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Narrative and meaning in music (besides the lyrics)
From a short conversation over IRC:
@Naas: "
and 
use different music, but they're the same song, with the same meaning"
No, those two arrangements have very, very different meanings.
The first one is contemplative and calm. The second one is like a much more hot-blooded rallying cry. The contrast should be pretty obvious.
They can use the same tune and lyrics (I haven't checked but I presume the lyrics are the same), but they are very different. I mean, it's entirely possible to talk about the same topic with a totally different emotion. That's basically what's happening here.
But yeah, in general, music can certainly have a narrative, even without any lyrics or other narrative context. Here's the example I cited: 
The narrative of that piece is so strong that I actually feel somewhat resentful that there is cheerful applause following its performance. It almost feels disrespectful to the narrative/message...
Comments
How does that change the meaning? If I'm talking about say, the Napoleonic wars, or the health benefits of oranges, I am conveying the same ideas regardless of whether I'm yelling or whispering.
It is obvious, but not in that way. Like, not really. They're more or less the same message conveyed by characters of different "scale". This is coming from me being familiar with the song and its use in the source material, but still. "Kimi Dake o Mamoritai" is about finding your strength from the desire to protect someone you care about. Of course it's tonally different when coming from a normal human girl trying to help take care of a bunch of children compared to a cosmic super hero. I don't see how "contemplative" describes the first.
Anyway, I'm not sure why you even needed to make this a topic. I didn't say that music can't have narrative or meaning without lyrics, just that you said
when we were talking about "Connect", of all things. And that is like, soooooo wrong.
No you're not. Unless you're yelling for the sake of making an example; normally, if you're yelling, the fact that you're yelling means something, and it means something quite different from whispering.
And a closer analogy would actually be speaking with different tone/emotion. For example, imagine reciting an essay boldly and proudly to an audience of 5,000, and then imagine reading it out loud but quietly to yourself out of curiosity in the comfort of your favorite armchair.
As for those two songs, perhaps contemplative isn't the right term, but the emotional content of the song is still definitely different, as you noted. The first one definitely sounds calmer, and the second one definitely sounds more rousing.
^ Well, given that I don't understand Japanese, J-pop songs do effectively sound like they're scat-sung, or whatever the term is if you use nonsense syllables to sing something. That said, my fourth line there was about how you sometimes have songs that just talk about a common topic (such as love) in varyingly metaphorical terms in the lyrics, and that serves as the theme song for an anime series. Not that western pop doesn't have the same, of course.
But anyway, about Connect: it does sound kinda generic. Maybe that's not quite the right word, but for me, it does emotionally sound not particularly serious or heartfelt. It's just kinda there. Of course, this might change after I watch the show...
Not all the time. If I'm yelling because a room is too loud to whisper, does that change my message? Also, talented speakers can get a single point across regardless of yelling/whispering/intonation.
There's your problem. On top of that, you didn't even see the show you guys are talking about.
This is why we shouldn't make threads based on public convos on IRC.
edit: I meant private. At least not while the other person is offline and left the conversation kinda hanging :V
Sorry, I just had more stuff I wanted to say...
> There's your problem. On top of that, you didn't even see the show you guys are talking about.
Well, I did acknowledge that my opinion of Connect might change after I watch PMMM. Which is something that's happened before; my impression of the Cave Story theme became very, very different when I later heard it in the Plantation area late in the game.
And I think it's valid to say that a song is musically uninteresting but has meaningful lyrics, or vice versa.