A song is a written composition intended for the vocalized voice to sing. It often contains various forms of music, including the repeated and varied combination of verses and the refrain. It is also commonly accompanied by instrumental instruments, like the piano, or with the spoken word. Most songs follow a specific structure, which is known as the melody.
In order to categorize a song, we need to understand the difference between a song that has a melody and a song that doesn’t. A melody is a single line of music that is repeated in a song. The most well-known melodies are those that are used in the traditional English and American hymns. A song with a melody may also contain other sounds like harmony or bass lines.
On the other hand, a song without a melody is said to be a polyphonic or a polystyl song. Polyphonic or polystyl songs, unlike melodic songs, have no beginning, middle, or end; the music simply repeats itself. Some common polyphonic songs are “Goodbye My Love”, by Radiohead, “I Remember You” by Coldplay, and the Muse song ” Sanctuary”. A polyphonic song can also feature the use of an apparent chorus but without the repeated bass line. Many classical composers wrote symphonies or sonatas that had this characteristic. The song “Fur Elise” by Beethoven has a similar example in which the chorus only repeats a few seconds while the refrain repeats the same number of times.
Aside from the melody, we also need to be able to identify songs with different languages. We usually refer to such songs as “dances”, “songs”, or “songs”. A song can have both a melody and lyrics, but the former can be entirely different in its language. For example, the Spanish song “Hombre” by Jose Maranjo repeats a number of words, each of which repeats a different Spanish word.
Finally, we have accompaniment, which is the vocals blended with instruments. The most common accompaniments in classical music are the piano, the violin, and the cello. Most popular contemporary compositions do not contain accompaniments at all. An example of this is opera’s “La Favorite” wherein the singer may perform a monologue while the music expresses emotions from within.
These three factors are very important when determining whether a song fits our criteria for what we call a classical song. Not all songs fit this description, of course. A song written primarily for personal enjoyment may not meet the criteria for being a classic, while a song intended for a musical event may do. But with so many genres and types of music, there will surely be many art songs that will meet our needs for defining what a song is.