When listeners hear a melody with which they are not familiar
and which has no lyrics, they have no choice but to free associate their responses so that
the exercise becomes a king pf projective psychological device, like a musical Rorschach
Test. We will continue to explore this interesting subject area for which there seem to be little
available research data.
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