📕 Part 1: Music

How often do you listen to music?

Probably every day. I think I've always got something on if I'm walking to the shops or to the gym, just to fill the time getting to places. It's also nice to have on in the background at parties.

Is there any kind of music you really don't like?

I'm not a huge fan of opera to be honest. It just doesn't appeal to me at all. Some short pieces are quite engaging, but I'm not sitting for hours listening to the whole thing, just because I don't think that's a good use of my time.

Have you ever been to a live music concert?

Not for a couple of years now. They were part of larger performances at a music festival I went to in London. But I've always really liked how the atmosphere there and the performers could get everyone's attention despite the wider events happening around them. It's kind of pricey to go to such things these days though, so I usually just watch them from the comfort of my own home, if at all.

Would you like to learn to play a musical instrument?

I quite fancy the idea of learning to play the guitar or drums, but I'm not sure I have the money or the time for that, let alone the patience. They're pretty resource intensive hobbies and I'm invested in other things, so it's not possible. Not in the immediate future, at least.

Hey, dear listener, music. So we listen to music.

Everybody always says listen music, and I have to keep saying it's listen to music.

Why? Because it's English. It's the same as wait for me. It's always wait for. Wait for it, wait for me, wait for the podcast to come out. Listen to music. It depends on. So kind of dependent prepositions, dear listener, we just need to remember them. Why? Because. Yeah, even Rory doesn't know why. So, listen to music, it depends on the weather, wait for me. But, tell him. Tell him, tell me without any prepositions. Strange. So how often? Again, a typical question, how often? Every day, every week, regularly, all the time. Maybe you listen to music all the time. Every hour, every minute, you listen to something. And Rory tells us that I always have something on. So, in my headphones, inside my head, I always have something on if I'm walking, if I'm working, if I'm shopping, if I'm working out, so I always have something on. So meaning I have music playing. Just to fill the time. So to fill the time, I listen to music. When I go to work, I always have something on. It's also nice to have music in the background. In the background, you know, you play some jazz, some lounge music, yeah, heavy metal. So, it's nice to have something on in the background at parties, for example. Kind of music. So genres of music. What kind of music you dislike, don't like. And Rory paraphrases the question. He says, I'm not a huge fan of opera.

I am not a huge fan of opera.

Rory, what's going on with you and opera? Italian, you know, opera, this beautiful...

I just don't want to sit for hours listening to something, that's all. I like individual arias that last a few minutes maybe, but a whole opera, sitting there for hours, no.

For four hours? No, not your thing.

No, absolutely not. Do you do this?

You know, once I've done it, it was four hours and I was half dead at the end of the third hour.

So Maria obviously enjoyed that.

Yeah, but I do enjoy an Italian opera. Two, two, three hours, I can do it. I can't remember a single Italian opera I like.

Even I can remember the arias that I like. I like the one from Madame Butterfly and Magic Flute.

No, but there's one opera. Oh yeah, La Traviata. Yes, I do love La Traviata. A story about love that's beautiful, La Traviata. That's in Italian, yes. Madame Butterfly is another one. And actually also about love. Yes, there we go, dear listener. Opera. So you can say, I'm not a huge fan of heavy metal, I'm not a huge fan of pop music. I'm not a huge fan of classical music. This kind of music doesn't appeal to me. Rock music doesn't appeal to me. Pop music doesn't appeal to me. Appeal? If something appeals to you, you like it. Italian opera appeals to me. It draws me, I like it. Yeah, appeal as a formal request but we are using it in a different context. So kind of to interest or attract someone. Oh this course appeals to me. I like it. I'm interested in it. It is attractive. I don't like listening to music for hours. For example, if it's an opera or classical music. What do you think are the most popular music genres, Rory, these days?

Probably pop music and rock music.

Maybe. Yeah. Absolutely. Rock music, pop music, hip hop, rap is also quite popular. So hip hop, rap, pop music, rock music, then we have country music, Latin music, dance, electronic music. Yeah, it's pretty popular. So these are the most popular genres, dear listener. So you can kind of say, yeah, I'm a huge fan of rap, pop music, rock music, but I don't enjoy electronic music, for example.

And what are you a huge fan of?

Oh, you know, I don't have one genre. Depends on my mood, Rory, I like rock, I can listen to pop, I can listen to Latin music. I enjoy tango because I dance tango so I do love tango music. Tango Nuevo as well. Classical Tango music. So I enjoy reading the lyrics. I study the lyrics, the meaning of the words. So yeah.

That's great to be so invested in a hobby.

Yes. Invested in a hobby. But I do love classical music. So I can listen to Beethoven, Mozart. Absolutely. Yep. I love it. La Traviata. There we go. I've been to a live music concert recently. So I've been to a live concert. Oh, I've never been to a live concert. It's live concert, not live. And once I went to a live concert. Or I went to a live concert a year ago. Or I've been to a Beyonce concert, for example. A Shakira, there we go.

Shakira is quite lovely.

Yeah, you can say I don't usually go to live concerts. They can be quite small, some live concerts at pubs, clubs, local bands. So maybe you went to a music festival and you went to some live show. A live performance, a live concert or a live show. Show could be a concert, I don't know, a podcast, everything could be a show, stand-up comedy is also a show. I really like the atmosphere, performers...

getting attention.

Yeah. Getting attention, you mean when performers, when singers get all everyone's attention, yeah? Yeah, they perform. They have super clothes on that attract us. But these days it's kind of pricey to go to such things, so it's pricey, it's quite expensive.

It costs a lot.

Costs a lot. Yeah, to go to a Beyonce show, Kanye West for example. It's also pretty expensive. So I prefer to watch them from the comfort of my own home. So if you do something at home, don't say, yeah, I watch it at home. It's boring. Say, I watch it from the comfort of my own home. So from the comfort, comfort, comfortable, of my own home. So I watch it from the comfort of my own home. Yeah, there we go.

But it's not often I do this, so I say, if at all, which is if ever.

Okay, let's Google most popular concerts, live. Hilary Duff is touring. Jonas Brothers. Oh, I don't know these people.

You don't know who Hilary Duff is?

No, I don't.

Maria.

I'm horrible. Okay, I'm Googling, I'm Googling. But dear listener, you may also not know. Do you know Hilary Duff? Wait, okay. Hilary Duff, okay. Right. American singer, right. I'm going to listen to Hilary Duff. Oh, Lady Gaga, there we go. Lady Gaga is touring. So if you say someone is touring, they are giving live concerts. The Weekend. Bad Bunny. Okay. Shakira, there we go. Shakira is touring. Yeah, dear listener. So, just drop a few names. Hilary Duff, Shakira, that would be enough.

That'll be enough to get you a band nine.

Oh yeah, kind of, because the examiner may not know Hilary Duff. And then you drop a name like Hilary Duff and then you look at the examiner and the examiner goes.

You mean you don't know who Hilary Duff is? Oh.

Oh wow, she has 28 million followers on Instagram. That's nice. I'd like to play a musical instrument, for example. So to play a musical instrument, to play the guitar, to play the drums. So it's the guitar. And you can say I quite fancy the idea of learning the guitar. Fancy, in this context means I like. I like the idea of learning the guitar. I quite fancy the idea of learning the guitar or the drums. But I'm not sure when I'll do it. I'm not sure if I have the money for it. I'm not sure if I have the time for it. I don't have patience. And it's quite intense. So if you start learning the guitar, it's quite intense, you need to invest a lot of time, effort. And I'm invested in other things. So I spend time on yoga, on life, on sleeping, on podcasting. So, not in the immediate future, you can say, dear listener. Not soon. I'd like to do this, but not in the immediate future. Or you can say, I know how. I can play the guitar or I can play the drums, or dear listener, you can lie. You can say, oh yeah, I can play the flute. So if I had to choose another musical instrument, you can talk about some other musical instruments. If I had to choose another musical instrument, I'd go for a violin, for example. Or, I don't know, what strange musical instruments do we have?

The oboe, the didgeridoo.

Oh, there we go. There we go. So googling musical instruments, we want to be interesting for the examiner, dear listener, remember? So don't say piano, everybody says piano. So we need to pick a musical instrument that's interesting.

Oh, I picked the guitar or the drums, sorry.

No, you're boring. Right. So...

However, I made up for it by talking about different things that would stop me from doing that. So I'm not sure I have the money or the time and then let alone the patience.

Yeah. So maybe I'd like to learn to play bongo. Or play the bongo, right? The article. The Bongo drums or the bongos. The Bongo drums. Yeah, bongos. So play the bongos. They're a nice, cute drums. Or to play the oboe. Yeah, so we can play the clarinet, the oboe or play the Bongo drums. Something interesting. No, but these words are enough, you know, for your musical instruments vocabulary.

And if not, you could be invested in other things, which is just another way of saying you're focused on other things.

Right, dear listener. And now we have a joke.

I thought the joke was you not knowing who Hilary Duff was.

Nah, no, it was just the first joke to prepare you for the final joke of this episode. Right. Dear listener, what type of music are balloons afraid of?

Pop music.

Balloons go pop when they explode and if a balloon is afraid, it doesn't want to explode. So pop music is something they will be afraid of. You're welcome, dear listener. Now you can crack jokes during the exam. We'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye.

Bye.