Song as related text, yay or nay? (1 Viewer)

[d-alarmclock]

From the advice almost every teacher I've had is not to choose a song as a related text, unless you can talk about its music elements also. What do they mean by the musical elements? And do you think songs lyrics are a good idea for a related text?

Thanks in advance!

 

[simplyinsanity]

Nay. It would be hard to find enough evidence to make substantial points.

 

[strawberrye]

I would not recommend song lyrics as a good related text-because it is not really a related text form, the song is a related text form-and lyrics is a part of it. A important thing to note is that song lyrics often focus on a very narrow subject topic and the fact that there is a chorus means there is often not enough things to discuss-particularly problematic if this is for belonging rubric when you want a related text that covers most, if not all of the belonging rubric so you can use it to answer any essay question.

When teachers refers to musical elements-they are referring to the aural elements of the song-unless you are well versed in music and unless analysing a song has worked for you in the past-DON'T-for example, these elements may include pitch, tone etc.

Analysing a short story/poem/novel/film will be a much better choice. When you are analysing only song lyrics-you are not really showing a sensibility in differentiating it from a poetic form if you are analysing it using poetic techniques. Good analysis of song lyrics will always analyse it as a part of the other musical elements that composes the song. So I strongly advise you against using song as a related text for any English modules for the above reasons.

 

[Chubbeh]

I would do a music video clip (and its song) as a related text if you do choose to use a song. It gives you both the visual and audio to discuss and includes techniques such as vocal harmony, body language, diegetic/non-diegetic sounds, cross-fading, colour etc.

 

[study1234]

Generally, song lyrics aren't a good choice for a related text, because they are often unsubstantial for adequate analysis. However, I would highly recommend using a music video (both the song and video), because that way you have more also have a visual to analyse. Preferably use an older song, not a new song, because old English teachers will love them. I used Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' in both Yr 10 and 11, and got 20/20 for both essays!

 

[williamdaft]

Nay.

 

[BiasedBuffalo]

Wouldn't recommend it but then again someone at my school did 'The Journey' (a video game) for a related text in the prelim course...
He got destroyed needless to say.

 

[d-alarmclock]

So wrecking ball wouldn't be an adequate related text? I'm only kidding


So far, no songs. No lyrics. Nay for both.
But yay for music videos? More opinions on this please?

 

[Ironist]

I'll offer an alternate opinion - I analysed not a song, but an album in my Extension One essay and got 25/25 in the HSC. Similarly, a friend of mine achieved 94 in Advanced English using 'Bittersweet Symphony' as a related text.

The difficulty of analysing a song is differentiating it from a poem - you need to discuss the lyrics alongside with elements of musciality and layering (I'm 8th grade in piano which kinda helped out a bit). Analysing a song as simply a poem is an incorrect approach in the HSC, and will be detrimental to your analysis. I believe that doing a song is great because it allows you to stand out - there are around 50,000 who do Standard and Advanced English. You want to pick a related text that isn't over done, something which makes you different to everyone else. Remember, examiners are people as well, and even though they have a set of criteria, there are definitely subconscious biases in play. Doing a song is quite rare, and will allow you to capture their attention.

To those people who say that a song isn't that substantial, if you have two related texts, each related text should only be around 200-300 words long. If you have one related text, then it's around 400. Whilst 400 words is a bit of a stretch, I would argue that you could analyse ANYTHING and make it 200-300 words long. Heck, you could probably do it with a single black pixel, given a slight amount of context. Anyway, you'll definitely be able to write out an analysis of that length.

If you'd like to look at an example of a song analysis, my sample for my Extension One essay (in the link in my signature) is the beginning of my paragraph.

 

[tigerian]

AS an English teacher I have even suggested some songs that would be useful . Thats accepting the fact that songs are poems and there is no problem with using a poem as a related text so as long as its not being used as related text for poetry you can use a poem . remember its not the song/poem per se its the link to the text that matters . Of course you can use a song but be careful of your reasons for selection

 

[Absolutezero]

AS an English teacher I have even suggested some songs that would be useful . Thats accepting the fact that songs are poems and there is no problem with using a poem as a related text so as long as its not being used as related text for poetry you can use a poem . remember its not the song/poem per se its the link to the text that matters . Of course you can use a song but be careful of your reasons for selection

The issue is that songs are more media rich than a poem. Students, I'm sure you've found, fall into the trap of analysing just the lyrics and make little (or a poor) attempt at analysing the musical aspects of the text.

 

[BLIT2014]

Nay

 

[laura-jayne14]

Nay!

 

[Jordie97]

I believe using a song is fine and all my teachers say it's fine aswell. English is all about evidence and analyses so as long as you have evidence and can state why you have chosen those lyrics I don't think it will be an issue.


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