🎵 Music Vocabulary

Part 1: Music Collocations

Collocations are words that naturally go together. Master these to talk about music like a pro!

Collocation	Example	Meaning
listen to music	"I love listening to music."	Hear and enjoy music
play an instrument	"She plays the piano."	Make music with instrument
write a song	"He writes songs for a living."	Compose music
release an album	"They released a new album."	Publish music collection
download music	"I download music from Spotify."	Get music digitally
turn up the volume	"Turn up the volume!"	Make music louder

Collocation	Example
live music	"I prefer live music to recorded."
classical music	"She loves classical music."
catchy tune	"That's a really catchy tune!"
hit song	"It became a hit song."
background music	"They play background music in the cafe."

1. I love to music while I work.

2. She the guitar beautifully.

3. They a new album last month.

4. That's a really tune!

5. Can you turn the volume?

Idioms are expressions with meanings different from the literal words. These music idioms are super common!

Face the music - Accept consequences
"You made a mistake, now face the music."
Music to my ears - Very pleasant to hear
"That's music to my ears!"
Ring a bell - Sound familiar
"Does that name ring a bell?"
Change your tune - Change your opinion
"He changed his tune when he saw the evidence."
Play it by ear - Improvise, decide as you go
"Let's play it by ear and see what happens."
Strike a chord - Resonate emotionally
"Her story struck a chord with me."
Blow your own trumpet - Boast about yourself
"I don't like to blow my own trumpet."
For a song - Very cheaply
"I bought this car for a song!"

1. You need to face the .

2. That's music to my !

3. Does that ring a ?

4. Let's play it by .

5. He changed his quickly.

Phrasal verbs are verbs combined with prepositions or adverbs that create new meanings!

Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
turn up	Increase volume	"Turn up the music!"
turn down	Decrease volume	"Can you turn down the radio?"
sing along	Sing with music	"Everyone sang along to the song."
warm up	Practice before performance	"The band is warming up backstage."
tune in	Listen to radio/show	"Tune in to our show tonight!"
jam out	Play music informally	"Let's jam out this weekend!"
rock out	Play/enjoy rock music energetically	"We rocked out all night!"
belt out	Sing loudly	"She belted out the national anthem."

Turn up/down - Very common for volume control

Sing along - Usually followed by "to" or "with"

Belt out - Informal, means sing with power and emotion

1. up the music, please!

2. Everyone along to the song.

3. The band is up backstage.

4. in to our radio show!

5. She out the song beautifully.

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