Слова-символы в современной английской музыке

Music has evolved over centuries. New styles and different features have been created at different times and for different purposes.

Traditionally music would have been created, played and passed on from musician to musician. They would listen to a performance and then repeat it or change it. This led to particular types of music developing in different places.

Over time composers would write music for public performances, and would create pieces to reflect a world event such as a war or create music to reflect the beauty of their country.

Many things have influence the development of music: instruments and resources available to composers at the time; specific historical events occurring at the time the composer was alive; a desire to reflect society and public demand and others.

England has produced some of the world’s best music throughout history. In fact, as a country, England has spearheaded some of the world’s most significant musical movements and trends.

Since its earliest days, English music has been particularly diverse and culturally relevant. It was made up of religious music, folk music, classical music and many other styles.

Image of a vintage engraving showing a scene from 19th Century London England. A man playing a street organ with children dancing around him circa 1870.

Vintage engraving showing a scene from 19th Century London England. A man playing a street organ with children dancing around him circa 1870.

Every person one day has difficult situation when everything just falls out of hand. Days when it is sad at heart and do not want to go out at all. But music can easily get out of this state.

A peppy tune will lift off the couch even on a gray, cloudy morning. A touching love song will allow to survive a difficult parting, and a classic piece will return inner harmony.

Sometimes, in order to cope with the insult, anger and longing that has accumulated inside, one just turn on the music and sing loudly, feeling how the negative emotions go away. Music relieves fatigue, relaxes muscles and reduces pain. It is no coincidence that in many medical institutions from the speakers calm music sounds in the background. It energizes patients with positive energy and returns to their pep. As a result, people are more likely to tolerate certain unpleasant procedures.

The knowledge of English as an intermediary language (lingua franca) in cross-cultural communication in the context of globalization is confirmed, for example, in studies of modern musical discourse, where English acts as the global language of music. Musical discourse in its various genres undoubtedly contributes to the promotion of the English language around the world.

Lyrics in English are a guarantee of public attention and an important factor of commercial success and prestige. According to the official website of the annual international song contest “Eurovision", the vast majority of songs over the past decade were performed in English.

As a rule, the media have a special influence on the state of speech culture. Every person is daily affected by the speech that is heard on TV and radio or contained in the texts presented on the pages of newspapers and magazines. It is the mass media that for many native speakers is the main source of ideas about the language norm. Special attention should be paid to modern popular music, which everyone can hear on the radio and from TV screens.

Music has always been a special kind of art. Song is the most common and popular music genre [6, p. 378].

Let’s consider the use of the features of colloquial speech in the texts of modern English songs. English songs popular in the last five years were selected for the study.

Each country, of course, has its own contemporary music of a national character. But most of the bands and artists known all over the world come from the USA or Great Britain.

Modern English music is very variable. There are a lot of stiles and directions in it. And every group that appears on the stage, seeks to bring something new to this art.

Different people have different musical preferences, but perhaps there are none that are negative about music in general. Music is the only art form that we enjoy not visually, which is why it can be used as a background for any activity. This is an art that we encounter almost daily, and the Internet environment makes it even more accessible. Thus, music brings people together all over the world, and English-language compositions become not just the property of the art of a particular country, but a global sociolinguistic phenomenon.