Students’ acceptance of song lyrics containing national characters

. This paper aims at analyzing the acceptance of elementary school students of song lyrics containing national characters. The study was employed using research and development method, and this paper is the result of the interview related to the learning of nine song lyrics containing national characters. The results showed that all students had no difficulty in learning the vocabulary in the lyrics. However, the students were generally passive when asked about the meaning of the lyrics, hence the ability of students in singing the songs does not represent their understanding of the content of the lyrics. The implication of this research is that students always love songs and can sing songs, but it does not guarantee that students really understand the contents of the song.


Introduction
This research was conducted to create songs that contain national character for elementary school children. As the phenomenon that occurs in Indonesia today, primary school-age children tend to consume songs for adults, which lyrics are mainly about adult love stories. We cannot directly blame the children, because the parents and Indonesian people in general do not filter song contents that are suitable for children. Meanwhile, the electronic media does not always consider this issue in broadcasting their content because their goal is the commercialization of songs or the entertainment industry. Therefore, they pay less attention to who watch their contents. This song commercialization is inseparable from how the lyrics are made. Lyrics can be used to predict personalities [1] . Hence, one's personality can be used to identify a genre and song classification, and vice versa.
Song writing is basically following the current social situation [1] . From time to time, they have changed relatively according to the social situation and the economic condition of the society. Therefore, the political situation will also affect the song lyrics theme development and will be influenced by the growing social situation in society.
Nowadays, writers of children songs are increasingly disappearing [2]. Moreover, nationwide writers of children song are currently quite difficult to find. Therefore, children's songs that have new nuance and contextual to world of children, and that are popular in the community are hard to find. In fact, to some extent, songs that are part of musical activities have a role in building children's character.
On a study from Lee [3], it was found that, when musical activities are combined with character development, children are better equipped to proactively address problems in their daily lives. Likewise, de Vries [4] suggests the use of music education as a medium to teach value to children. Therefore, we can be sure that the inception of good behavior to children can be done using songs as media.
In Indonesia, in the last few years, character education is emphasized to build 18 characters , consisting of religious, honest, tolerant, disciplined, hard working, creative, independent, democratic, curios, nationalistic, loving his/her country, appreciative for achievements, friendly/communicative, peace loving, avid reader, caring for the environment, have social awareness, and responsible [5] . Thus, to inculcate these characters to the children through songs, it is necessary to write songs that contain or relate to the characters, and to teach them to elementary school children. This is the main purpose of this study, which is to create songs containing national characters for elementary school children. The songs were tested on elementary school children to see their ability to sing the melody of the songs and their understanding of the lyrics. This paper is limited to the limited trial stages, and what is described here is focused on the aspect of the song lyrics, especially on students' acceptance of the song content with a total of nine song lyrics.

Methods
This paper is the survey part from the research and development method [6]. The participants of the study subjects were nineteen chosen students of Wargaluyu Elementary School. The researchers collected data by survey complemented by observation and question and answer sessions with the students. The analysis of the data that has been obtained through survey, observation and question and answer session was employed by analyzing the attitude and understanding of the song lyrics. The data that has been analyzed were then described, categorized with relevant theories, and concluded.

Results
The results of this study through observations and discussions of the nine song lyrics taught to 19 students of Wargaluyu Elementary School are described as follows.

Discussions
The results showed that all students were able to sing both the melody and the words in the lyrics quite well. However, during the discussion of the lyrics, students tended to be passive, so it is basically their real understanding of the lyrics were questionable. This behavior is one of the common phenomena in humans in general, that is although they did not understand the lyrics, they were happy and enjoyed the song [7] . In other words, a person can sing, even sing a song in a foreign language without really understanding its meaning. However, even if one does not understand the lyrics of the song, one may be happy to sing the song. Meanwhile, the songs could have contained lust, sin, evil, mistakes, or meanings that lack good value. People just love the song without understanding the meaning of the lyrics [8] .
The passivity of the students in the discussions does not represent the students' lack of understanding. Various questions regarding the song lyrics vocabulary were responded with signs that represent the absence of difficulty. However, the form of their understanding of the contents of the lyrics could not be expressed in words. This can also be caused by the students' lack of ability to express their thoughts (opinions) or feelings. Another possibility includes the unwillingness of the student to share their difficulties in understanding the song lyrics to the teacher.
Students preferred to sing and memorize the lyrics of the song. It is indeed quite positive to develop their ability to memorize the whole song, both melodies and lyrics. Even other research find out that people find it easier to remember songs (melodies) and titles better than the lyrics. However, lyrics can help people to remember songs and titles. In contrast, titles and songs cannot help people remember lyrics.
The melodies of songs evoke emotions better compared to lyrics [9]. Therefore, lyrics are actually neutral or being paid less attention by the students in term of their meaning and message. The students favor songs in a way that they only accept the lyrics based on how they like the melody. The students did not pay attention to the lyrics because they pay more attention to the songs. If the students like the songs, they will like the lyrics. Songs can indeed impact people's behavior [10] . On the other hand, studies of one's understanding related to their experience were conducted [11] and [12] .

Conclusions
Based on the limited trial and the findings, students tended to be passive in discussing the contents of the song, they preferred to sing and memorize the lyrics. Therefore, their ability to sing does not necessarily represent their understanding of the vocabulary of the lyrics or the meaning of the song. However, all students accepted the presence of new song lyrics well and they did not show any rejection or confusion when studying it.
In this study, we would like to extend our gratitude to a number of parties who specifically contributed without underrating others who also gave major or minor contributions. Our first gratitude is sent to the Directorate General of Higher Education who provided funds for this study. The second goes to the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia that helped facilitating this study.