Music Supports the Processing of Song Lyrics and Changes their Contents:: Effects of Melody, Silences and Accompaniment

Abstract

A growing body of evidence indicates that singing might affect the perception of language both in a supportive and in a detrimental way. Accompaniment might be a factor of interest, because loud rests (on-beat silences) and out-of-key notes may confuse listeners, while accompaniment might elucidate rhythm and harmony and reduces the amount of silences. This might further music processing and concentration. The main aim of the experiment was to test this hypothesis in a class room situation and investigate at the same time, whether school children might benefit from the use of song, even after a single exposure. A total of 274 pupils (average age 15, SD 0,6), spread over twelve fixed groups, listened to four complete songs in six different conditions (spoken or sung, with and without accompaniment, sung with ‘lala’ instead of lyrics, and accompaniment only). In a regular lesson Dutch Language and Literature each group listened to five different tracks and completed a questionnaire after each track. The questions concerned processing fluency, valence, comprehension, recall, emotion and repetition. Listeners rated accompanied songs more beautiful and less exhaustive than unaccompanied songs or spoken lyrics, and had the feeling that in these songs the text is more intelligible and comprehensive. With accompaniment the singers voice was considered more relaxed and in tune than without (although the same recordings were used). Furthermore, the silences in unaccompanied versions were rated more distracting than the interludes or the accompaniment in the other conditions. Lyrics were considered more happy, funny, sensitive and energetic, and less sad, heavy and nagging in the sung versions. Finally, verbatim repetition of words is less accepted when spoken, and adds (mainly) emotional meaning to those words in the sung conditions. These findings indicate that accompanied singing supports the transfer of verbal information, although it affects the contents of the words.