How to Talk About Music in English Basic English Phrases
back to our weekly long stream my name
is Alisha and this week we are going to
talk about how to talk about your
favorite music and musicians so this
week we’ll do a lot of basic sentence
and a lot of basic grammar pattern
practice I think we’re loading
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today’s lesson ah let’s see we’re
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loading up there are few people hi
Ashu hello and sushi oh hello there’s
people hello hello I see YouTube
Facebook is coming Instagram is up I
presume sorry I can’t see your comments
live but yes today we’re talking about
how to talk about music and musicians so
today’s lesson will cover three main
points I’m going to talk first about how
to share your favorites how to talk
about your favorite musicians naturally
second we’re going to talk about live
performances and like how to get tickets
like getting tickets and talking about
live performances and finally we’ll talk
about your experiences a little bit so
that’s a lot to do today I see lots of
people in the YouTube chat now hi
everybody Vale son and black cow and I’m
at and hey Lia and Wellington and Allen
and Santiago and our Facebook great
Facebook gets up now - hi everybody on
Facebook William Karolina Omar hello
everybody great thank you very much for
coming as always I will wait another
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good so as I said today we’re gonna talk
about music so let’s get started I see
lots of people are here now fantastic so
I’m going to share the video and then I
am going to start today’s lesson so
we’re going to begin today by talking
about your favorite so I want to share
some very simple patterns actually for
talking about your favorite artists and
your favorite musicians and just give
you a couple of reminders about how to
make sure you always sound natural so
let’s begin with just this very simple
pattern a very simple pattern it is
musician or band so I have these two
words here musician and band to refer to
like one person as a musician like one
artist one single person and a band as a
group of people so because we’re talking
about one person or a group of people we
need to think about this for grammar
purposes so when you use musician like a
single person you’ll use musician is my
favorite my favorite so often times we
don’t say like my favorite artist or my
favorite singer or something we just say
my favorite so for example Lady Gaga is
my favorite that’s fine it’s very clear
lady gaga is your favorite artist or
your favorite singer usually in the
conversation if however your favorite is
a band meaning it’s a group of people
you’ll use band especially like if the
band name is plural like it ends in an S
you’ll use band are my favorite so for
example the chainsmokers this is like a
plural right the chainsmokers are my
favorite or the Foo Fighters are my
favorite so when you’re using a band
name that has this s it’s the plural
form you need to change your grammar as
well the chainsmokers are my favorite so
make sure your grammar matches the title
of the band too so that’s an important
point so in the chat send along who is
your favorite who is your favorite which
artist or which band is your favorite
Instagram I can’t see you like but you
can send them so your other your other
viewers can see so send your favorite in
the chat I will try to check live in the
meantime if you want to be specific if
you want to be specific about a band you
can use a pattern like this something
something is my favorite band so in this
case we can use is because we’re using
the word band here so we’re talking
about bands specifically BTS is my
favorite band so here in this pattern we
are not including the word band at the
end of the sentence
here we are so it’s okay to use this
because this is singular band is
singular hmm okay
some people are sending some examples
the Beatles are my favorite yes the
Beatles are my favorite the Beatles are
my favorite if you use this pattern the
Beatles mate is my favorite band you’re
using the word band
describe that you’ll use is Lana Del Rey
is my favorite musician good Bon Jovi is
my favorite very nice okay
Billie Eilish is my favorite good okay
BTS is my favorite band nice very nice
cult do that perfect dika is my favorite
band I don’t know that one t-rex and the
third is that a real band okay 50 cent
was my favorite when I was younger nice
one nice one so past tense 50 cent was
my favorite when I was younger nice one
nice past tense when someone says you
are my favourite teacher that’s cool
okay Edie Sheeran is my favorite
musician nice Nine Inch Nails is my
favorite band perfect very nice Coldplay
is my favorite band
perfect perfect great examples Allen
Walker is my favorite I don’t know Allen
Walker okay ah hello to everyone saying
hello still good okay I think you guys
got it nice one nice one so let’s
continue then with after these patterns
how do you talk about like genres so
this is another keyword for today genre
this word can you see it genre it’s uh
it’s GE n ar e sorry my writings a
little messy this is pronounced genre
genre it makes that judgeth sound so not
like John do so or not like gun was
nothing like that the pronunciation is
John rough genre so genre means type of
something type of thing so like type of
music category of music for example rock
or pop hip-hop how soul jazz so that’s a
genre genre so you can use this simple
pattern to explain your favorite
musician or your favorite band or your
favorite genre so there’s a slash here
so you can say I like musician I like
band or I like I love
genre for example I love Janelle Monae
I love Janelle Monae that’s an artist in
this case for a genre I like rock I like
rock some people are writing my favorite
genre is R&B that’s good too very nice
very nice so try to name your favorite
genre as well what is your favorite
genre my favorite genres are probably
house and classical lately it’s kind of
weird anyway uh so what are your
favourite genres of music okay I like
R&B I loved EDM says someone on Facebook
very nice
ACDC is my favorite band good someone
says I like jazz cool
I like kpop very nice okay I left
rockabilly interesting interesting there
are quite a few different I wasn’t sure
what kind of music everybody listened to
I like pop says another person very nice
very nice
okay good sounds good I like bossa nova
oh yeah me too I like bossa nova as well
that’s great all right smooth jazz is my
favorite smooth jazz is my favorite so
someone Antonia on YouTube used a
different pattern here
they used genre is my favorite so you
can totally do that that’s fine
genre you can put that here genre is my
favorite perfectly okay to do that genre
is my favorite furnace other ones I like
rock and j-pop good I love rock pop and
jazz good and there I like industrial
metal what does that sound like I can’t
imagine that I like hip-hop pop are you
listening to industrial metal back there
I saw you shaking your head okay
something says DJ Kawasaki is my
favorite Wow shout out to DJ kawasaki in
the live stream that’s pretty funny okay
um
alright let’s move on then we’re about
11 minutes in so let’s take a quick
break
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I was going to show you the music one I
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I don’t know okay maybe I can show later
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let me grab it and I’ll show it this one
time so I’m talking about you can’t see
it on the webcam today on the back of
this there’s one here there’s this it
says singing in English yes but it’s not
about just singing on the back right
here is a list of genres in English list
of genres so we just talked in the chat
like pop hip hop house music R&B techno
funk rap all of that is here so is this
pattern and other patterns are on this
part so if you want to practice phrases
like these from today’s lesson please
check out this PDF be singing in English
PS o ki dokie did someone says I don’t
have a printer you don’t have to print
it out it’s a PDF so you can save it to
your computer or save it to your phone
so you don’t have to print
okay let’s continue on to the next part
the next part of today’s lesson if
you’re just joining us today’s lesson is
about talking about musicians we’re
talking about musicians and now we’re
going to talk about concerts so if you
have not already please make sure to
like and share the video so others can
find it okay let’s move on then to part
two part two I want to focus on live
performances live performances so please
note in English in American English
anyway when we talk about live
performances we use the word concert
concert so I know some in some cases
maybe in some languages it’s common to
use the word just live to talk about
something like I saw that artists life
but we don’t use that word in in English
we use a concert so first let’s talk
about getting tickets for a concert we
use this expression to get tickets to
get tickets yes you can use buy tickets
I want to buy tickets or I need to buy
tickets more casually I feel in everyday
conversation we use get tickets I want
to get tickets past tense I got tickets
so for example I want to get Katy Perry
tickets I want to get Katy Perry tickets
so this is a very simple pattern place
the artist or the band name before
tickets so here to get right here is
where your artist name goes to the
artist name so I want to get Katy Perry
tickets or I couldn’t get tickets is
another thing you can use this is past
tense couldn’t I was not able to I
couldn’t get to Katy Perry tickets so
use the artist name before tickets here
I could be specific I couldn’t get katy
perry tickets is how I would make this
in the negative so to get tickets please
use this to talk about tickets for live
performances okay so with that once you
get tickets you buy tickets I got
tickets to see Katy Perry I got Katy
Perry tickets you can use a pattern like
this to talk about your plans so I’m
going to the musician concert a couple
points here there’s small points yes
first is this that I’m going to the
musician or band again concert so why
why do we use that here it’s because
usually in your city like at that time
there’s just one concert from that
artist like there’s maybe like one
weekend only or like one night only to
see that artist so we use the I’m going
to the Rihanna concert so there’s just
one this sounds quite natural actually
another pattern you can use is I’m going
to musicians or artists or band or
whatever I’m going to musicians concert
is also okay here the point is this
apostrophe s possessive form so I’m
going to Rihanna’s concert in that
pattern know the know that I’m going to
Rihanna’s concert okay I’m going to the
Rihanna concert both of those are fine
they communicate the same idea alright
some examples are coming in I want to
get Adele tickets very nice other ones
on YouTube I want to get Coldplay
tickets good okay someone says I
couldn’t get Bruno Mars tickets okay I
got a temporary job just to see the show
Wow that’s intense
others I went to Avicii’s concert in
Tomorrowland oh okay cool
the article used to refer to something
yes that’s correct
I want to see Justin Bieber in concert
ah okay yeah lots of different tastes
for sure I got Paul McCartney tickets
several times however they were sky-high
expensive yeah for sure Paul McCartney
is probably a pretty expensive artist my
parents are going to see you Paul
McCartney that’s true okay someone says
I like the Rolling Stones good nice
example is everybody okay let’s move
along then to this other pattern this
other concert related pattern I’m gonna
see Rihanna tonight I’m gonna see
Rihanna tonight so this pattern it
sounds like maybe you’re going to you
this is the pattern you might use with
your friends like I’m going to see my
friend tonight or I’m going to see my
parents tonight but for concerts and for
like live performances with really
famous performers it’s natural to use
this pattern too and we understand
they’re not probably your friend we
understand you’re just going to their
concert so I’m gonna see Rihanna tonight
that’s also okay to use it sounds a
little more casual okay onward so if you
want to talk about the artists
performance so like after the
performance you want to report to your
friends or to your family or something
what the performance was like was it
good was it bad what did you think so
here you can use the musician or band
whatever Plus was or were again this
depends on is a single artist is it one
person or is it the group of people and
then you can choose an adjective that
you like here
my suggestion is a May
amazing you can use incredible awesome
so good
for example Bruno Mars was so good Bruno
Mars was so good so here I’m using was
this Bruno Mars is one guy single person
he’s alone well with his group you know
dancers and so on but we’ll use Bruno
Mars was so good and you can extend that
so sound was so good so that’s quite
natural another word that you might not
know is this one unreal unreal here I
have Beyonce is unreal Beyonce is unreal
so unreal means they’re so good it seems
like it’s not real life so Beyonce is
unreal or Bruno Mars is unreal so it’s
so amazing it’s so good it’s like wow
this person is not like part of reality
it’s amazing Beyonce is unreal okay I
don’t see you Facebook Facebook what’s
going on oh I’m going to the Taylor
Swift concert says Gloria cool alright
other examples someone says I am unreal
I am real I’m real in fact alright the
last point here is if you want to talk
about an artist’s live performance
before the performance you can use this
pattern it is I here musician or band is
or are amazing live live so this means
I’ve heard or I hear now that this band
or this group sounds really really good
in their live performances this is the
pattern we use so I hear Beyonce is
amazing live or I hear the Rolling
Stones are amazing live so this live
shows the live performances specifically
what you’re talking about live
performances
okay good um let’s take one more break
then I think yeah before I go to the
last one if it’s okay I guess I can just
show this this time okay so I showed a
couple of things earlier about the free
stuff that we have as always the free
PDFs you can download I showed this
earlier and I talked about a couple
things on the back of it if you didn’t
see it it’s this it says singing in
English this PDF but on the back is a
lot of information like what I’m talking
about in this lesson at the top here is
genres categories the second part is
talking about your favorite kinds of
music this part I talked about here and
at the bottom it’s hard to see but we’ve
talked about a lot of them it’s like
famous artists famous musical groups so
if you want to like listen to some
artists that are really popular in
english-speaking countries you can take
a look at this list we’ve talked about a
lot of them Taylor Swift somebody
mentioned Taylor Swift I talked about
Lady Gaga somebody mentioned fifty Cent
that’s on here to Michael Jackson Elvis
Presley someone mentioned in the chat
too so you can take a look at this and
you can also on the front if you’re
interested in music in general take a
look at the vocabulary words for
specific instruments so all the
instruments in bands that make music so
check this out you can find this from
the link below the video on youtube or
above the video on Facebook check it out
alright let’s continue to the last part
of today’s lesson the last part of
today’s lesson is a little bit open for
you to send some examples in the chat
lastly today I want to talk about your
experiences with music your favorite
music or with your favorite bands or
with live performances so at the
beginning of today’s lesson a lot of you
sent like
your favorite musician who your favorite
musician is so sometimes you want to
talk about the first time you saw a
musician live this is how we do that so
I saw artist or musician or band for the
first time when I was age or when I was
in school so for example uh I saw let’s
see I saw the first band I saw I don’t
know if anybody knows then this is true
I don’t know if anybody remembers Hanson
yeah yeah panthan was my first concert
so in my case I would say I saw this is
a true story I saw Hanson for the first
time and last time for the first time
when I was I think about eleven when I
was eleven years old I think I was 11
years old yeah I liked Hanson when I was
little
that’s true so this is how we express
our first concerts so I said - I saw
Hanson the band in this case Hanson was
the band name I used for the first time
so this expression kind of implies this
expression suggests a little bit that I
saw them again in this case I didn’t see
them a second time I saw Hanson live one
time so if you’re like a super fan of an
artist and you’ve seen the artist many
times you can use this if you only saw
the artist like once you can use a
slightly different pattern which is
sorry which is my first
concert was in my case Hansen I was 11
years old something like that so this
shows like the first concert you went to
in this case Hansen was my first concert
so my first concert was artists my first
concert was band name okay some examples
are coming in
I saw Muse for the first time when I was
a mty City what does that mean Muse yeah
I used to listen to music chilly when I
was in high school I listened to music
you listen to music yeah yeah alright
nice one umm Tolson never heard of that
I Hansen handsome they were popular in
the 90s for a song called
Bop that was very popular among little
girls like me I think cuz they were very
cheerful and happy yeah yeah fun times
okay uh other examples I saw Linkin Park
for the first time when I was 9 years
old
whoa you saw Linkin Park when you were 9
wow that’s crazy
ok I saw Chris Brown for the first time
in Kenya when I was 25 he crashed a fans
phone at the airport for asking for a
selfie really oh that’s so mean
Oh oh my gosh ok Wow my first concert
was New Kids on the Block whoa New Kids
on the Block yeah yeah someone says I
saw mr. children for the first time when
I was 15 ah a Japanese fan perhaps
okay mr. children is a popular Japanese
band I saw Elkhart bell they sent out
when I was 18 years old very nice good
examples everybody this is really
interesting we have such different
tastes in music let’s see I saw
Metallica for the first time when I was
10 years old when I was 10 years old
okay
hello this is the person who just said
it below hello
okay good oh I got deleted okay let’s go
to the last point for today the last
point for today is about albums so the
first CD you bought or maybe if you’re
like me the first tape viewbot or maybe
the first record you bought so how do
you express that how do you talk about
that you can use this pattern this is
the first album I ever bought was
musicians album so my true example I’ve
talked about this on this channel before
the first I’ll use CD the first CD so
I’m changing album to CD here you can
use tape or record or whatever the first
CD I ever bought was Michael Jackson’s
this is true because it’s true I
remember it Michael Jackson’s bad ok so
two points about this pattern one it’s
hard to see sorry this the end of the
artist name has a has this possessive at
the end apostrophe s because this album
right here belongs to the musician so
the album name the CD title is bad it
belongs to the artist so we use the
possessive form here the first CD I ever
bought was Michael Jackson’s bad the
first tape I ever bought was Alanis
Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill also
true really YouTube no no good so this
is how we express the first something
the first piece of music that we ever
bought
Aaliyah says the first one she bought
was Michael Jackson’s Thriller nice one
nice one
other ones a couple of examples the
first album really the first album you
ever bought was Michael Jackson’s
dangerous no way alright that’s cool
Damien says the first album I ever
bought was oops I did it again my
Britney Spears really no really that’s
interesting okay
other one the first CD I ever bought was
the Beatles with the Beatles what’s that
I don’t know the first CD I ever bought
was a Vanessa Mays album okay nice I
don’t know who Vanessa me is I don’t
know that much about many different
music types I guess on Facebook Russia
Anna says the first tape I bought was
Celine Dion when I was nine years old
Wow yeah Celine Dion so the first tape I
bought the first tape I bought good
other ones Cali AB on Facebook says the
first CD I bought was Abraham’s album I
don’t know who that is cool but nice
very nice the first uh TV CD maybe I
ever bought was jay-z’s foreveryoung Wow
okay good lots of people there saying
Michael Jackson - okay we’re not alone
alright fantastic nice example so make
sure that you use this apostrophe s in
front of the album name if you remember
it if you don’t remember it you can use
the pattern some other people are using
so the first tape I ever bought was
Celine Dion that’s fine too
you can use that as well okay but we
have to finish there for today that was
a lot of fun thanks everybody for
sharing your examples we have such
different music tastes let’s cool though
alright we’ll finish there for today so
next week we will be back with a
different topic next week we’ll talk
about something many of you have asked
about I’m going to cover the Holy
Trinity the trifecta of regret that’s
not my phrasing someone else’s phrasing
could have would have and should have
I’m going to talk about using could have
would have and should have those three
it’s going to be a lot for next week’s
lesson but I hope that it’s helpful so
many of you have asked about these
things
we’re going to cover these three topics
in next week’s live stream which will be
June 26th Wednesday June 26th at 10:00
p.m. Eastern Standard Time that’s New
York City time if you don’t know it in
your time please google it so we’re
going to talk about should have could
have and would have we use these to talk
about regrets so please join us to learn
how to use these with greater skill yeah
so that will be next week Wednesday and
then in the meantime yeah for sure pick
up the stuff that I showed you earlier
the free downloads I’m focusing today on
the music one but of course as always
there’s lots of other stuff to check out
too so lots of other topics as well so
find everything from the link below the
video on youtube or above the video on
we’ll finish there so thank you so much
to everyone for liking and sharing
today’s video we really appreciate it
and thank you for all of your great
example sentences enjoy the rest of your
week enjoy your weekend and I will see
you again soon bye bye