Discourse Analysis Of Music

The topic of discourse analysis has been the primary subject in Module One since the beginning of the semester. Throughout this module, we’ve learned what discourse analysis is, the different types of discourse analysis, and why it’s an important part of rhetoric and writing. Having read #heavymeta chapters “What is Discourse Analysis?” and “Multimodal Discourse Analysis”, written by authors James Paul Gee and Gunther Kress, respectively, it’s about time we’ve applied our newfound knowledge of discourse analysis to something we see everyday, whether it be room decor, buildings, or statues. It's also about time we challenge our understanding of this topic by applying it to something not involving text, such as the examples mentioned above. In doing so, we can see how thoroughly we’ve mastered the often-complex idea of discourse …show more content…
The song’s music, in addition to all the other features listed above, solidifies the video’s melancholic spirit. A piano (as well as other soft instruments) is playing throughout, giving the music its slow rhythm. This is typical in most love songs. A song’s music, not its lyrics, is what gives a song its underlying meaning. Since lyrics are added on top of a music track, it's quite easy for an audience to pay little to no attention to the music stringing the lyrics together. However, without that music, Adele would just be singing a bunch of words, having no appropriate music to back up the apparent heartache written within her lyrics. This can be seen with discourse analysis as well. Various aspects of discourse analysis make it what it is: sequence, feeling, language, etc. so, like Adele’s “Hello”, there is not one single thing responsible for why it comes together so nicely. Having these aspects of language, feeling, and sequence working together creates a wonderful story that is sure to touch an audience. As a result of these stories (and the aspects in which they are created), we are brought together as a