When I introduced Pinyin to my totally zero-level client, he was so interested in the four tones and he asked me a question:” You said that tones are very important because different tones represent different characters and meanings. But how does it work when singing a song? I don’t think tones can get on well with melody, but how to settle the conflict?”
It was really hard to keep a straight face while I heard this question, because it’s so interesting and I believe many beginners have doubt on this point. I’d like to say that when we are singing a song, of course the four tones will be not so important as when we are speaking. Because we use phrases in lyrics, you can understand every word by its context. So if you can reach to a certain level, it’s not difficult to understand what it is singing. I wish everyone a great progress and can understand lyrics as soon as possible!