MUSIC

see also SING

See Writing tips MUSIC

1 playing music

music BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

the sounds made by people singing or playing musical instruments:
• What sort of music do you like?
• I like listening to music on the radio.
live music (=music that is not recorded)
• The club has live music every Saturday night.
! Music can also mean the art and skill of writing or playing music: He's studying
music at university. | music lessons | the Royal College of Music

play BrE: AmE:  [verb intransitive/transitive]

to make music by using a musical instrument or by singing:
• Jane can play 'Yesterday' on the flute.
• Do you play in an orchestra?
play the piano/trumpet/drums etc
• I didn't know you could play the violin.

! Play can also mean to let people hear a piece of music on the radio, on a CD player,
record player etc: The DJ played a lot of old tracks from the 1980s.

perform BrE: AmE:  [verb intransitive/transitive] formal

to sing or play music in front of people who have come to listen:
• She still gets very nervous about performing in public.
• The orchestra will be at the Festival Hall tonight, performing a selection of works by
Russian composers.

instrument/musical instrument BrE: AmE: ,

 [noun countable]
an object such as a piano, a guitar, or a violin that you use to
play music:
©• Copyright
brass instruments
Pearson Education Ltd 2005
• Do you play any instruments?
 play music:
• brass instruments
• Do you play any instruments?

2 types of music

classical music BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

music which is regarded as serious and important and has been played for a very long
time, for example the music of Beethoven, Mozart, or Tchaikovsky:
• a concert of classical music

jazz BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

music that was originally played by black Americans in the early 20th century, and
which has parts in it that performers play alone, often making up new music as they
play:
• Do you like modern jazz?
• a jazz band
• a jazz singer

pop BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

modern music that is popular with young people and usually has simple tunes and a
strong beat:
• Robbie Williams is one of Britain's most successful pop singers.
• Do you like pop music?

rock BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

a type of popular modern music with electric guitars and a strong loud beat:
• rock bands such as Oasis
• veteran rock guitarist, Eric Clapton
• We could hear the sound of loud rock music coming from the neighbour's bedroom.

rap BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

a type of popular music in which the words of the song are spoken, not sung, in time
to music that has a steady beat

dance BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

a name for some types of modern music such as house, techno etc, that are made
using electronic equipment and have a very fast, strong beat

folk (music) BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

a type of traditional music in which people sing and play instruments without any

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 folk (music) BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]
a type of traditional music in which people sing and play instruments without any
electronic equipment:
• a Russian folk group called Zabava
• They have folk music every Tuesday evening at the club.

country (and western) BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

a type of music that originally came from the southern states of the US, which is
played on guitars, violins etc:
• a radio station that plays country music 24 hours a day

world music BrE: AmE:  [noun uncountable]

music from places such as South America, Africa, and Asia:
• World music has become very popular over the last ten years.

3 people who play music

musician BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who plays a musical instrument very well, or
someone who does this as their job:
• a talented young musician

singer BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who sings, especially as their job:
• Rosie's a singer in a rock band.
• an opera singer
lead singer (=the most important singer in a popular music group)
• Justin Hawkins is the lead singer with 'The Darkness'.

guitar/keyboard/saxophone etc player BrE: AmE: (guitar etc)

 [noun countable]
someone who plays the guitar, keyboards, saxophone etc, especially at a concert or
on a record

pop star BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who is famous and successful as a singer or musician in a pop group:
• My sister has pictures of pop stars all over her bedroom wall.

band BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

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 a group of musicians who play popular music such as jazz, rock, or pop:
• a jazz band
be in a band
• When I was young, I always wanted to be in a band.

orchestra BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a large group of people playing many different kinds of instruments, usually playing
classical music, and led by a conductor:
• the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

conductor BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who stands in front of a group of musicians or
singers and directs their playing or singing:
• The orchestra always play well when Simon Rattle is the
conductor.

choir BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a large group of people who sing together, often in a church or school:
• The choir has been invited to sing in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

4 going to see people play music

go to see BrE: AmE: 

to go to a performance by a particular singer or band - use this especially about going
to see modern popular musicians:
• We're going to see the White Stripes at the Wembley Arena.

concert BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

an event at which a singer, musician, orchestra etc plays in front of a large group of
people:
• a pop concert
• the school concert (=when students from the school perform by singing and playing
instruments)
+ of

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 • a concert of orchestral music by Beethoven and Schubert
go to a concert
• On Friday we're going to a concert of modern African music.

gig BrE: AmE:  [noun countable] informal

a concert, especially of modern popular music or jazz
do/play a gig (=perform at a concert)
• They're doing about 30 gigs on their European tour.
go to a gig
• Let's go to a gig this weekend.

set BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a number of songs or pieces of music played by a singer or band in a performance at
one time:
• After the break, they came back and played a two-hour set.

performance BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

when a musician or group of musicians performs a piece of music
+ of
• There are no tickets left for this evening's performance of Mozart's Requiem.
give a performance
• Eminem gave one of his best performances at Skydome.

festival BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

an occasion when many different musical groups or singers perform, which happens at
the same time and in the same place every year:
• I first heard them play at the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival.
• Are you going to the Glastonbury festival this year?

concert hall BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a large building where concerts are performed

jazz club BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a place where you can listen to jazz bands and singers

venue BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

a place where a concert, festival etc takes place:
• The club is a popular venue for folk groups.

5 people who write music

composer BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who writes music, especially classical music:

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 • Henry Purcell was one of the greatest English composers.

songwriter BrE: AmE:  [noun countable]

someone who writes songs:
• Most of Elton John's early hits were written by songwriter Bernie Taupin.
singer-songwriter (=someone who writes songs and sings them)
• singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow

6 writing music

compose BrE: AmE:  [verb intransitive/transitive]

to write a piece of music, especially classical music:
• a song composed by Schubert
• Mozart composed his first symphony when he was still a child.

write BrE: AmE:  [verb intransitive/transitive]

to write a song or a piece of music:
• an opera written by Verdi

7 the words of a song

lyrics BrE: AmE:  [noun plural]

the words of a song:
• John Lennon wrote the lyrics and Paul McCartney wrote the music.

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