CONCEPTS, THEORIES, AND RELATED STUDIES
2.4 Related Studies
2.4.2 Studies on Patriotic Songs
textual analysis of the songs aimed to study the background of patriotic songs of the four armies, their meaning conveyance, and verbal acts, motivation, and emotion used, and eight patriotic songs were selected as representatives of the songs.
From the analysis of the meanings conveyed in 8 patriotic songs of the Armies by five kinds of Speech Act, it was found that Narratives was used the most, followed by Declarations and Expressives. The compelling content of patriotic songs found the most was a sacrifice, which found in all eight songs, followed by consciousness on duties and responsibilities and loyalty for the nation, religion, and the monarchy. Next was patience and gratitude. Regarding persuasive appeals, the composers used the most was the needs towards security, esteem needs, and the needs towards a devotion, a struggle, and cooperation respectively. Qualitative research was conducted by interviews with experts of each Army to examine their intent of composing a song without studying on the perception of receivers to see how much they perceive the songs as wished and if patriotic songs could stir their souls or create their awareness.
Notably, the researcher specified clearly that no listener‟s perception was studied since it was difficult to access such information from a true knower in the past. The only information that could be reached was from a documentary study from word-of- mouth of the successors, which could be distorted from reality. Therefore, for this study, quantitative research was added to increase higher reliabilities, i.e., the relationship between the listening frequency and the listeners‟ perception and interpretation of the songs, etc.
In analyzing the NCPO‟s songs, the researcher used the concept of Speech Act to examine the objective or illocutionary acts. In parallel, the use of motivational appeals, especially “Persuasive Appeals by Pathos,” was used, including emotional appeals used in the songs studied by Wanlada Pirunsarn, as a framework in explaining the texts of THE NCPO‟s songs in the dimension of senders‟ strategies since no studies on the part of listeners were covered in Wanlada‟s work. However, in this study, a study on the effectiveness of the songs in persuading listeners towards the intended goal of the senders to make the research more well-rounded and complete.
Sirindhorn Kiratibutr (1982) studied, “Thai Nationalistic Songs (1932-1982):
A Political Analysis) to explore and collect Thai patriotic songs since the beginning until 1982. The research focused on analyzing the language used, including necessary
materials of music, i.e., melody, rhythm, musical instruments, etc. in parallel to Thai political situations since 1931-1982. The study was conducted to find the relationship between song variables and the Thai political circumstance in each period.
It was found that from 1932-1982, there were 448 nationalistic songs, and a high number of songs disappeared. Nationalistic songs were composed to respond to different situations. In other words, each song aimed to persuade people to know or to do something different in each context. Nevertheless, the content or texts of the songs were similar, or most of them persuaded people to love and have a loyalty to their nation, including being willing to do anything to save their country from surviving and towards growth. For the components of the songs, i.e., melody, rhythm, and musical instruments were adjusted and improved for better quality. However, no relationship between the composers and content of the songs was found while the content of the song was found to be related closely to the themes of concepts of the songs.
The findings of Sirindhorn‟s study helped the researcher to see a connection between patriotic songs and political situations and social context in each period. It reminded the researcher to be concerned about some significant surroundings and events that led to the NCPO‟s patriotic songs. They also helped to trace the evolution of patriotic songs since the beginning up to present. Mainly, the researcher found the difference of the old and present patriotic songs from one of the findings of Sirindhorn, which stated, “no relationship between the composers and content or texts of the songs.” However, in the NCPO‟s songs, the composer was the leader of the NCPO or the person who executed a coup d‟etat. Therefore, there was a close relationship between the composer and the songs and this was a different issue this study tried to find out.
Doungkamon Bangchuad (2011) studied “The Transmission of Thai Patriotic Songs to Enhance Patriotism) to analyze the roles of the songs in enhancing patriotism. The study proposed guidelines in transmitting Thai modern patriotic songs to improve patriotism from an in-depth interview with experts and focus group interview.
The study found that Thai modern patriotic songs between 1910-2011 contained content that occurred from a connection between the support of faith in the
monarchy‟s power and an appreciation in aesthetic power, or control gained from roles and status, relationships, and development. Aesthetic value comprised literary and music art, which changed by listeners‟ taste and correlated with political, economic, social, and crises in each period. The power that occurred played a role in inducing a development, an awareness, and an action at individual, community, and societal level to express the patriotism. These were harmony and a public benefit rather than personal benefit. An effective way of transmission of development was to communication by public media, and special activities, i.e., a contest, a concert, a performance, and an application in an educational system.
From the five periods of the patriotic songs studied by Doungkamon Bangchuad (2011), in combination with the findings from the literature review, the development of the patriotic songs in this study was devided into six invented periods by researcher:
1) The Faith in Nation Building Period
2) People‟s Party and State Convention Period 3) Democratic Socialism Period
4) Economic-Crisis Joint Resolution Period 5) Harmonious Love of Thailand Period 6) Return Happiness to Thailand Period