Do the tones end up being a big deciding factor in the melody of the song? For example, how much different would Twinkle Twinkle Little Star sound in Chinese vs English because of the different use of tone?
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One thing to note is that the tones are more subtle than some people think. It usually doesn’t change the pitch enough to affect the melody. Think about how in English, people ask questions by having a raising inflection during the sentence. You can still have things that are clearly questions in songs. It’s a similar idea.
Or how words in English have emphasis on certain syllables, but it doesn’t necessarily interfere with song writing.
Also, there’s context clues and other aspects to the tones beyond just pitch. The 4th town, which is the downward one, is a bit staccato and shortened. So it behaves almost like an emphasized syllable.
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