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M: Hello everyone! And welcome back to another lesson here atEnglishPod! My name

is Marco.

C: And my name is Catherine and today we’re talking about a topic very closed to my

heart – music.

M: That’s right, we’re going to be talking about music and, more specifically, we’re going to

talk about musical instruments that you would use in a band.

C: Alright, 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.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

M: Alright, so as I mentioned, we are going to talk aboutinstruments.

C: Instruments, so you could say musical instruments, but what is an instrument,

generally speaking?

M: Uh, basically, it’s… it’s similar to a tool.

C: Uhu.

M: Right? So an instrument is something that you use to help yourealize a task. In this

case “musical instruments” is more specific, right?

C: Right, so we’re talking about things that you use to make music.

M: Uhu.

C: Um, a piano, for example…

M: Is a musical instrument.

C: Uhu, or the drums.

M: Alright, so this is what we’re gonna be looking at today in the dialogue, so let’s listen to

it for the first time.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Alright, we’re back, so, uh, apparently the band wasn’t really a real band.

C: 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 here.

M: So you also have your own band.

C: I do, well, virtually speaking.

M: Virtually.

C: And I know you do too. Hehe.

M: I do too. Hehe. That’s right, we are both, uh, fans of this, uh… of this game and this, uh,

gaming console and that’s why, well, it’s such a fun dialogue. Um, but let’s take a look at

some of the, uh, language that was used in this dialogue in “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

C: Oh, man, so I’ve been in a lot of, uh, bands and I’ve been in a los… lot of musical

groups, so I can say that the first instrument we wanna talk about is maybe the

most obnoxious…

M: Obnoxious?

C: The most loud…

M: Uuh.

C: And hard to listen to.

M: Probably, probably, and that instrument is the drums.

C: Brum-tschih.

M: Right, so the drums, it’s plural, because you have many drums, right?

C: Right, you don’t just have the dum-dum-dum…

M: Right.

C: The base drum, you have many different drums together and so, we could also call this

a drum set.

M: A drum set.

C: Uhu.

M: Alright, so why don’t we listen to an example of what a drum set sounds like?

Sound of a drum set.

M: Alright, we’re back, so I think that’s clear. Moving on to our next instrument.

C: 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.

M: Right, and that instrument is the guitar.

C: Mm, can you play the guitar?

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

C: Well, this is a really beautiful instrument and there’re many different ways to play it, but

generally, it’s either wooden…

M: Uhu.

C: With some strings; or electric, so it’s plastic with some… some metal strings.

M: Right, exactly, so they have a different sound. Uh, but why don’t we listen to an example

of what a guitar sounds like.

Sound of a guitar.

M: Alright, so great example of a guitar, pretty clear. What’s our next instrument?

C: The bass. And this one, it doesn’t look like the word that’s written B-A-S-S. So we say:

bass.

M: Bass.

C: And, uh, it’s actually very low instrument. It’s usually used to, uh… to help keep the

rhythm: tum-tum-tum-tum-tum-tum-tum.

M: Alright. So it’s similar to a guitar, right?

C: Very.

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

C: Uhu, exactly.

M: Alright, so let’s listen to an example of a bass now.

Sound of a bass.

M: Alright, pretty clear. Moving on to our next word, we have anamplifier.

C: Okay, so amplifier… an amplifier is a thing, it’s usually a box that we plug in, it’s

electric…

M: Uhu.

C: Or it’s electronic and it’s a tool to make electrical instruments like the electro guitar or

the electric bass louder.

M: Right, exactly, so any… an amplifier is any device that makes a sound become louder.

C: Exactly.

M: Alright.

C: Uhu, so this is really important for rock bands the world over.

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

C: Yeah, and it actually goes with the amplifier in many ways, because, uh,

the microphone’s 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 microphones.

M: Exactly, so a microphone. Very good, and we have one last word and this is a verb –

to audition.

C: Alright, to audition, so, uh… to audition means to show someone you talent, alright? So

oftentimes when you start a… a play or an opera or a musical group, you want to have

auditions, you want to audition people to see how m… how much talent they have.

M: Alright, so it’s basically an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and abilities.

C: Exactly.

M: So, a… an… a job interview wouldn’t really be an audition.

C: No, a job interview has its own… it’s own word, but here we’re talking about your singing

ability, your acting ability…

M: Uhu.

C: Your reading ability and, um… sometimes we even have auditions here at…

at EnglishPod to see how people, uh… how comfortablepeople are on the microphone. It’s

a way to… to have people show what they’ve got.

M: Very good. Alright, so a lot of interesting words here, many instruments. I think it’s time

for us to listen to our dialogue again. We’re gonna slow it down a little bit and we’ll be right

back.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Alright, we’re back, so moving on with our lesson, why don’t we take a look now at some

phrases in “fluency builder”?

Voice: Fluency builder.

M: Alright, so on fluency builder we have four phrases. What’s the first one?

C: Well, this first phrase is really important, Marco, because we’re talking about bands and

starting bands and so, there’s often, um, a phrase we use to describe this. We say: to form

a band.

M: Alright, so you form a band.

C: It’s like, um, forming something. To form is to shape it…

M: Uhu.

C: To make it look like something that you want and so, we can form, um, artistic projects

also, but here we’re forming a band – we’re choosing people to bring together to make

great music.

M: Alright, so we can say “form a band” or you can say as well “start a band”.

C: Yeah.

M: Alright. So an… so we’re forming a band and, well, his friend was surprised that the… the

other guy knew how to play an instrument, so he said: I’ve told you a thousand times.

C: Wait, wait, so he told him one thousand times.

M: No, not literally.

C: I play an instrument, I play an instrument, I play an instrument.

M: 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.

C: Great, so, uh, this is something we say when we’re trying to exaggerate like Marco said

or to… to really emphasize the point that like: I’ve told you this before.

M: Right.

C: Um, so mothers often use it. I feel like we talk about mothers a lot here.

M: Hehe.

C: Mothers often use this phrase, um, when kids do something wrong, they say: I’ve told

you a thousand times…

M: Right.

C: Not to wear your shoes in the house.

M: Hehe. Exactly, so it is a great phrase to… to really make your point that you’ve said

something many, many times.

C: Uhu.

M: Uh, 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.

C: By the way. And so, by the way, we keep these words together, it’s a fixed phrase.

M: Uhu.

C: Um, by the way is something we add on, so I’d say: you know, today I went to school

and I saw a lot of people; oh, by the way, John says hi.

M: Mm, alright.

C: Alright, so while I’m talking about this, I wanna add that this thing happened or that this

person said something.

M: Exactly, so it is a… it’s a conjunction, right? To… to put together two different ideas.

C: Uhu.

M: By the way. Or you can start off your sentence with it: by the way, uh, how is the new

house?

C: Yeah, well… cause it’s like… it’s like saying: oh, this thought just came into my head.

M: Exactly.

C: By the way, tah-tah-tah-tah-tah.

M: Right, right. And our last phrase on fluency builder is we are set.

C: Alright, all we need is my Nintendo Wii and we are set.

M: Alright, so what are… what are we set? We are set.

C: Alright, we are set is another one of those phrases that’s fixedand it literally… it

means, um, and we are ready to start, we’re ready to go.

M: And everything is… is ready.

C: Yeah, we don’t need anything else.

M: Alright.

C: And so, uh, Marco, I could say to you: just bring, um… just bring the salad to the table

and we’re set, we’re ready to eat.

M: Alright, and I think we’re set to listen to our dialogue for the last time and, uh, we’ll be

right back and talk a little bit more about this great topic.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Alright, we’re back, so rock band, now, um, I know that you play a real instrument, not

only instruments on Wii.

C: True! Hehe.

M: What do you play?

C: Um, I play the trumpet.

M: Nice.

C: I was classically trained, I started when I was… mm, ten.

M: Now, is this the trumpet that has the three, uh, buttons on top?

C: Yes, three pistons.

M: Pistons.

C: Buttons.

M: Cause there’s another one that doesn’t, right?

C: Um, there’s one that has four pistons.

M: Aha.

C: Um, it’s a piccolo trumpet has four. And, um, there… there’s one that’s large and

it slides in and out…

M: Uh.

C: And that say a trombone.

M: Trombone.

C: It’s much lower.

M: Right, right.

C: Uhu. But the trumpet is kind of a midrange instrument that can go quite high and a little

bit low.

M: Mm.

C: And it’s brass, it’s not wood, it’s made of a metal.

M: Right, it’s a… it looks like gold, right?

C: Right. Tam-tah-rah-rah!

M: Hehe. Alright, so, ah… you play the trumpet. Did you play in a… in a band or in a…?

C: Yeah! I played in…

M: In school or college?

C: In high school… middle school and high school I played in bands and orchestras.

M: Uhu.

C: And in college I played in orchestra and I’ve also played in rock bands, because

sometimes people want to, you know…

M: Have a trumpet in the background.

C: Have a trumpet and… and go a little crazy.

M: 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, uh, 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.

C: Or if you like to play Wii Rock Band, because we certainly do and we can… we can

support you on that one.

M: We could give you some tips.

C: Yeah.

M: Alright, so we’ll see you guys there, until next time…

C: Bye everyone!

M: Bye!

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