Inter-medial Musical Translations Visual & Performing Arts Essay (Essay Sample)

Inter-medial Musical Translations
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Inter-medial Musical Translations
A song is composed of a combination of lyrics and music structured for the specific purpose of singing performance. Renowned songs tend to demonstrate a regular structure composed of a refrain or chorus and verses. The verses often contrast in terms of the melody and rhythm. The same case applies to the lyrics. In inter-medial musical translations it is common for the chorus to be maintained in the source dialect and the verses to be translated into the target language. The primary concern in the translation of music constitutes the need to develop a target text which can be performed in the foreign language. Inter-medial musical translations, therefore, entail a cultural and linguistic confrontation between two distinct linguistic codes. This is also the case in the correlation involving the singing of music and poetry. There is a need for the song translator to accentuate his or her focus on the melody’s rhythm, the text presented in the form of a lyric, private and hidden meaning, the channel of presentation and the targeted message of the music. The activities involved in inter-medial musical translations can be understood in terms of the relation between two diverse semiotic systems with each one possessing its own necessities that enable and constrain the operation of the specific system under investigation.