Music

What kind of music do you listen to? What kinds of music do you dislike? Do you prefer listening to music alone or with someone? Does music influence your mood?
Vocabulary
  • Upbeat (adj.) — cheerful; optimistic.
  • Erratic (adj.) — not even or regular in pattern or movement; unpredictable.
  • Tune (noun) — a melody, especially one which characterizes a certain piece of music.
  • To divide attention (verb) — to attend to two different stimuli at the same time, and respond to the multiple demands of your surroundings.
  • Gig (noun) — a live performance by a musician or group playing popular or jazz music.
  • Live concert (noun) — a performance given by one or more singers or instrumentalists or both.
  • To mix up (verb) — to think that one person or thing is another person or thing.
Get exclusive episodes on IELTS Speaking parts 1, 2, and 3
Get exclusive episodes on IELTS Speaking parts 1, 2, and 3
Questions and answers
Maria: Rory, do you like music?

Rory: Doesn’t everybody? I always think it’s funny, when I was doing online dating, you’d see a lot of people on their profiles have something in their bio, like: “I like music”. And I always thought: ”Well done! You like music. You’re not a psychopath.”. I think that’s just a given that everybody likes music.

Maria: You were doing online dating, Rory? ????

Rory: I was doing online dating, yeah. I hope that I’ll never do it again, to be honest with you.

Maria: Back to music. What kind of music do you listen to?

Rory I don’t know… I can listen to just about everything. But I think my favorite kind of music is sort of like “dancey” or upbeat music with, well, with a beat that I can follow, for a lack of a better word.

Maria: What kinds of music do you dislike?

Rory: I really hate… And I’m so sorry for any metal fans who follow us as well, but I really hate heavy metal music. It’s just too loud for me. That or erratic music. My friend Dave makes his own music and the idea is that there’s no tune to follow. At least I think that’s the idea. Sorry, Dave, if you’re listening and I’ve just misdescribed what it is you make, but I’m sure his music is great for people that like it, but I really don’t, because I can’t follow it at all, and I don’t like music that I can’t follow.

Maria: What’s your favorite bands or singer?

Rory: I don’t think I have one. If we think about the kind of music I listen to, sort of stuff by Sia or Sigala is quite nice, but I don’t have a single favorite band or singer.

Maria: Do you prefer listening to music alone or with someone?

Rory: Well, alone, usually, because I’m usually, like, walking to the metro station and I like to listen to music while I do that. And it’s nice because I can follow the beat and I don’t have to divide my attention between having a conversation and listening to music. And it’s always a bit weird, isn’t it, when you’re listening to music and someone is with you… Unless you’re singing together.

Maria: Oh. Karaoke!

Rory: Yeah, like karaoke. That might be OK, but, like, karaoke is not something that I normally do… or ever do. I’ve never done karaoke.

Maria: ????

Rory: Maybe one time, like, 20 years ago. But probably not recently…. No. Definitely not recently.

Maria: Aya ya ya yai… Go. Tomorrow. Karaoke.

Rory: No.

Maria: Yes. You’re doing it. I’m taking you to a karaoke. We’re going to sing Russian songs. Yes.

Rory: No, no.

Maria: We first go to Brussels to this restaurant to eat bugs (check out our insects episode ????), and then we go to Karaoke… in Moscow… on the same day.

Rory, do you ever go to live concerts?

Rory: Oh, God. I used to go to gigs, again, like 15 years ago when I was really young. But now… Not so much. I just like listening to music on my earphones, I suppose. And that’s all. I could go to a live concert again, but I think it would have to be something really special.

Maria: Does music influence your mood?

Rory: Well, it definitely picks me up sometimes when I’m feeling down. And if you listen to baroque music, it’s supposed to help you concentrate more. But… No. No, actually, no “but”s. Generally, yes. I think it influences your mood. Like, you can see when people are listening to happy music they’re quite happy. But maybe it’s mixing up cause and effect. Maybe they’re already happy and they listen to music because they’re happy. But for me, it seems like it influences your mood at the very least.
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