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Hello everyone and welcome back to another lesson here at EnglishPod. My name is Marco

and my name is Catherine and today we’re talking about a topic very close to my heart, music.

That’s right. We’re going to be talking about music and more specifically, we are going to talk about musical instruments that you would use in a band.

All right. And so, some people like to make their own music get together hang out, play music together so that’s we’re talking about today. We’ve got a new band that’s going to start and before we get going we’ve got a word to talk about and let’s check this out in today’s vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview

Al right. So, as I’ve mentioned, we are going to talk about instruments.

Instruments, so you could say musical instruments. But what is an instrument, generally speaking?

Basically, it’s similar to a tool, right? So, an instrument is something that you use to help you realize a task. In this case, musical instruments is more specific, right?

Right. So, we’re talking about things that you use to make music. A piano for example

is a musical instrument

or the drums.

All right, so this is what we’re going to be looking at today in the dialogue. So let’s listen to it for the first time.

I’m forming a music band.

Do you already know how to play an instrument?

Uh Yeah! I’ve told you a thousand times that I’m learning to play the drums. Now that I know how to play well, I would like to form a rock band.

Aside from yourself, who are the other members of the band?

We have a guy who plays guitar, and another who plays bass. Although we still haven’t found anyone to be our singer. You told me that you had some musical talent, right?

Yes, I’m a singer.

Perfect. So you can audition this weekend here at my house.

Great! Wait here? You don’t have enough room for the amplifiers, microphones or even your drums! By the way where do you keep them or practice?

Dude? What are you talking about? It’s right here!

All we need is my Nintendo Wii and we are set!

All right, we’re back. So, apparently the band wasn’t really a real band. It wasn’t but I have to say I’m very familiar with this because I have a Nintendo Wii and I often play the game rock band so I can sympathize with the characters.

So, you also have your own band.

I do. Well, to virtually speaking. And I know you do too.

I do too. That’s right, we are both fans of this game and this gaming console. And that’s why it’s such a fun dialogue. But let’s take a look at some of the language that was used this dialogue in language take away.

Language take away

So, I’ve been in a lot of bands and I’ve been a lot lot of musical groups so I can say that the first instrument that we want to talk about is maybe the most obnoxious, the most loud and hard to listen to.

Probably, probably. And that instrument is the drums. Right. So, the drums, it’s plural because you have many drums, right?

Right. You just don’t have the– the base trim. You have many different drums together and so we could also call this a drum set.

a drum set. All right, so why don’t we listen to an example of what a drum set sounds like.

All right. We’re back. So, I think that’s clear. Moving on to our next instrument.

This one’s maybe the most popular for young people to start because you can play pretty much anything with it and it’s also good for sing-alongs.

Right, and that instrument is the guitar.

Can you play the guitar?

No I can’t. I actually wish I would have learned but I never got around to it.

Well, this is a really beautiful instrument and there are many different ways to play it, but generally it’s either wooden with some strings or electric so it’s plastic with some metal strings.

Right, exactly. So, they have a different sound, but why don’t we listen to an example of what a guitar sounds like.

All right. So, great example of a guitar, pretty clear. What’s our next instrument?

The base and this one, it doesn’t look like the word that’s written, BASS so we say base

base

and it’s actually very low instruments. It’s usually used to help keep the rhythm.

So, it’s similar to a guitar, right?

Very

It’s the same form but as you say it’s lower and it makes a lower sound.

Exactly.

All right, so let’s listen to an example of a base now.

All right, pretty clear. Moving on to our next word, we have an amplifier.

Okay, so an amplifier is a thing. It’s usually a box that we plug in. It’s electric or it’s electronic. And it’s a tool to make electrical instruments like the electric guitar or the electric bass louder.

Right, exactly. So, an amplifier is any device that makes a sound become louder.

Exactly, all right.

So, this is really important for rock bands the world over.

Very good. Our next instrument, or actually more of a tool is very useful for the singer.

Yeah, and it actually goes with the amplifier in many ways because the microphones is our next word. The microphone is something that you use to sing into to make your voice louder. So right now, Marco you and I are both using microphone.

Exactly. So, a microphone. Very good and we have one last word and this is a verb, to audition.

all right, to audition. So to addition means to show someone your talent, all right? So, often times when you start a play or an opera or musical group, you want to have auditions. You want to addition people to see how much talent they have.

All right, so it’s basically an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and abilities.

Exactly

So, a job interview wouldn’t really be an addition.

No, job interview has its own verb but here we’re talking about your singing ability, your acting ability, your reading ability and sometimes we even have auditions here at EnglishPod to see how people, come to people are on the microphone. It’s a way to have people show what they’ve got.

very good. All right, so a lot of interesting words here, many instruments. I think it’s time for us to listen to a dialogue again. We’re gonna slow it down a little bit and we’ll be right back.

I’m forming a music band.

Do you already know how to play an instrument?

Uh Yeah! I’ve told you a thousand times that I’m learning to play the drums. Now that I know how to play well, I would like to form a rock band.

Aside from yourself, who are the other members of the band?

We have a guy who plays guitar, and another who plays bass. Although we still haven’t found anyone to be our singer. You told me that you had some musical talent, right?

Yes, I’m a singer.

Perfect. So you can audition this weekend here at my house.

Great! Wait here? You don’t have enough room for the amplifiers, microphones or even your drums! By the way where do you keep them or practice?

Dude? What are you talking about? It’s right here!

All we need is my Nintendo Wii and we are set!

All right. We’re back. So, moving on with our lesson, why don’t we take a look now at some phrases in fluency builder.

Fluency builder

All right. So, on fluency builder we have for phrases. What’s the first one?

Well, this first phrase is really important Marco because we’re talking about bands and starting bands and so there’s often a phrase we use to describe this, we say to form a band.

All right, so you form a band.

It’s like, forming something, to form is to shape it, to make it look like something that you want and so we can form artistic projects also, but here we’re forming a band. We’re choosing people to bring together to make great music.

All right, so we can say form a band or you can say as well, start a band.

Yeah.

All right, so we’re forming a band and well, his friend was surprised that the other guy knew how to play an instrument, so he said I’ve told you a thousand times.

Wait. So he told him 1000 times.

No, not literally.

I play an instrument—

Right. This is a phrase and it’s a little bit of an exaggeration to emphasize that I’ve told you many many times already.

Great. So this is something we say when we’re trying to exaggerate, like Marco said or to really emphasize the point that like, I’ve told you this before.

Right.

So, mothers often use it. I feel like we talk about mothers. Mothers often use this phrase when kids do something wrong. They say, I told you a thousand times

right

not to wear your shoes in the house.

Exactly. So, it is a great phrase to really make your point that you’ve said something many many times. Moving on, we have a kind of like a conjunction that you can use and it’s by the way, to change the topic maybe. By the way,

by the way. And so by the way, we keep these words together, it’s a fixed phrase. And by the way is something we had on. So, I say, you now today I went to school and I saw a lot of people. Oh, by the way, John says hi.

Right. So, while I’m talking about this, I want to add that this thing happened or that, this person said something.

Exactly. So, it’s a conjunction, right? To put together two different ideas. By the way– Or you can start off your sentence with it. By the way, how is the new house?

Because it’s like saying, oh, this thought just came into my head, by the way—

Right, right. And our last phrase in fluency builder is we are sent. All we need is my Nintendo Wii and we are set.

All right, so what do we set? We are set.

All right. We are set is another one of those phrases, it’s fixed and literally, it means and we are ready to start, we’re ready to go.

And everything is ready.

Yeah. We don’t need anything else. So, Marco I could say to you, just bring the salad to the table and we’re set, we’re ready-to-eat.

All right. And I think we are set to listen to our dialogue for the last time and we’ll be right back and talk a little bit more about this great topic.

I’m forming a music band.

Do you already know how to play an instrument?

Uh Yeah! I’ve told you a thousand times that I’m learning to play the drums. Now that I know how to play well, I would like to form a rock band.

Aside from yourself, who are the other members of the band?

We have a guy who plays guitar, and another who plays bass. Although we still haven’t found anyone to be our singer. You told me that you had some musical talent, right?

Yes, I’m a singer.

Perfect. So you can audition this weekend here at my house.

Great! Wait here? You don’t have enough room for the amplifiers, microphones or even your drums! By the way where do you keep them or practice?

Dude? What are you talking about? It’s right here!

All we need is my Nintendo Wii and we are set!

All right, we’re back. So, rock band, now. I know that you play a real instrument, not only instruments on the Wii.

True.

What do you play?

I play the trumpet. I was classically trained. I started when I was 10.

Now, it this the trumpet that has the three buttons on the top?

Yes, three pistons

three pistons because there’s another one that doesn’t, right?

There’s one that has 4 pistons. It’s a piccolo, the trumpet has 4. And there’s one that’s large and it slides in and out and that’s a trombone. That’s much lower.

right

but the trumpet is kind of a midrange instrument. It could go quite high and a little bit low. And it’s brass. It’s not wood. It’s made of a metal.

Right. It looks like gold, right?

Right.

All right. So, you play the trumpet. Did you play in a band or in a—

Yeah.

In school or college?

In high school, middle school and high school, I played in bands and orchestras. And in college I played in orchestra and I’ve also played in rock bands because sometimes people want to, you know—

Have a trumpet

Have a trumpet and go a little crazy.

Nice. Interesting. This is interesting because I’m sure a lot of our users out there actually play instruments and maybe a lot of them are also good at it. So, come to Englishpod.com, leave your questions and comments and let us know if you play any instruments or maybe some strange instruments, like the xylophone.

Or, if you like to play Wii, rock band because we certainly do and we can support you on that one.

Give you some tips

Yeah.

All right, so we’ll see you guys there. Until next time, bye.