Jaycee Anthony Capinpin
This research project aims to explore how different aspects of music can convey an emotional theme. An original song along with a music video, and acoustic and lyric versions were used. Forty people took part in a survey with the four versions being used in four questionnaires. They were asked to rate how strongly linked an emotion was to the given version. They were also asked how pleasant and how exciting the music was. The results showed that positive emotions such as tenderness and nostalgia were perceived within the versions containing the music. However, sadness was one of the most perceived emotions in the lyrics only version. My conclusion was that music in various forms transcends the complexity of human emotions.
This professional project aimed to answer the question, “How important are compositional, visual and lyrical aspects of music when conveying an emotional theme?”. This was achieved by preparing different versions of a song related to an emotional theme. The song without certain instruments acted as the compositional variable. The music video acted as the visual aspects and the lyrics by themselves acted as the lyrical aspect. Different groups were surveyed and they answered questionnaires to report the emotions that they associated with the song versions.
Overall, the emotional theme of hope was not explicitly stated by any of the participants. However, the intended emotions behind the song such as joy, nostalgia and power were perceived differently within each of the different versions. For the control group, joy was the only hypothesised emotion that was strongly linked to the song. The music video group results showed that tenderness was the most perceived emotion, followed by nostalgia and transcendence. The acoustic version of the song had similar results to the fully composed version. However, tenderness was the most perceived while peacefulness and joy followed. Finally, the lyrics group produced contrasting results compared to the control music and to the other versions of the song. Sadness was the most perceived emotion with power and tenderness being the second and third most perceived emotions respectively. In conclusion, these aspects of music are important when conveying an emotional theme, so long as there is effort put into the emotional depth of a song’s narrative, and the sound or the imagery that is associated with it.
I am 22 years old. I have always had a passion for music since I was a young child. I have always been singing and picked up the guitar and piano when I got older. Throughout the years, I have always tried to get involved in music groups and choirs during school. I started songwriting during 5th and 6th year of secondary school. I had an urge to start learning to produce music and so I decided to pursue Creative Music Production to enhance my skills. Once I learned how to use the DAW, Logic, I began producing my own music and I have been releasing original music ever since.
