B. Song and Its General Function
Song is important to huma n’s life. It is inseparable to any elements of people:
from children to adults. They like to listen to the song whenever and wherever they want to. As Guglimenio in
Reasons for Using Songs in the ESLEFL Classroom by Kevin Schoepp stated, “adults sing at religious services, bars, in the shower, and
listening to the car radio ”.
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Meanwhile, Kevin said that “Songs have become an integral part of our language experience, and if used in coordination with a language lesson they can be
of great value ”.
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In other words, songs take an important part in language, and if they are used as the medium of learning appropriately they can be very useful. It is
because songs create an enjoyable and non-threatening situation in the classroom. They can also break the class routine which might be boring for students. As Lo and
Li stated in the internet TESL Journal, they stated that songs could provide a break from classroom routine, and that learning English through songs could also develop a
non-threatening classroom atmosphere in which the four language skills can be enhanced. Thus, by providing an enjoyable situation in the classroom, students are
supposed to retrieve the material well.
1. Meaning of Song
There are some definitions about song that can be found through some references.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Song is a short piece of music with words that people sing.
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Furthermore, Noah Webster’s dictionary stated that songs are: a.
A piece of music sung or as if for singing
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Kevin Schoepp, Reasons for Using Songs in the ESLEFL Classroom, 2001, Retrieved from http:iteslj.org http:iteslj.orgArticlesSchoepp-Songs.html on September 26, 2010 at 04.46 p.m.
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Kevin Schoepp, Reasons for Using Songs in the ESLEFL Classroom…
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A S Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2000. p.
1281.
b. The art of singing
c. Poetry, verse
d. Musical sound like; as the song at the lark
e. A relatively short metrical composition for or suitable for singing,
usually having rhyme stanzas, as a ballad or simple lyric.
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Another two definitions of song come from Wikipedia website. First, it is stated that song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.
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Second, song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice or voices.
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Furthermore, Dale T. Griffe stated that: The word songs refer to pieces of music that have words
especially popular songs such as those one hears on the radio. In addition, songs have element in common with speech and poetry,
they are a unique form. Both songs and speech are vocally produced, are linguistically meaningful and have melody. Both
songs and poetry use words to convey meaning. Both are usually written down before publication. Both can be put to music and
both can be listened to. Nevertheless, songs have their own identity and they function differently from speech or poetry.
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Resuming all the definitions of song above, song is a piece of musical composition that has words. It can be accompanied by voice or voices, and it is
performed by singing.
2. Kind of Song
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