The Impact of Non-Lyrical Elements on Undergraduate Students’ Lyric Interpretation

Abstract

Abstract Much of the extant research regarding lyric analysis centers on lyrics as the primary therapeutic musical element, to the detriment of all other non-lyrical elements. Non-lyrical musical elements, such as musical style, may drastically affect how listeners interpret lyric text within lyric analysis tasks. The purpose of this qualitative heuristic inquiry was to investigate the effects of musical style (instrumentation, vocal timbre, and texture) on lyric interpretation among undergraduate students aged 18–36 via focus groups and individual interviews. Participants listened to and discussed the lyrics and non-lyrical elements of 3 stylistically distinct recordings of one song (“Everybody Hurts”). Focus groups and interviews were transcribed, then coded and analyzed via initial coding and focused coding protocols (Saldaña, 2021). One primary theme emerged from the data: lyric text carried the basic message of the song, though non-lyrical elements influenced the perceived intention and connotation of that message. Three code categories emerged under the primary theme: (1) musical elements around the text gave context and nuance; (2) cohesion of musical elements determined the emotional impact of a given recording; (3) descriptions of musical style occurred in conjunction with multisensory comparisons. These findings provide evidence of a symbiotic relationship between lyrics and non-lyrical musical elements within song recordings, which both support clinical decision-making when choosing repertoire for lyric analysis and provide a foundation for further research into the role of non-lyrical musical elements in lyric analysis.