📘 Part 3: Music

This episode's vocabulary

Subversive (adjective) – intended to challenge or undermine authority or tradition. → Punk music was once considered highly subversive.

Mainstay (noun) – the most important or central part of something. → Pop music is still the mainstay of the charts.

Charts (noun) – official lists showing the most popular songs or albums. → Her single reached the top of the charts last week.

Pop music (noun) – a genre of popular music with catchy melodies and simple lyrics. → Pop music is especially loved by teenagers.

Hip-hop (noun) – a style of popular music with rhythmic speech and beats. → Hip-hop originated in the Bronx in the 1970s.

R&B (noun) – rhythm and blues, a style combining soul, pop, and hip-hop influences. → Modern R&B often mixes electronic sounds with smooth vocals.

Have bigger fish to fry (idiom) – to have more important things to do. → I can’t worry about that now — I have bigger fish to fry.

Cultural institution (noun) – an organization that promotes culture, such as museums or orchestras. → Supporting cultural institutions helps preserve national heritage.

Infrastructure (noun) – basic systems and structures a country needs to function. → The city’s infrastructure needs serious improvement.

Manual dexterity (noun) – skill in using your hands. → Playing the piano improves children’s manual dexterity.

Read music (phrase) – to understand written musical notation. → Learning to read music makes it easier to play different instruments.

Alternative income stream (noun phrase) – another source of money besides one’s main job. → Teaching guitar lessons became his alternative income stream.

Of the era (phrase) – typical or characteristic of a certain time period. → The fashion in that photo is very of the era.

Resonate with (phrasal verb) – to create a feeling of connection or understanding. → Her songs resonate with people who have faced similar struggles.

Death metal (noun) – a heavy and aggressive subgenre of rock music. → Death metal features growling vocals and fast drumming.

Melody (noun) – a sequence of musical notes that are pleasing to hear. → The melody of that song is so catchy.

Genre (noun) – a category of art, music, or literature. → Jazz is my favorite musical genre.

Beat (noun) – the regular rhythm of a piece of music. → The DJ dropped a strong beat that got everyone dancing.

Lyrics (noun) – the words of a song. → The lyrics of that ballad are very emotional.

Encore (noun) – an additional performance at the end of a concert. → The audience clapped for an encore after the final song.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What kind of music do young people like?

Rory: Oh God, I've no idea these days. Based on my experience, I think it's probably something loud, fast, and probably subversive, since those are things that young people seem to like in general. Of course, they could like other things, but I suspect that those things are the mainstay.

Maria: What kind of music is popular in your country?

Rory: I don't really check the charts, to be honest, but I suppose the same things that are popular in other Western countries, so pop music, variations of rock and hip-hop or R&B. That's what I tend to hear being played all the time, at least.

Maria: Do you think the government should invest more money in concerts?

Rory: I think that the government has bigger fish to fry, to be honest. It's, of course, important to support cultural institutions, but it's hard to see a concert if the infrastructure of the country is falling apart, which is very much the case here. So they would be better off focusing on those things instead of concerts.

Maria: What are the benefits of children learning a musical instrument?

Rory: Well, it's probably good for their manual dexterity, as well as giving them the ability to read music and follow a conductor or a beat, at least. I suppose it could also give them an alternative income stream in the long run.

Maria: What are the differences between young people's and old people's preferences in music?

Rory: I imagine they'll be very “of the era” when they were young. By that, I mean old people will probably prefer the music they grew up with, since it's what they're used to and what resonates with them and their lives. The same will likely be true for young people. I certainly hope that's true, because it means there will be old people listening to things like death metal when they are older, which sounds extremely entertaining to me.

Discussion

Maria: You can react to the question naturally, and if you don't know, say you don't know. For example, based on my own experience, considering my own experience, I think it's probably something loud, fast, pop music, subversive. So young people like something subversive. It's like, what kind of music is subversive?

Rory: Well, anything that transgresses social norms, I think, is probably the best way to look at it.

Maria: Subversive means trying to destroy or damage something. Subversive ideas, like destroying ideas, subversive influences.

Rory: Are you a subversive influence?

Maria: Very much. I just change people, for the better. Even if they don't want to, they just change for the better. They start shining because I give joy, love, and a lot of goodness.

Rory: And you're very modest.

Maria: Yeah, also to you, when you listen to my voice, it's just pure goodness and happiness. Do you feel it? Yes, good. Good energy, good vibes into your ears. Rory, what's a mainstay?

Rory: A mainstay is just something that is quite common, or people usually have in a specific situation. So subversive music would be a mainstay of most young people's playlists, I would imagine.

Maria: And if we Google what music young people like, Google says that's pop, hip-hop, and rap. But seriously, that's just, you know, it depends where. Some young people enjoy rock, country music, you know. Electronic music is quite popular, you know. On Quora, for example, they have a question like, What kind of music do young people listen to nowadays? One of the answers: As a 14-year-old teenager, I feel as I'm quite qualified to answer this question, so...

Rory: What a mature 14-year-old.

Maria: I personally listen to an unhealthy amount of Panic. Panic is a band, or what?

Rory: Oh, Panic at the Disco, I think, is what they mean.

Maria: I also listen to a very unhealthy amount of metal, goth, and metalcore. So that's like subversive music. But also rock, pop-punk, like Imagine Dragons. So my favourite genres. Pop-punk, alternative rock, metal, rock-indie. You see? Like very different genres.Interesting. So I think this answer is pretty much a very good answer. It got almost 200,000 likes. So we believe it.

Rory: Thank you, random 14-year-old on the internet.

Maria: Thank you, thank you so much. So just let's steal these genres. If you don't know what music is popular in your country, you can say, I don't really check the charts. So we have musical charts. So I don't really check the charts, to be honest. But I guess that classical music, pop music, rock, hip-hop, and R&B are quite popular. And these are the genres that tend to be played all the time. So people play such music all the time. The government has bigger fish to fry.

Rory: Yes, they have more important things to worry about. I think the government has more important things to worry about.

Maria: So have bigger or have other fish to fry. Have something more important to do. I've got bigger fish to fry. So we don't have an article. I want to use an article here to have a bigger fish to fry.

Rory: Well, it could be. But that would be like a very specific thing they need to do. So it would be like they've got a bigger fish to fry. And then the economy is a disaster, for example. I think that might be a bit better. But it's probably better just to say bigger fish to fry in general. Because it's not just the economy that's a problem. It's a lot of other things.

Maria: You can say that the government should support cultural institutions. So where music is important, right? But not necessarily concerts. And the other question is about children. So, children, what music do children like? Oh la la.

Rory: Oh la la, indeed. I don’t have children, so I have no idea.

Maria: But children are like kids, you know, like five-year-olds, ten-year-olds. Yeah, you can also say I have no idea. They've always liked. Children have always liked, for example. Present Perfect. Things like nursery rhymes. Rory, could you just sing a very simple nursery rhyme? So our listener understands what it means.

Rory: Oh my God. Like Little Bo Peep lost her sheep. There we go.

Maria: For example, how does it go?

Rory: That's it. There are other parts of it. It's a longer nursery rhyme.

Maria: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Rory: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.

Maria: Yeah, so it's a nursery rhyme, a famous nursery rhyme. You can say that children have always enjoyed nursery rhymes and other stuff along those lines. And other stuff like this. Um, I've googled what children enjoy. And they enjoy songs, okay? Disney songs from cartoons. So children usually watch cartoons. So they enjoy Disney songs from films, cartoons, pop music, and classical music with stories. Yes, because children learn from stories. They listen to stories. And just children's, what do you call, like children's songs? Just children's songs? Children's songs.

Rory: Yeah, I don't think there's a word for it. Or if there is, I don't know what it is.

Maria: A musical instrument. Learn a musical instrument or learn to play a musical instrument. Like playing the piano, playing the drums, playing the violin. And it's good for manual dexterity. So when you learn to play a musical instrument, it improves your manual dexterity, which means the ability to use the hands to perform a difficult action skilfully. Manual dexterity. So whatever instrument it is, it does improve your hand-brain coordination, or what do you call it?

Rory: Your hand-eye coordination. Manual dexterity is the ability to move your fingers around with ease. Or how easy it is for you to do that.

Maria: Children also learn how to read music. So how to read notes. Follow a conductor. A conductor is a person who controls an orchestra. And follow a beat. Like a beat. Young people prefer certain genres, while older people might prefer different genres. But again, it's not a rule, right? Older people will probably prefer music they grew up with as children, right? Or maybe like classical music, music that is more difficult to comprehend, to understand. And music that resonates with them and their lives. They have a connection to it. If an experience or memory resonates, it makes you feel an emotional connection. Her experience resonates with me. I feel a connection.

Rory: Or it doesn't resonate with me.

Maria: The same might be true for young people. But there will be old people listening to death metal.

Rory: I think, I really hope that's true.

Maria: This music is just... Do you enjoy death metal? Oh, it's just so intense.

Rory: I thought you were going to say it's just so deadly.

Maria: Right, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for being with us. You're amazing. Keep it up, okay? Sending joy, love, and hugs, okay? Bye!

Rory: Bye!

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