Watkins 1 Katherine Watkins English 1101 Ms.

Caruso 28 October 2011 One Voice Can Change the Lives of Many What is text? Text is anything that any information can be taken from or studied. Basically, anything in the world around us could be considered text, whether it has words or not. For example, a tree is text. You may wonder how a tree could possibly be text, because there are no words on the tree or anything along those lines, but you can draw information from this tree just based on its appearance. Not only that but each text can be categorized into different genres based on its different properties. In my case, I chose the song Alyssa Lies by Jason Michael Carroll; many people would consider this text, because it has words (lyrics) throughout the whole song. As stated before, text can be categorized into different genres based on the different properties it possesses. In the case of a song, there are many different genres into which it could be categorized because songs can be looked at in different ways. You could classify a song as music, art, entertainment, or more specifically, by the type of music that it is. With the song Alyssa Lies, you could classify it as music, but more specifically country music. It can also be broken down further in terms of the different aspects of how the song or music is put together. Some examples of these aspects are: the instruments that are used, the tempo that the song holds, the type of voices heard within the song, and how the entirety of everything works together to make the song what it is. In Alyssa Lies, instruments that are soft and sad are used throughout the song, the

Watkins 2 voices are very slow and low, and the tempo of the song is slower than most country songs heard on the radio. All of these components come together to form a song that is sad and slow, which helps to convey the message and purpose of Alyssa Lies. The song is about a little girl who is abused by one of her parents, and its purpose could be considered to be that of raising awareness and speaking out against child abuse. In this case, sad, slow, and low music and instruments help the writer to get their point across about how bad child abuse really is and cast a serious tone to the overall song. If the writer had used a faster tempo and an upbeat tone, it might have given those who heard it the wrong impression by contrasting a serious, sad idea with a fun and happy song, and in doing so, ruin the purpose and message of the song. Imagine for a minute that you are a small child who is looking up at their parents seeking affection. Instead of receiving affection you receive a slap or a beating for no reason at all. Would you find this to be fun? I think not, because you would be in pain and upset since you do not know what you did wrong to receive this treatment. This is why in my mind the slow music makes it a better song for portraying the sad, hurtful outcome that this situation puts off. In many situations, it is up to the user of a text to say whether or not it performs its purpose to its full potential. Alyssa Lies is a song that is about a father whose daughter meets a little girl (Alyssa) who is abused by her parents. Alyssa doesnt tell anyone about it except for the little girl, and in turn, the little girl tells her father. The father does not act on what his daughter tells him, perhaps from disbelief, and is shocked and dismayed to hear the truth of the matter from the school after it is too late to help Alyssa. The purpose of this song is to inform people about child abuse, how harmful it is to children and how it is around us even if we dont see it. Not only that, but it allows children who may be victims of child abuse to know that it is okay to speak up and get help. It raises awareness and encourages action. Many schools are

Watkins 3 beginning to show this video to their students; an outcome of this is that many of the students who are watching it are getting help from people because they are victims. If they arent victims, they are letting their voice be heard so that they can try and raise awareness about child abuse, so that people will begin to help make this problem disappear from our society. I have a strong feeling that the majority of the people who spoke out after seeing this video or hearing this song were afraid to speak up before, out of fear, embarrassment, or confusion. Having heard this song, they might be able to begin to see that they are not the only people in the world with this problem and that they need to get help before it is too late. I believe that this text achieves its purpose very well, because when this video is shown to students, it makes them want to get help or to be heard, and that was the goal of the author of this text. I do, however, think that this text could improve how it achieves its purpose. For example, perhaps the tempo could be changed for the most important part of the song, the chorus, in order to highlight its seriousness. The aforementioned slow tempo of the song could be slowed down further specifically for the chorus, in order to make it more noticeable and catch the listeners attention. For example, these lines could be slower than the rest of the song: Alyssa lies to the classroom Alyssa lies everyday at school Alyssa lies to the teachers As she tries to cover every bruise. (Carroll) This in turn, could allow for the main idea of the song to be brought across more easily and better understood. If the main idea were better understood, perhaps more people would speak up and get help with the situation. Overall, it could just be a large ripple effect of positive outcomes, helping this text to achieve its purpose to a higher extent. Just a small change to something could

Watkins 4 make such a large impact on the situation at hand. Almost as if one could say that one voice could change the lives of many. To help show how different tempos in music can affect how a song is portrayed, I have chosen two other songs with which to compare Alyssa Lies; one is somewhat dissimilar from this song while the other is mostly the same. The titles of these songs are Concrete Angel and In My Daughters Eyes. Both are country songs; however, they are about two different things. Concrete Angel is like Alyssa Lies in that it is also about one little girl who didnt speak up in time to get help, so she also became a victim of child abuse. On the other hand, In My Daughters Eyes is about how to some children; their parents are heroes and role models that they can turn to for help and guidance. These texts both have different messages but similar purposes to Alyssa Lies, which is to get a point across or to tell a story. While their stories may be different from each other they are still all working toward that common goal of telling a story. In Concrete Angel (McBride), there are several similar qualities that appear in Alyssa Lies, such as the story, the instruments, the voice and the tempo. The author, Martina McBride, is trying to tell her listeners about child abuse just like Alyssa Lies. The instruments used are soft, slow, and almost angel-like, which allow the point to get across strongly. The chorus of this song has more force behind the voice of the singer and is a different tempo than the rest of the song, which makes it stand out to the listener. Doing this to different parts of the song allows for the point of the text to get across more easily. When I personally listen to this song, the chorus sticks in my head more than the rest of the song because it has a stronger meaning to me, and I remember it better because it stands out from the rest of the song. To many people, this small change can make a big difference in their lives, because if they hear this and it sticks with them, they might be more willing to speak up.

Watkins 5 This is why I say that they authors of the text need to pick one part of the whole piece to make the focal point. In comparison to Alyssa Lies and Concrete Angel, In My Daughters Eyes by Martina McBride (McBride) is a happier song about a better-known topic. This song is more focused on how children view their parents, rather than what needs to be done to help children in need. While this isnt talking about a hard subject, it is still talking about a subject that is important to many people. Compared to the aforementioned songs, this song has a faster tempo, the instruments are louder, and the voices are higher, which all cause the listener to automatically think happier thoughts. This change in composition still allows the author to get their point across about a subject that is important to them. Basically, if you want to portray something as sad you would use instruments that are soft and slow, but if you want to portray something as happy or upbeat youd use instruments that are louder and faster in tempo. In conclusion, all text has a purpose, and how well this purpose is fulfilled depends on the person using the text itself. In the cases of Alyssa Lies, Concrete Angel and In My Daughter Eyes, all of these have the purpose of trying to get a point across so that people can become more aware of different situations happening around them. In my opinion, all of these songs achieve their desired goals of telling a story or getting a point across, because they use different key properties that enhance the songs and their purposes. Specifically, Alyssa Lies uses its tempo, composition, instruments, and lyrics in ways such that they come together to successfully raise awareness about child abuse and ultimately fulfill its authors purpose.

Works Cited

Watkins 6 Alyssa Lies. Perf. Jason Michael Carroll. YouTube.com. 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 13 September 2011. Concrete Angel. Perf. Martina McBride. YouTube.com. 2 October 2009. Web. 13 September 2011. In My Daughters Eyes. Perf. Martina McBride. YouTube.com. 4 October 2009. Web. 13 September 2011.