UNDERSTANDING SONGS II

LEARN ABOUT IT!

There are some reasons why many people use songs to learn English. First, song are authentic materials. If we want to learn English, we should listen to English songs. Second, English songs also contain culture and history.

The reason is that song contain repetitions and repetitions enhance learning. The next reason is it’s a good way to learn vocabulary and pronunciation. And last, English songs are fun and they can easily energize the listeners.

DEFINITION

Song is a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung or a single work of music intended to be sung by the human voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns using sound and silence and a variety of forms that often include the repetition of sections.

SOCIAL FUNCTION

The social functions of song are:

a.   To entertain the listeners.

b.   To teach moral value through the lyrics of the songs.

c.   To provide a way of managing the relationship between our public and private emotional life.

d.   To express personal feeling and cultural values.

e.   To give someone to not only shares their emotions with others, but also to have an emotional connection that just can’t be experienced in any other way.

GENERIC STRUCTURE

The general structure of a song consists of verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus. It is better for us to learn more about the complete structure of songs.

a. Intro

The introduction establishes melodic, harmonic, and/or rhythmic related to the main body of song.

b. Verse

It is the section of the song structure that tells the story. This is the exposition, describing the scene or the person, or an emotion. There are usually two or three verses in a row that have the same musical structure, the same rhyme and poetic meter, but different words. The second verse builds on the picture painted in the first verse, etc.

c. Chorus of Refrain

A chorus is the most repeated section, so it’s the easiest remembered. A chorus is the summary of the song’s story. All the verses have been leading up to the chorus, and is usually the part of the song people sing along with. A chorus can come at the beginning of the song structure; it can also start in the middle, or come at the end. In fact, some songs don’t have choruses at all. Some people are usually confused to differentiate between choruses and refrain. A refrain is any line that repeats in the song lyric, while a chorus is any group of lines that repeat.

d. Break

A break is actually a brief “rest” or “pause” for the core melody within a song used to add further dimension and excitement. It may include a quick instrumental solo or drum interlude or it may be a brief moment of silence, or a combination of each of these elements.

e. Bridge

This is the part of the song that shifts. It can suddenly change tempo, or volume, or instrumentation. The bridge is the section that gives the audience time to reflect on the story, or gives them the “climax” or conclusion of the story through verses and chorus. Bridges can be used to give the singer a break.

f. Outro or Coda

This is the end of the road for the song. It can repeat the intro, chorus or a refrain as an outro, or a bridge with an instrumental solo.

Below Are Some Forms of Song’s Structure

Intro-verse-verse-chorus-break-verse-verse-break-bridge-break-out

Verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

The following are the language features of songs.

a. Imagery. Imagery describes about feelings and emotions. Sebuah lagu biasanya berusaha menggambarkan perasaan yang dirasakan si penulis.

b. Rhythm. Ritme disini digunakan untuk menciptakan mood. Misalnya, apabila kita sedang bersedih dan mendengarkan lagu dengan ritme slow, maka kita akan terbawa suasana dengan lagu tersebut. So, rhythm creates mood!

c. Figures of speech

Metaphor, comparing two things that are not alike to suggest that they actually have something in common. Sekilas memang kedua hal yang dibandingkan tidak berkaitan, tetapi sebenarnya ada kesamaan antara dua hal tersebut.e.g. “Time is a thief” or “Her hair was silk”. 

Simile, compares two things using “like” or “as’’. Suatu hal digambarkan dengan hal yang mirip dengan menggunakan kata ‘like’ atau ‘as’ e.g. “My love is like a red rose”. The other simile would be presented in this box below.

Hyperbole, a dramatic language. Big exaggeration, usually with humor. Suatu hal digambarkan secara berlebihan, terkadang menggelitik karena terlalu berlebihan.
e.g. “That math homework took me 8 million years to finish”. 
Personification, an object appear like a person. Objek (bukan manusia) memiliki kemampuan seperti manusia. e.g. “The wind whisper” or “The snowflakes danced in the wind”.  
Alli titration, the repetation of the same beginning sound in a series of words. Perulangan bunyi suara yang terdapat di awal setiap kata. e.g. “Peter Parker pick a pack of pants punctually”

EXAMPLE OF THE SONG

TRANSLATION OF THE SONG

Ulanis Morissette Uninvited

like anyone would be

Seperti orang yang lain..
i am flattered by your fascination with me

aku tersanjung dengan daya tarikmu terhadapku.
like any hot blooded woman

seperti wanita pada umumnya
i have simple wanted an object to crave

aku menginginkan hal sederhana untuk didambakan

but you you're not allowed

tapi kamu ,kamu tidak diizinkan
you're uninvited an unfortunate slight
sayangnya kamu tidak  diundang sedikitpun
must be strangely exciting

seharusnya itu sangat mengasikkan
to watch the stoic squirm

menyaksikan kesakithatian yang mengekang nafsu
must be somewhat heartening

seharusnya itu sedikit menggembirakan
to watch shephered meet shepherd

untuk melihat pengembala bertemu gembalanya

but you you're not allowed

tapi kamu ,kamu tidak diizinkan
you're uninvited an unfortunate slight
sayangnya kamu tidak  diundang
 like any uncharted territory

seperti suatu wilayah yang belum tersentuh
i must seem greatly intriguing

aku seharusnya terlihat sangat menarik

you speak of my love like

kamu berbicara tentang cintaku, seakan
you have experienced love like mine before

kamu pernah merasakan cinta seperti cintaku sebelumnya

but you you're not allowed

tapi kamu ,kamu tidak diizinkan
you're uninvited an unfortunate slight
sayangnya kamu tidak  diundang

I don't think you unworthy

Aku tidak berfikir kamu tidak layak

i need moment to deliberate

aku butuh waktu tuk mempertimbangkan

Struktur lagu Uninvited
Ulanis Morissette Uninvited

Intro
like anyone would be
i am flattered by your fascination with me
like any hot blooded woman
i have simple wanted an object to crave
Verse
but you you're not allowed
you're uninvited
an unfortunate slight
Chorus
must be strangely exciting
to watch the stoic squirm
must be somewhat heartening
to watch shephered meet shepherd
Verse
but you you're not allowed
you're uninvited
an unfortunate slight
 Intro
like any uncharted territory
i must seem greatly intriguing
you speak of my love like
you have experienced love like mine before
Chorus
but this is not allowed
you;re uninvited
an unfortunate slight

Verse

i don't think you unworthy

i need moment to deliberate

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE SONG ABOVE?

Every woman would be flattered by a nice attractive man who always gives special attention to the woman. She is doubt with this situation perhaps every woman would be in same feeling like what she earned. She must be deliberate whether it would be good or bad for her life.

WHAT IS THE MORAL VALUE OF THE SONG?

 We should not be persuaded easily with all the persuasion or seduction that given to us although we need its We should deliberate it whether it is good or bad for her life.

Makna lagu Uninvited ( Meaning )

Lagu uninvited yang dinyanyikan oleh Alanis Morrissette mempunyai makna atau menceritakan tentang kisah cinta seoraang wanita,dia berkata bahwa dia juga sama seperti wanita pada umumnya yang akan tersanjung bila terdapat seorang pria yang tertarik padanya dan menyukai perhatian khusus yang diberikan padanya.Namun pria tersebut bukan yang diinginkanya,bisa saja pria tersebut adalah kriteria semua orang namun pria tersebut bukanlah kriteria wanita itu.Karena akan jadi masalah apabila semua orang menyukai pria itu.Sehingga wanita tersebut tidak mengijinkanya untuk hadir dalam kehidupanya,semua itu biarlah menjadi sebuah godaan kecil yang menghiasi hari wanita tersebut di masa lalu.Hal ini dapat kita lihat melalui lagu ununvited pada bait berikut.

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Kemudian wanita itu berfikir bahwa pria itu pasti sangat senang melihatnya menggeliat karena tak bisa menahan rayuan dari pria itu.kalimat To watch shepherd need shepherd bukanlah diartikan melihat pengembala yang butuh pengembala namun merujuk pada pria tersebut yang seorang pemain membutuhkan tantangan dari pemain lain seperti wanita tersebut.Tetapi,wanita itu dengan tegas menolak kehadiran pria itu dari kehidupanya.Apabila wanita tersebut tetap terus bersamanya dia takut kesialan akan menimpanya.Hal ini dapat kiata lihat dari lagu ununvited pada bait berikut.

Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd need shepherd
But you you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight.

Wanita yang sebelumnya belum pernah mempunyai pasangan pastilah membuat pria penasaran dan hal yang menyenangkan untuk menjelajahi pribadinya.pria itu berbicara seolah-olah dia pernah mengalami cinta yang dialami oleh wanita itu.Padahal wanita itu belum perna menyerahkan cintanya pada siapapun termasuk pada pria itu.Dan sekali lagi dengan tegas menolak pria itu,pria tersebut tak pernah diundangnya dalam perjalanan hidup dan cintanya.Hal ini dapat kita lihat dari lagu ununvited pada bait berikut.

Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight.

Inti dari lagu adalah menerangkan bahwa bukan tentang diri pria tersebut ataupun karakternya.Ini semua hanya tentang wanita itu yang tak mau menerima keberadaan pria itu dalam hidupanya.Bukan karena pria itu tak layak baginya,namun hanya butuh waktu untuk mempertimbangkan semua itu hinnga wanita itu selesai berfikir.Hal ini dapat kita lihat dari isi lagu uninvited pada bait terakhir berikut.

I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate

our life
Pesan moral (Moral value)

            Lagu ini memiliki nilai atau pesan bahwa kita jangan sampai hanyut atau terbuai dengan segala macam rayuan atu bujukan yang ditujukan pada kita.Meskipun pada saat itu kita sangat membutuhkan hal tersebut kita harus tetap tegas mempertimbangkan apa yang baik dan apa yang buruk bagi kehidupan kita.

Kelebihan dan Kekurangan dari lagu Uninvited

Dalam memberi penilain terhadap lagu ini saya memposisikan diri saya sebagai pendengar atau penikmat lagu ini.Brikut penilaian kelebihan dan kekuragan lagu Uninvited.

·   Kelebihan

1.  Lagu ini memiliki irama yang indah untuk didengarkan.

2.  Lagu ini memiliki lirik dan musik yang mudah diingat.

3.  Lagu ini memiliki pesan moral yang penting.

4.  Makna yang terkandung dalam lagu ini sangatlah dalam.

5.  Lirik dari lagu ini sangat indah karena dipenuhi kata kias.

6.  Pembawaan lagu oleh penyanyinya penuh penghayatan.

·   Kekuranagan

1.  Sulit dalam memahami isi dari lagu karena banyaknya kata kias.

2.  Butuh referensi dari sumber lain untuk mampu memahami makna lagu.

3.  Pronounciation sulit dimengerti bagi masyarakat awam apabila tanpa melihat lirik langsung.

KEY POINTS

Song is a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung.

The social functions of song are:

a.             To entertain the listeners.

b.             To teach moral value through the lyrics of the songs.

c.             To provide a way of managing the relationship between our public and private emotional life.

d.             To express personal feeling and cultural values.

e.             To give someone to not only shares their emotions with others, but also to have an emotional connection that just can’t be experienced in any other way.

The structure of songs: Intro-verse -chorus -verse- Intro-verse -chorus -verse.

The following are the language features of songs.

a              1. Imagery

b              2. Rhythm

c              3. Figure of Speech

·        Metaphor

·        Simile

·        Personification

·        Alli titration

Report Text: Natural Phenomena

How many times do you see sunset?
How many times do you get wet because of being caught in the rain?
How many times do you capture rainbow on the sky?
You may see and experience those beautiful natural phenomena for many times, perhaps. But, have you ever questioned yourself how sunset, rainbow, rain, or other phenomena occur? By discovering the answer of such questions, we will come in amazement. How wonderful our world and this nature is!

Learn about it!

Try it!

Rainbow
Rainbow is an optical phenomena. It is made of droplets of water when sunlight appears in the angle of sky opposing the sun. When the light enters water droplets, the different spectrum of colors bend at separate angles. That is the reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets which create the spectrum of light. Besides rain, rainbow can also be caused by many forms of airborne water, such as spray, mist, and airborne dew. A rainbow is not an object. We cannot physically approach it. However, we can see it when we stay in the right angle.

Well, after reading the text, we know the process of how the rainbow, one of natural phenomena, happens. It is the result of light reflection, refraction, and dispersion in water droplets. The text above is an example of a report text; a text where we can find explanations of many things, including natural phenomena.

So, what is a report text?

Report text is a text presenting information of something, supported by facts resulted from analysis and observation. The purpose of the text is to inform the reader about something.

What is the generic structure of the text?

A report text consists of general information and bundles of specific information. General information is a part that delivers the general description of the theme. Meanwhile, bundles of specific information consist of specific descriptions of the theme. Here is the example of a report text identification.

Then, what are the characteristics of a report text?

• describing general things
• using present tense
• using general nouns such as the dolphin instead of her dolphin

Keypoints

So, when you read a report text, you will get more knowledge about many things including natural phenomena. Besides that, when you are about to write an explanation of something, you should consider the structure of report text.

From this section you have learnt about a report text. There are some points you need to remember.

• Purpose of a report text : to inform the reader about something
• Generic structure of a report text general information: a part which delivers the general description of the theme bundles of specific information: specific descriptions of the theme.
• Characteristics of a report text Describing general things Using present tense Using general nouns

Developing Paragraph of Report Texts

Objectives of Study

Understanding monolog text report of spoken and written in order to access the knowledge in daily life context. After this study, Students are expected

·         Able to construct a topic sentence, supporting sentence, and developing sentence in form of spoken and written text.

·         Able to develop a paragraph writing.

Learn about It

Lets come back on study English. In this occasion, I would like to discuss about paragraph writing. Before we study it, lets we listen the meteorologist are talking about clouds.

After listen the meteorologist explains about clouds, we can focus on how the speaker contracted his explanation by developing his topic sentence. The meteorologist said “ Clouds have two effects”

Clouds have two effects is the topic sentence. Topic sentence is consist of Subject and Controlling Idea.Look at he chart below!

So, the outline of paragraph writing is

Paragraph Writing

·         Supporting sentence

o   Developing sentence

§  Provide examples

§  Back up

§  Illustrate

§  Explain

§  Clarify

·         Supporting sentence

o   Developing sentence

§  Provide examples

§  Back up

§  Illustrate

§  Explain

§  Clarify

We can state that Paragraph is group of related sentences that develop an idea. It is consisted of topic sentence, supporting sentence, and developing sentence. To make a good paragraph, try to make the clear topic and provide a details. Listen another meteorologist are talking about weather condition, it is monsoon.

Most islands have winds that change direction once a year. These winds are called monsoons. The winds carry moist air part of the year and dry air the other part. On high islands, monsoons create a wet and a dry season. This is because the mountains trap the moist air, causing rain. Low islands are usually dry because there are no mountains to catch the air.Tropical storms hit the islands yearly. Sometimes the storms bring heavy wind and rains. The storms can cause severe damage.

We will study some vocabularies which related with weather conditions such as:

Monsoon= heavy rain with strong wind in summer in the South Asia (Portuguese word)

Another words which related with weather conditions are:

Cyclone = a violent strong wind which move in circle (Greek word)

Typhoon= a violent tropical storm with strong wind (Chinese word)

Thunderstorm= storm with thunder and lightning with heavy rain

Tsunami= destructive waves cause by earthquake in the sea (Japanese Word)

Tornado=  a violent strong wind which move in circle (Spanish word)

English is always changing because it always absort  new words from other languages such as the word cyclone originally came from Greek word, Word Typhoon came from Chinese, word monsoon came from Portuguese word, word Tsunami came from Japanese word and word Tornado came from Spanish word. Not only the words which stating above but also there are tremendous English words which originally came from other languages.

To make your English sound naturally, you should practice your English a lot in terms of Pronunciation, Intonation and sentence rhythm and add your vocabularies!

Do You Understand?

Lets practice in making short paragraph writing. Topic: English word, Controlling Idea: come from other languages.

Key Points

1.      Paragraph is a group of related sentences that develop an idea.

2.      It is consisted by topic sentence, supporting sentence, and developing sentence.

3.      Many English words come from other languages such as: ‘Monsoon’, ‘tornado’, and ‘tsunami’ are words from Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese.

Let's Practice

Joint Classroom 'click here!'

Evaluation