In shigin, prose and poetry are not sung with the rhythm and melody of a song, but are instead expressed more effectively through the addition of a unique melody after the prose and poetry have been read aloud, basically without any attention being paid to the meaning.
いわゆる歌のように、詩文をリズム、メロディに乗せて歌うのではなく、詩文の素読（朗読）を基本とし、素読の後に特有のメロディ（節調という）を加えることで、より効果的に詩情を表現する。