Without knowing the relevant cultural codes, it will beimpossible for the audience to appreciate the performance.
2.2. Music and Structure

Since music shares many characteristics with literarywork, it is no surprise that many composers control themusical structure with those of poetry or story. Thisseemingly simple action helps to fulfill the logicaldecision for the musical form. The more specificmeaning of language shapes the abstract musicalstructure, leading the sound along with the parallel flow.The evolution of atonal music, i.e., music without atonal center, is a good demonstration of how languagecan be a great aid to composers. The first decade of thetwentieth century saw western art music struggle tomove forwards. Tonality, the driving force of music thusfar based on the attracting force between the tonic (the
tonal center) and the dominant (the tonic’s strongest
overtone a fifth above), was disintegrating, and therewas no other system available. Since tonality governedthe connection of chords, it also controlled the pace (orrhythm) of harmonic changes, in addition to the voiceleading. Therefore, composing atonal music wasdifficult because composers had no access to any self-consistent applicable compositional procedures [12].The only possible guidelines were usually in the form ofnegative rules to tonality, e.g., the avoidance oftraditional chords and conjunct melodies [13].It is understandably symptomatic that early examplesof atonal music tend to be very short, some of whichonly a few minutes long. To extend the length beyondthis miniature scale, composers often employed text tomusic. The prose/poem-turn-libretto provided a strongsense of direction on which the music could be carried.It gave a logical structure to the flow of expressions thatthe composers could hold on. Schoenberg, a leadingcomposer of this period, was able to complete a 30-minutes long
Erwartung
in 17 days because of thelibretto. In this expressionist monodrama, the poet andmedical graduate Marie Pappenheim told a psychological story of a woman searching in a darkforest for her lost lover whom she might have killed.The libretto does not have any narrative plot per se but provides a backbone for the music, leading it to a progressively more intense emotional state of the
protagonist’s mind. The athematic nature ofSchoenberg’s music reflects the text without any
progressive story. When Schoenberg said to
Pappenheim, “Then write me an opera libretto, younglady… Write whatever
you wish, I need a libretto
,”
[14]he did not just propose a challenge, but also a request.The astonishing speed which he completed the workindicates the effectiveness of a proper text as acompositional aid.Although Schoenberg implied that his music did notserve merely as a translation of a text into sound,claiming that he was usually inspired simply by thesound of the first words of the text and composed themusic without any regard to the rest of the text, he later backtracked, saying that other composers misunderstoodand took his comment too literally [15]. The textstructure, indeed, gave him some idea about the structureof the music, as apparent in the 1932 discussion of hisown
Four Orchestral Songs
, op. 22, where he statedthat, although his use of text did not rely solely on word painting technique, the text did supply the formalorganization to the music [16]. In the melodrama forcabaret
Pierrot lunaire
, Schoenberg’s seminal work
commissioned by Albertine Zehme for a reciter and fivemusicians, the composer selected 21 poems from a cycle by A. Giraud and organized them into three groups ofseven poems
—
the action that decisively led to thecreation of the opening seven-note motive G#-E-C-D-Bb-C#-G that later appeared in various guises in every poem throughout the work.
2.3. Music and Storytelling

The problem exists when trying to integrate a storyinto music. Many musicians would label the work asabsolute music, i.e., music without any associated storyas opposed to program music. However, writing the
music accompanying W. B. Yeats’
Sailing to Byzantium
can be a solution. The theme of the poem is about ametaphorical journey of a frail old man living in a worldof youth, who decided to sail to the mystical Byzantiumin search of immortality. The transformation of a wasted body into an immortal golden bird provided the idea ofrecycling. Together with the arcana theme, this finallyguided the project into a multimedia work consisting ofa live shadow play and electronic music accompanying a poem reading. The shadow play was a reference to theThai tradition of
Nang yai
and
Nang talung
, whereshadows of puppets made of painted buffalo hide were projected onto the screen. In a piece, wasted objectswere used as puppets to emphasize the recyclingconcept. The obscure images of lights and shadows, theelectronic sound of an analog modular synthesizer withcomplicated cable patches, the dramatic reading of the poem, and the incessant sound of the sea set the tone forthe mysterious quest.
There are four stanzas in Yeats’ poem. The first two
place the narrator in the land of youth while the last twoare set in Byzantium. Here presents the problem of formthat often occurs when we adopt one art form to another.The bipartite structure based on departure and arrival
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491
513


works well in the poem, but such an epic seafaring journey could not be portrayed musically with a short
“sailed the seas” phrase as in the poem. A longer
duration is needed in the music domain to depict the
narrator’s quest successfully. Therefore, another poem
with a seafaring theme that would not look out of placeto serve as a long musical arch between the two citieswas searched
and S. T. Coleridge’s
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
was found. 23 non-consecutive stanzas
from Coleridge’s
were selected and rearranged to form anew cohesive journey. Delightfully, most of the selectedstanzas contained references to time of day, e.g., TheSun came up upon the left, / Out of the sea came he! /And he shone bright, and on the right / Went down intothe sea were discovered [17]. It turned out that thesequence, as indicated by the selected stanzas, suggesteda nine-day journey.Thus, the final form of the work is tripartite as
opposed to the bipartite division of Yeats’ original poem. The placement of the additional Coleridge’s
poem in between emphasizes the contrast between theland and the sea. This created fluctuation in tension,which was reflected in the treatment of the light play andthe musical texture [18].
2.4. Music and Syntax

Many eastern composers working in the westerncompositional domain feel, at one time or another, the pressure to write in their local idiom. This is not an easytask because Thai music has a unique system andmethod of composing, which is quite different from thewestern counterpart. Finding the unique characteristicsthat define Thai music is a solution so that through them,the Thai compositional techniques from a different anglecan be approached. It turns out that two characteristicsare indispensable: the strict form of centonization andthe hierarchical structure.Centonization is a technique of composing with pre-existing melody types. It shows in some music from theMedieval period and also occurs in Arab-Andalusianmusic [19]. In either case, the technique implies aflexible application of the pre-composed blocks. Thaiusage, however, is quite strict. Instead of using loosestructural pitch sequences as in melody-types of Arab-Andalusian music, centonization in Thai music is basedon
luuk khong
—
building blocks of the same length, eachof which combines a precise pitch sequence and arhythmic pattern. A composer selects
luuk khong
andconnects them in a specific order to create a newmelody. In performance, one musician plays the melodywhile others perform melodic variations simultaneouslyon top of the melody. Usually, these variationsthemselves also make use of centonization. The melodyand all variations meet on specific notes at a regularinterval, forming a heterophonic texture. (Some
musicologists prefer the term “polyphonic stratification”
since it better describes the distinct characteristics ofeach variation instead of a group of more closely relatedmelodies of the typical heterophonic music) [20].In itself, the melody created from
luuk khong
contains little information about the rhythmic aspect ofthe piece. It is just a base layer upon which rhythms are built. Above it is a pattern of regularly spaced,alternating open/closed
ching
strokes. The speed of thestrokes determines one of the three metrical levels. Inlevel 3, a single
ching
cycle occurs in a span of one
luukkhong
; level 2 corresponds to the speed of two
ching
cycles per
luuk khong
; the music is in level 1 if there arefour
ching
cycles per
luuk khong
. Above the
ching
is thegong stroke, occurring every two
ching
cycles. Lastly,the drum pattern called
na tap
is at the top of thehierarchy. There are many drum patterns, but eachalways contains three sub-patterns for the three levels.The drum pattern is, again, twice as long as the gongstroke.Thus, we can create a new structure based on Thaimusic by utilizing only the Thai concepts of therhythmic hierarchical system and centonization. We begin by considering music as a simple melody, as manyThai repertoires have been conceived. The first thing isto create a new set of melody types in place of the Thai
luuk khong
. If there are many of these, then there isstatistically a potential to create something as complexas the Thai music system. But we also have to establisha logical (and aesthetic) system to put these melodic blocks together. One way to do this is to play with the blocks until we have a sense of what works. After a longenough time, a suitable connection will surely emerge.The other way is to create an artificial and arbitrarysystem dictating the connection. Then, too, we need toestablish the logic of the rhythmic hierarchical system.The problem of creating a new system lies in themerit of the materials and processes. The Thai musicalsystem has not arrived at the current state immediately.The compatibility of all
luuk khong
and their relation tothe rhythmic system indicates a long period ofexperiments with trial and error. Through this period,any unsuitable
luuk khong
and rhythmic structureswould already be discarded. The whole system is theresult of the developments by many skilled musiciansthrough generations. This is not the case with a newsystem created by an individual, and it would beimpractical to assume the result to be on the same levelas the Thai system.
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491
514


So, we need as a model a system from which we canextract both the strict centonization and hierarchicalstructure, one that is a result of collective ideas over aconsiderable period. Fortunately, there is such a systemthat all of us are well acquainted with, i.e., language.The parallel between characters and pitches, words and
luuk khong
, sentences and phrases/periods, is just one possible interpretation.By basing a musical system on language, we solvemany problems that would occur if we tried to invent anew system. By setting up a mapping method of the pitch/duration pairs and characters, we can construct
luuk khong
from actual words. The mapping process thatwe use will affect the tonal character of the new
luukkhong
, but the structure of the language will alsodetermine the sound. Assigning p
itch D to the letter “q,”
for example, we will not find many
luuk khong
with twoDs in succession if the system is applied to the Englishlanguage. In any language, some words occur moreoften than others. Consequently, and naturally, some
luuk khong
will also appear more frequently than others, just like in the Thai system. As for the rhythmichierarchical system, the relationships between
luukkhong
,
ching
strokes, gong strokes, and drum patterns inThai music may be translated to those between words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, for example.Bear in mind that we are not trying to representlanguage through music. We simply use the derivedstructure to solve the problem of creating a new systemcomparable to the Thai music structure. In this case,there is no intention to draw a parallel between the two
luuk khong
created from the
words “Beautiful” and“Pleasing”
. It is enough to see the possibility ofreplacing the former with the latter when a suitable
occasion occurs, i.e., when the word “Pleasing” cansubstitute for “Beautiful.” The mapping system can be
expanded in different ways, covering more parameters,to suit the
composer’s needs. In doing so,
we will findthat our taste has less role in the musical outcome, andthe characteristics of the language model will directlyaffect the result more [21].
2.5 Music and Lyrics

The perplexity of pop music is that it containsnothing unexplainable by the theory of music we havetoday. It is less complicated than most art music, andany music students completing the sophomore year will be able to analyze everything in most pop songs. Andyet, somehow this simple music has moved generationsof people. The feeling is that the power of pop music liesin its harmony, simple as it may be. So, investigating theharmonic concept of western tonal music will begin. Theidea of tonal music is simple enough: it is music with atonal center. This tone, called the tonic, functions as acenter of gravity, pulling in the other notes of the scale.A tone produced by a musical instrument is acomplex collection of pitches comprising of afundamental pitch and related pitches above it calledovertones. We do not perceive the overtones asindividual notes due to their low amplitudes, but they areresponsible for the tone color of an instrument. Asdemonstrated by Schoenberg, a single pitch alreadyimplies, by its overtones, a major scale plus theassociated harmony on all scale degrees [22]. Amongthese, the fifth scale degree, the dominant, is the mostimportant one because it is the loudest overtone. The pull on the dominant toward the tonic is considered themost important driving force in tonal music, which leadsto the harmonic progression V-I. Likewise, the tonicitself is the overtone of the imaginary fundamental afifth below, which is the fourth scale degree or thesubdominant. The three chords
—
tonic, dominant, andsubdominant
—
are called the primary chords becausethey are the first-order derivatives from the overtoneconcept. The other chords are viewed as the primarysubstitutes. Using this descending fifth movement as amodel, a simple theory of harmonic progression is thusestablished: the dominant (V, viiº) goes to the tonic (I,vi, iii); tonic goes to the subdominant (IV, ii); andsubdominant goes to dominant.It is interesting that while art music is predominantlydominant-tonic driven, the same cannot always be saidabout pop music. Analyze the harmonic progressions ofmany pop songs, and we will see that they are lessdominant-tonic-driven. On the contrary, the dominant-subdominant progressions
—
rarely seen in art music
—
are very much prevalent. This observation implies twocontradictory explanations: either the harmonic theoriesof art music and pop music are different, or both genresrely on the same theory of harmony, yet somehowinterpret it differently. Since both use the same tonalmaterials, this has led to a tendency toward the secondexplanation. Moreover, the different interpretation iscaused due to the language of the lyrics.Let us now look at pop music briefly in terms ofhistorical development to understand the implication ofthe lyrics. Pop music can be traced far back to the bluesmusic of the African American musicians since the latenineteenth century. Ragtime, then jazz and swing musicin an urban dance setting, and country swing of the 30sare the next evolutionary steps, leading to the rhythm & blues and country music of the 40s, and finally, the rockand roll of the 50s, which would evolve into pop music[23]. In the nineteenth century, all Africans in the USworking as slaves brought their music with them. Bluescan be seen now as a mixture of African music, call-and-
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 491
515


response shouts and field hollers of slaves working, andimitation of white man music [24].The 1862 presidential Emancipation Proclamationthat was in effect in 1863 did not change the slave statusovernight, and many African Americans lived in fearand without jobs for many years afterward due toracism. Against this background, blues music prospered.It is not surprising, however, to see that the lyrics of
many early blues songs are about sadness, “personal
woes in a world of harsh reality: a lost love, the crueltyof police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk,hard times
”
[25]. This sadness was to be combined laterwith the angst and yearning that would define rock androll and pop music.Should it be surprising, then, that pop music has adifferent harmonic progression? The tonal music of theeighteenth century is one manifestation of the Age ofEnlightenment, the time when humans celebrated the power of logic and reason. The descending fifth progression reflects the physics of sound, so to speak,and thus fulfilled the aesthetic need of the period. Butcertainly, this fulfilling progression is not suitable to themusic th
at needs to portray “harsh reality,” “lost love,”and “oppression.” To reflect them, blues musicians
opted for the opposite direction, favoring the dominant-subdominant instead of dominant-tonic progression. Thelove was unfulfilled in the harsh world, so to doanything else would be a lie. Thus, the chord progression of the second half of the twelve-bar bluesform is I-V-IV-I, and the reversal of the standard I-IV-V-I progression of art music. Yes, the theory and physics are still the same, but the mournful lyricsdemand this retrograde progression. And their legacyhas continued to this day in pop music.
3. CONCLUSION
Writers tasked with a cross-disciplinary subject arealways at risk of being overly technical or overlysuperficial regarding the content. Likewise, being amusician discussing music matter among linguists mademe careful of using too technical concepts. With manydouble-degree or dual-major programs in many schoolstoday, perhaps researchers and scholars in the future cancross the boundaries between specialized areas better.This discussion is expected to help in seeing the potential of cross-disciplinary study, especially inrelated fields such as music and language. In addition, itis hoped that this discussion will help in seeing the parallel between the two art forms, whether in terms oflarge-scale structures such as ABA or detailedcomponents as when we compare the syntaxes of musicand language. Most importantly, this research willhopefully aid to see that by taking the time to observeother art forms or any human endeavors, people placethemselves on an unfamiliar path.


по цьому тексту написати мені текст “піісні, як текст”. після кожного абзацу вказувати літературу