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Starting a Band

You’re listening to English as a Second Language Podcast number 198, “Starting a Band.”

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 198. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Today’s podcast is about starting a band, a musical band. Let’s get started.

At work one afternoon, my friend Michael asked me if I wanted to help him start a band. I was really surprised because I didn’t even know Michael was a musician. As it turns out, not only was Michael a good guitarist, he was also a good songwriter. He wanted to get together a band and maybe start playing some gigs.

I was interested, but I wasn’t sure if my voice was good enough to be the lead singer. After hearing me sing, Michael said that he thought I was. With me in the band, we still needed a drummer and a bass player. My sister wanted to be a back-up singer for the band, but we didn’t think we needed one yet.

We auditioned a lot of people and found our other two band members. They had their own instruments and even had the sound equipment we’d need. We start rehearsal next week. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a demo made soon and get hired as an opening act for another band. And, who knows? You may be seeing us as headliners in your city before too long.

[End of story]

This podcast is about someone trying to start a music group, a group to play music. What we would simply call a band, especially if it’s popular music. The story begins by me saying that, “At work one afternoon, my friend Michael asked me if I wanted to help him start a band. I was really surprised,” however, “because I didn’t even know Michael was a musician.” I didn’t even know means the same as I didn’t know, but “even” adds some emphasis - that I completely didn’t know, that I had no knowledge that he was a musician. A musician, “musician,” is someone who plays music.

“As it turns out, not only was Michael a good guitarist, he was also a good songwriter.” The expression, as it turns out, is one that we use before telling someone something that is surprising, that you would not expect from the previous things that they have told you. So, you might say, for example, “I thought that the movie was going to be really good. As it turns out, it was the worst movie I had seen.” So, that expression means that I went to the movie and I found out that it was a terrible movie. I won’t tell you which movie I’m talking about. It starts with the word, “The.” Getting back to the story, “As it turns out, not only was Michael a good guitarist, he was also a good songwriter.” A guitarist, “guitarist,” is someone who plays a guitar - the musical instrument called a guitar that has strings on it. We call the things that you play on the guitar the guitar strings. Well, he is a guitarist and he’s “also a good songwriter.” Songwriter, “songwriter” is all one word. Songwriter would be someone who writes songs. “He wanted to get together a band,” my friend Michael did, “and maybe start playing some gigs.” A gig, “gig,” is when you have a performance, usually in front of other people. And so, you say, “I have a gig at the bar tonight” means I’m going to be playing in my band at the bar tonight. We normally use that word, gig, for a musician or a band that’s going to be playing somewhere, though sometimes we use it in other circumstances to mean a job.

“I was interested,” in this band, “but I wasn’t sure if my voice,” and you know how good my voice is, “if my voice was good enough to be the lead singer.” The lead, “lead,” singer is the main singer, the most important singer in the band. So, for the band, Rolling Stones, the lead singer would be Mick Jagger, and for…well, the Beatles didn’t have a lead singer…I guess either Paul McCartney or John Lennon were the lead singers, plural. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, let’s see, who was the lead singer?

Anyway, “After hearing me sing, Michael said that he thought I was” good enough to be the lead singer. “With me in the band, we still needed a drummer and a bass player.” A drummer, “drummer,” is someone who plays the drums, “drums.” It’s the person who has the - we would call them drumsticks - those pieces of wood that you hit against a drum. The drummer is usually in the back on the stage when you have a band performance.

The other person that you find in a band, especially a rock band, would be a bass player. A bass, “bass,” player. Notice the pronunciation here. This word is pronounced like a long “a” - bass. If you pronounce it bass - same spelling - that means something completely different - that would be a fish. But, this is not a fish, this is a bass player, and the bass is a musical instrument. Here it refers to a bass guitar, and that’s the guitar that plays the very low notes - boom boom boom boom, boom boom boom boom. That’s the person who often has the background music, if you will, in a song.

Well, “My sister wanted to be a back-up singer for the band.” A back-up, “backup,” singer is not the lead singer, not the main singer. Usually, this is someone who stands at the side or in back and sings music along with the song, but you can’t hear them necessarily as a separate singer because there’s usually more than one back-up singer.

Well, “We auditioned a lot of people and found our other two band members.” To audition, “audition,” means that you have people come to you and they play their musical instrument, and you say, “Okay, thank you. We’ll call you later if we want you.” That is to audition. You go in front of the leader of the band, or the person who’s deciding who will be in the band, and you play for them, and if they like you then you will be part of the band. And, if not, then you will have to go back and study in school, I guess. Well, “We auditioned a lot of people,” and the two people we found “had their own instruments.” Instruments, “instruments,” are musical instruments - things that you play, like a guitar, or a saxophone, or the drums, or the recorder - these are all instruments. The new band members also had sound equipment that we needed. Sound equipment here would be speakers and amplifiers. An amplifier is a machine that makes the music louder, makes the sound come out louder.

I said that “We start rehearsal next week.” Rehearsal, “rehearsal,” is the same as practice. We use that word, rehearsal, when we are practicing for a musical performance or a play - anything where you’re giving a performance in front of other people - a speech, perhaps. The verb is to rehearse, “rehearse,” and this is a noun, the rehearsal.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a demo made soon and get hired as an opening act for another band.” A demo, “demo,” is short for a demonstration tape. And, that is a tape - or now, I guess it would be a CD - that you record a song and you send it to record companies or other people who might be interested in hearing you, and if they like it, then you will get some work. You’ll get some gigs. Well, we’re hoping to “get hired as an opening act.” The opening act, “act,” is the first band when you go to a concert, a performance. It’s the first band, usually not the best one. If you go to see a famous rock group - the Rolling Stones - are they still alive? Yes? Okay. The Rolling Stones, they’re not going to start the concert. They’re going to have another band that plays for may be a half hour or 45 minutes, and then they come on. The main band is called the headliner. The headliner, “headliner,” all one word, and they are the main group, the one that you paid your money to see. The word comes from headline. Headline is, in a newspaper for example, it’s the title of the story, usually in big letters. Well, that’s what we use, that term, headliner, to mean the people that are the most important band in a concert.

Now, I know you wanted to hear me sing, but maybe next time! Now let’s listen to the story, this time at a native rate of speech.

[Start of story]

At work one afternoon, my friend Michael asked me if I wanted to help him start a band. I was really surprised because I didn’t even know Michael was a musician. As it turns out, not only was Michael a good guitarist, he was also a good songwriter. He wanted to get together a band and maybe start playing some gigs.

I was interested, but I wasn’t sure if my voice was good enough to be the lead singer. After hearing me sing, Michael said that he thought I was. With me in the band, we still needed a drummer and a bass player. My sister wanted to be a back-up singer for the band, but we didn’t think we needed one yet.

We auditioned a lot of people and found our other two band members. They had their own instruments and even had the sound equipment we’d need. We start rehearsal next week. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a demo made soon and get hired as an opening act for another band. And, who knows? You may be seeing us as headliners in your city before too long.

[End of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by the very musical Dr. Lucy Tse. Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com to get the complete Learning Guide, an eight to ten page guide to this podcast that includes all of the vocabulary words and definitions, additional new information that we don’t talk about in the podcast and a complete transcript. Our website is eslpod.com.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.