A song is a complex amalgamation of melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre and silence in a particular (intended) structural context. It can be heard in live performance, recorded and then reproduced, and used as the soundtrack to movies, theatre and radio shows. Songs are often seen as part of popular culture and can be a vehicle for political commentary, social critique and even escapism. While there is no definitive answer to the question of what is music, many writers have attempted to define it. These definitions range from listing the elements of sound – pitch, loudness, duration and spatial location – to more general considerations like its sonic character, its power to move people, and its relationship with human emotion.
The idea that music has a spiritual dimension can be traced back to ancient Greece. Plato (428-348/347 bce) saw musical discipline as a department of ethics, arguing that a person’s inner character was reflected in the style of music they favoured. He advised that simple melodies and moderate rhythms were best for molding virtuous character, while composers should strive for elegance and beauty in their art.
For the Platonists, musical sounds imitated divine harmony, and so a song could convey a message of moral value to the listener. This view was picked up by the Renaissance Italian philosopher, Giordano Bruno (1564-1624). He argued that music is a “fountain of truth” and that its sounds resemble the vibrations of the stars in our cosmic sphere. In the 17th century, philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) promoted a similar view of music as mathematically neutral and resonating with universal laws of nature.
Musicians can use a wide variety of compositional devices to make their songs more interesting and emotionally resonant. These include a bridge, pre-chorus and chorus to tell a story or create emotional tension and expectation. The chorus is usually the most memorable and repeated section of the song. It is also the climax and emotional payoff of the song. The bridge provides a break from the repetition of the verse and chorus, by offering different lyrics or starting on a new chord progression.
While it is important to consider the musical components of a song, it is equally valuable to examine the wider cultural context in which they are crafted and consumed. It is often easier to understand a song when it can be viewed in terms of its place within a tradition and as a symbolic expression of a specific political or social philosophy. This can be done by examining the relationship between the music and the lyrics, or the music and its historical and social contexts.