Anthem and song brought a big revolution in the field of music. Mainly in the context of the national anthem and song, both represent the prestige of national independence.
Also, the anthem being short with confined words has a great effect on the listeners.
Key Takeaways
- An anthem is a musical composition with a patriotic, religious, or moral theme, associated with a specific group, organization, or nation. At the same time, a song is a broader musical composition category that includes lyrics and a melody and can address any topic or theme.
- Anthems are more formal and may be performed at official events, ceremonies or as a symbol of unity and identity. At the same time, songs can range from informal and personal expressions to popular music and art songs.
- Both anthems and songs can evoke emotions, communicate ideas, and create a sense of belonging, but anthems have a more specific purpose and connection to a particular group or cause.
Anthem vs Song
Anthem refers to a musical composition that represents a particular group, country, or cause. A song is a musical composition that can be about any subject, may or may not have a specific purpose or message, and can be performed for entertainment, artistic expression, or communication of emotions.
Anthem is mainly known by the name national anthem. The National anthem represents the national sacrifice, patriotism, and pride of the nation.
Anthem were mainly small chants observed at special occasions or festivals. Also, anthems were initially originated in Roman churches as festive carols.
Songs brought a whole new experience in the field of music. Songs were introduced into TV shows, folk songs, advertising products, and many more.
Songs need a lot of labor in writing a song, composing a tune, singing the song by a professional singer.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Anthem | Song |
|---|---|---|
| Money Making | Anthem does provide any type of economic support. | The songs are a source of income and provide economic support. |
| Uses | Anthems are created for a particular celebration and need no promotion. | The songs launched as albums or music videos need promotion. |
| Translation | Anthems are mostly universal and are created in universal languages. | Most of the movie songs are translated into local languages along with the movies. |
| Pirate or Copied | Anthems are mostly meant for celebration purposes and hence are not pirated or copied. | Some songs are telecasted on TV shows, movies can be pirated, or their tone can be copied. |
| Patency and Copyright | Anthem is not concerned with patency and copyrights. | The songs have patent and copyright rules. |
What is Anthem?
The word anthem originated from the short musical lyrics melody which was sung in the church. This is mainly used to denote the national anthem of the country.
Whereas, the national anthem may be different for different countries. The word anthem means a particular melody mainly recited on a specific occasion.
Also, the anthem is associated with many categories such as the national anthem, sports anthem, artistic anthem, and pop anthem.
Some of the world-famous artists have together collaborated to make “Earth Anthem”. The Earth Anthem was created to present awareness about the environment between the people.
UNESCO has launched many anthems related to environmental awareness.
On the other hand, the national anthem has its flavor of patriotism and a sense of national unity. The national anthem represents the countrymen’s sacrifice, struggle history and fight for independence.
A country’s national anthem is adopted by the government itself and given proper respect by the constitution.
It is played in many instances such as national parades and marches, patriotic functions hosted by the government, and many more.
However, many countries are further subdivided into states and provinces, but the composition of the national anthem remains the same throughout the nation.
What is Song?
A song is a properly scripted piece of musical composition with a variety of pitches. These changes in pitch form a pattern and are termed a melody. Also, this melody is different for different songs and depends upon country to country.
A song contains repetition and stanza sections with proper melody patterns. The song is based on the lyrics of the song which is the soul of the song.
The lyrics form a meaningful pattern with music and rhythm. An art song is a skill of giving musical composition to a pre-written poem or prose.
Some of the songs contain repeated lyrics with similar fall and rise of musical notes and pitches commonly known as chants. Similarly, rhymes and folk songs are not written and are only learned by merely listening.
Market songs are song which is sung by professional singers either recorded or live concert and finally sold in the market for income.
These types of songs need well-trained experts such as song composers, lyricists, and professional song technicians. Many professional singers own their recording studios in which they record the songs and then tune them accordingly.
You might listen to songs on various platforms such as movies, theatre, music videos, albums, and tv shows. The songs can be either recorded or heard by the audience in live concerts.
Main Differences Between Anthem and Song
- Anthem does not need any type of capital investment whereas the song needs an investment of money such as payment to lyricists, song composers, and many more.
- While talking about the national anthem, every country has a national anthem whereas a country not necessarily has a national song.
- Anthem originally started in the old Roman church whereas songs were meant for the entertainment process.
- Anthem does not need any type of involvement of lyricists and composers whereas songs composition requires lyricists, tune composers, and many others.
- Anthem does not need any type of studios and recording equipment whereas songs require many types of studios, technicians, and recording stations.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m7Z38IjRvSQC&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=anthem&ots=PKUddQvbpC&sig=1cP7KKn_BYC_7LW8qIDuS2Iq2Xc
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735608097249
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1394328/
- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315630281/translating-song-peter-low
Last Updated : 24 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
