This draft is my REALLY rougly draft of my paper. The hard data section really can not be written until I actually have the hard data.
There is a magic that exists among the art of storytelling that fuels all other forms of art, and stands as a foundation to create, build and share. However, exactly how this foundation was formed and and in depth exploration of why it has deep-rooted connections to art is far too unrecognized. So in order to better understand these connections, I am pinpointing my focusing on storytellings power on songwriting in music. The question is then posed; what about storytelling in song has influenced modern songwriting in music? The thesis that fuels the project and appropriately answers this question is, "The influence of songwriting is built on a human desire to feel connected to one's environment and the people in it through the medium of storytelling." The beauty of this reasoning stems from the malleability of storytelling, and that the art is always evolving and changing. Being the foundation of other forms of art, when how stories are told changes, a ripple effect is created that alters the branching forms of art. Looking specifically and music and songwriting, this change comes in the form of new unique melodies, a change in lyrics and a change in how those lyrics are portrayed through the words of the song. My research will explore songwriting all this evolution through the forms of songwriting analysis, a social experiment, interviews, and through the process of writing my own songs and seeing how they are interpreted. With this gained insight, I can then share with others the essentiality behind storytelling and its affect on art.
Storytelling's true roots can be seen throughout history, and many critical points in history could not have happened without storytelling. Without it, our understanding of the past, the present, and what our future may be would be drastically different. For example, let's take a look at the slave era, and their primary form of communication: storytelling. Slaves would share stories with each other through song in order to communicate and relay messages that needed to be known throughout the slaves on a plantation. Song's like "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" refer to the Big dipper, and aligning it with the north star as an escape route for slaves. These songs were crucial in he escape of many slaves, as well as the formation of today's largest known slave escape route, the Underground Railroad.
Looking at storytelling in it's present effect on songwriting and music, through my research I have discovered four major methods of communicating messages and stories through song: Lyrical storytelling, Non-Lyrical storytelling, Collaborative storytelling and Varied interpretation. Lyrical storytelling consists of songs with lyrics that are very much so understood by the listener. It is probably the most common form of storytelling in songwriting that we hear today. Non-Lyrical storytelling consists of songs that are entirely instrumental. The beauty behind this technique is that there are some stories that when words fail to tell, a beautiful melody takes its place. Andrew Bird said that this method can be described as "bridging the gap between feeling and melody." Collaborative storytelling is a story that is constructed by a group of people or a community, and is then shared through the perspective of a few different artists. Varied interpretation shows how some songs are written with an intended vagueness, which leaves the responsibility of constructing the story up to the listener.