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Jambands – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Jambands. So I have the text of the conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or some groups of words I thought you might have difficulty understanding. And I’ll give you the meanings for those words as they relate to this conversation, so they could have another meaning in another conversation, but I’ll give you the meanings for this conversation.

Also I want to mention that many times you will hear native speakers say “yeah” a lot, they’ll use yeah.

You’ll hear me, Joe, AJ say that and it’s just slang for yes. And also you’ll hear “y’know” and you’ll see it as y’know. Y’know is just combining two words, you and know, so sometimes when native English speakers speak very quickly, instead of saying you know, we say it fast, y’know.

Also you’ll hear like used a lot and you’ll see it if you’re reading the text, you’ll see it a lot. So if…many times it’s just a filler word. It’s just used in a conversation and it doesn’t really have a meaning. So if you’re trying to figure out why the word like is used in a particular sentence, it doesn’t seem to have the meaning of having an affection for something in particular, like ice cream, liking ice cream, if it doesn’t have that meaning it probably doesn’t have any meaning at all. Alright, so let’s begin.

At the very beginning of the conversation I say, “AJ, last night Joe and I and Eric went to see the Jerry Garcia symphonic celebration with Warren Haynes over at the Greek Theater.” So there is several things I want to explain in this sentence. Eric is the name of a friend of ours. Jerry Garcia: this is the name of an American musician and singer most famous for playing and singing in the Grateful Dead, one of Joe’s favorite bands actually. Jerry Garcia is actually dead now. Symphonic: symphonic meaning symphony.

Symphony is a large group of musicians who play wind instruments, string instruments and percussion instruments. An example of a wind instrument would be a flute and an example of a string instrument would be a violin and an example of a percussion instrument would be drums. Warren Haynes: this is the name of an American, also an American singer and musician and he’s in a band, the name of his band is Government Mule. He’s still current, he is alive. And Greek Theater: this is an outdoor arena at University of California in the city of Berkeley. So Berkeley is by train from San Francisco it takes maybe 40 to 45 minutes to get there. So let me explain the cultural part of this sentence. Warren Haynes was chosen to play with, I can’t remember, three or four other rock musicians. So they were playing songs from the Grateful Dead along with the symphony, the Berkeley Symphony. So the symphony was in the back of the stage and then here were these rock musicians in the front, and this is kind of an unusual combination, mixing rock music with the symphony, because the symphony is usually classical music.

Okay, so then next AJ says, “Was it like a jamband concert?” So when he says jamband, he’s saying was the band…did they play spontaneously? A jamband is a band that plays spontaneously, meaning they don’t plan out their concerts.

Then I say, “They didn’t go off and jam.” So what I mean by that is they weren’t playing spontaneously.

They were not playing spontaneously. They didn’t go off and jam.

And then I say, “There were so many opportunities that they could have just gone off.” So just gone off: again meaning they could, there were so many opportunities they could have just gone off and played more spontaneously.

And then I say, “They don’t improvise at all.” Improvise means play spontaneously so I was saying they don’t play spontaneously at all. They don’t improvise at all.

And then Joe says, “We had certain expectations for the show.” Expectations meaning your hopes and desires.

And then Joe says, “It was a new approach because there was a symphony playing behind them.” So when he says it was a new approach, he’s saying it was a new style.

And then Joe says, “He is the godfather of the jamband genre.” So godfather here means he’s the one who started jamband music. And genre means style.

Then AJ says, “I feel Phish is a little more on the jazz-rock side.” So Phish: this is the name of a band and again it’s one of Joe’s favorite bands. I like them, too.

Then Joe says, “And the term jamband.” Term here means jamband, and the word jamband.

And then Joe says, “That was never even made up I think until like the 1980s.” So when he says it was never even made up, he’s saying it didn’t come into existence.

And then Joe says, “It would sound drastically different.” Drastically meaning very, it would sound very different.

And then Joe says, “The song is just a vehicle to deliver a long jam.” So vehicle here means way. The song is just a way to deliver a long jam.

And then I say, “They don’t understand how, Joe, you can go to a show like three nights in a row.” So in a row, this means in a series without interruption. So it would be, for example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, that would be three nights in a row, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night.

And then I say, “He didn’t get enough the first night?” So get enough, what I mean is he didn’t enjoy it enough the first night?

And then AJ says, “These bands almost always emphasize live concerts.” So emphasize means here give special importance to.

And then Joe says, “Maybe after a week the band’ll go back and play some of the same songs.” So when he says band’ll, what he’s…he’s combining two words, band and will. Maybe after a week the band will go back and play some of the same songs.

And then Joe says, “Because a lot of the times they will segue from one song into another via a jam.” So segue means move without interruption, it’s just a smooth transition.

And then AJ says, “It’s all about these tours and live concerts which is this cool scene.” Cool here means interesting.

And then Joe says, “On regular radio the song has to fit into about a 3-1/2 minute box.” So box here means time period.

And then AJ says, “Yep.” Yep is slang for yes.

And then Joe says, “One different medium in terms of the radio is satellite radio.” So medium here means type.

And then Joe says, “There are a bunch of satellite radio stations that are dedicated solely to playing jamband music.” So when he says there a bunch, he means there are a lot. And when he says dedicated solely, he means committed only, committed only to playing jamband music.

And then AJ says, “It’s freeing us from that tyranny of horrible radio music.” So tyranny means domination. And horrible, what he’s saying is very bad sounding. So it’s freeing us from that domination of very bad sounding radio music. Obviously, AJ doesn’t like regular radio.

And then I say, “A regular band that’s rehearsed.” So what I mean here is a regular band that’s rehearsed, rehearsed meaning planned out. So they’ve practiced everything and they’ve planned out exactly what they’re going to play and they don’t improvise at all so it’s all planned out.

And then I say, “When Joe and I go to another show it’s like 2 hours and they’re done.” So when I say another show, I mean when we go to see a regular band play, not a jamband but a regular band or another kind of band other than a jamband. And when I say it’s like 2 hours and they’re done, I’m saying they play 2 hours and they’re finished, the show is finished, it’s over.

And then I say, “They feed off of each other.” So what I’m saying is, I’m talking about the musicians and the audience, they feed off of each other. So, for example, they…there’s an exchange of feelings and emotions. If the band is playing really fast in an excited way then the audience will usually get really excited. They’ll feel those emotions coming from the band, from the music, and they’ll start to get excited.

And the band then will feel that excitement from the audience and they’ll keep playing in a more excited way and so they’re feeding off of each other.

And then I say, “So as the music is escalating.” Escalating meaning becoming more energetic.

And then I say, “People are dancing more and getting into it.” So getting into it meaning getting more energetic and getting more excited.

And then I say, “The audience is being drawn in more.” So when I say they’re being drawn in more, I’m saying again they’re getting more energetic and more excited. There’s that exchange I was talking about between the band and the audience.

And then Joe says, “There’s a greater intimacy between the band and the audience.” Intimacy means connection.

And then Joe says, “Many people in the audience are coming to see the band play numerous times.” So numerous means many.

Alright, this concludes the vocabulary lesson for the conversation Jambands and I’ll be right back with the commentary.