# Non-technical words to describe music



## mamascarlatti

My next ESL conversation class is going to be on the topic of music. I'm going to play my class some musical clips - some that I have chosen (Erbame dich, Ravi Shankar, Tuvan throat singing, maybe something like Madame Mao's aria from Nixon in China) and some that they have chosen (anything from Mozart to Taylor Swift via Frank Sinatra). After we have listened to each clip they are going to discuss what they heard. 

What I'd like is a vocabulary list that they can use for the music - not technical stuff but more descriptive and evaluative, words that they can use in everyday life. 

Do you guys have any suggestions?


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## Ingélou

Poignant; cathartic; serene; warm; intricate; wry; facile; jaunty; insouciant; bleak; heart-breaking; joyful. Good luck with your project.


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## TwoFourPianist

Ooh, that's a tough one  I'm often drawn towards evaluating music in a technical sense. I'm guessing you want words different to those such as 'happy', 'joyful', 'playful', 'depressing', ect. 

I would suggest maybe a comparison, like comparing pieces to colours or images. Then from that you could extrapolate different words or phrases they may not have thought of previously. 

That's just my method  Hope it helps!


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## Taggart

Whole raft of "useful" semi-technical words - fast, slow, getting faster, getting slower, loud, soft, getting louder, getting softer, regular rhythm, irregular rhythm, jazzy, syncopated, waltz time. Then some words based on genres - oriental, eastern, western, modern, classical, jazz, scat, operatic.


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## Ukko

mamascarlatti said:


> My next ESL conversation class is going to be on the topic of music. I'm going to play my class some musical clips - some that I have chosen (Erbame dich, Ravi Shankar, Tuvan throat singing, maybe something like Madame Mao's aria from Nixon in China) and some that they have chosen (anything from Mozart to Taylor Swift via Frank Sinatra). After we have listened to each clip they are going to discuss what they heard.
> 
> What I'd like is a vocabulary list that they can use for the music - not technical stuff but more descriptive and evaluative, words that they can use in everyday life.
> 
> Do you guys have any suggestions?


You may, being well educated, be unaware of the fogginess of words, especially single words not in the user's everyday vocabulary. _I_ would encourage the use of entire paragraphs for description/evaluation. Constructing that 'oral paragraph' helps refine understanding. When the train of speech heads toward an unintended destination, the speaker usually realizes it. Given a chance to try again in 'round two', something good can happen.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

An explosion in the mind!


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## Weston

scintillating, martial, reverent, pensive . . . Almost any adjective fits.


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## arpeggio

Taggart said:


> Whole raft of "useful" semi-technical words - fast, slow, getting faster, getting slower, loud, soft, getting louder, getting softer, regular rhythm, irregular rhythm, jazzy, syncopated, waltz time. Then some words based on genres - oriental, eastern, western, modern, classical, jazz, scat, operatic.


I agree with 'taggart'. His list included words that I would have suggested.


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## millionrainbows

Since music is created and consumed by all kinds of people, terms and perceptions which relate to socio/cultural/political attitudes would be most revealing. 

These are not "terms," which will probably arise of themselves, but "contexts" to provoke the expression of the toolbox of terms.

..."What do you imagine this singer looks like? Are they from a foreign country?"

..."What type of person made this music, and why? What do they look like? Is it intended for certain age groups or genders or cultures?"

..."Is it OK to say I hate/like this music? Does that mean I hate/like the people who created it, or rather that I am not its intended audience?"

..."If I say I like this music, will people think I'm weird? Should I submit to assumptions about its intended audience, or to peer pressure?"

..."Is it OK that this music exists, and why? Or why not?"

..."If I say I hate/like this music, does that mean the music is bad/good? What is the difference between my opinion and facts about the music? Are these the same thing?"

..."Is it appropriate to voice a strong dislike of this music, to the point of possibly insulting those who do like it?"


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## PetrB

Texture; (one step before the more technical mono / homo / polyphonic) 
Timbre; color / tone
Tempo; 
Rhythm; (puh-leeze, as distinguished or clarified as wholly another beast vs. _Meter._)
Dynamic; amplitude, loud to soft,
Phrase; length of, if regular / irregular ~ shape; contour / dynamic contour
Lyric vs. other qualities adjectival
Articulation.

All these can be related to sound in general: excepting 'texture,' all the rest are made directly understandable by some analogy as to the sound elements of how people speak 

I've found these readily understandable by most anybody, those lists of pure adjectives, to talk about sound, generally useless.


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## mamascarlatti

millionrainbows said:


> Since music is created and consumed by all kinds of people, terms and perceptions which relate to socio/cultural/political attitudes would be most revealing.
> 
> These are not "terms," which will probably arise of themselves, but "contexts" to provoke the expression of the toolbox of terms.
> 
> ..."What do you imagine this singer looks like? Are they from a foreign country?"
> 
> ..."What type of person made this music, and why? What do they look like? Is it intended for certain age groups or genders or cultures?"
> 
> ..."Is it OK to say I hate/like this music? Does that mean I hate/like the people who created it, or rather that I am not its intended audience?"
> 
> ..."If I say I like this music, will people think I'm weird? Should I submit to assumptions about its intended audience, or to peer pressure?"
> 
> ..."Is it OK that this music exists, and why? Or why not?"
> 
> ..."If I say I hate/like this music, does that mean the music is bad/good? What is the difference between my opinion and facts about the music? Are these the same thing?"
> 
> ..."Is it appropriate to voice a strong dislike of this music, to the point of possibly insulting those who do like it?"


Some great questions here, thanks.


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## mamascarlatti

PetrB said:


> Texture; (one step before the more technical mono / homo / polyphonic)
> Timbre; color / tone
> Tempo;
> Rhythm; (puh-leeze, as distinguished or clarified as wholly another beast vs. _Meter._)
> Dynamic; amplitude, loud to soft,
> Phrase; length of, if regular / irregular ~ shape; contour / dynamic contour
> Lyric vs. other qualities adjectival
> Articulation.
> 
> All these can be related to sound in general: excepting 'texture,' all the rest are made directly understandable by some analogy as to the sound elements of how people speak
> 
> I've found these readily understandable by most anybody, those lists of pure adjectives, to talk about sound, generally useless.


Yes, these are useful words for talking about music if you want to learn about music. But the difference is that I am using music to teach English and not the other way round, and these are intermediate students from a huge variety of backgrounds (although this time I do have one professional pianist so I might give these words to her) - so I have to keep the adjectives very general and transferable to other situations.


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## millionrainbows

Here are some descriptive terms and phrases which I have taken directly from this forum:

"It sounds too "random."

"Its too hard for the brain to understand the patterns ,you have to be a musical genius to truly love it."

"I like it but i am not mad about it."

"This is just like some people think abstract paintings can be painted by randomly splashing different colors on canvas. Some can't understand it, and some find meaning in it and take pleasure in the process."

"This music is an acquired taste. I will be able to understand it if I listen enough. I'm not sure I want to, though."

"I don't have much sympathy for people who can't grasp this music."

"Why in the world would anyone need sympathy for that?"

"Love of music has nothing to do with knowledge about it. It has nothing to do with capabilities or understanding."

"Love of music *can* have pretty much everything to do with knowledge and capabilities and understanding. It doesn't have to. You really need to expand your horizons here if you think that is the case."

"There are some very very great musicians out there, educated, talented and passionate who just don't enjoy some of the music you do. Please do not make the mistake of assuming some lack of effort or interest on their part."

"I appreciate this music... but I don't really love it. I need to be in the right mood for it... otherwise it strikes me as nothing more than irritating noise."

"I don't have the patience for really dense music. But at the other end of the spectrum, I don't have the patience for really slow moving music."

"Beauty: Is it pleasant to the ear? Is the instrumentation complimentary? Is it harmonious?

Program: Is the music is trying to convey something in specific?

Complexity: Are there a lot of things going on at once or some greater picture that I need to understand? Is part of the enjoyment understanding how it was constructed?

Melody: Can I hum it?"

"Ninety percent of everything is crud."

"How a person relates to a work of art really depends on his experiences."

"I think younger people tend to like it because it's more similar in spirit and sound to rock music."

"I don't like or dislike a piece of music based purely on the harmonies, rhythms, etc. There's an elusive or transcendent quality getting beyond the notes and moving the listener."

"Well, who cares about music teachers anyway? I've been enjoying music without their assistance for long enough to know I can do without them. I don't need a physics teacher to explain how a rainbow works - it's just beautiful as it is."

"With some music, it takes some effort to appreciate, whereas with other music, it's a knee-jerk reaction; the food smells good and the dogs begin to salivate. It's as simple as that."

"You really think there are no surprises in this music, that there is no novelty or invention to it, that listening to it is just like chewing on food? Why don't you just write your own symphony?"


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