Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 409.
Describing a Musical Performance This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 409.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
Download a learning guide for this episode, which will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Describing a Musical Performance.
It's a dialogue between Janine and Calvin about a musical performance, when you go to listen to someone who is playing an instrument or singing.
They're going to use a lot of vocabulary we might use to describe music and someone performing music.
The dialogue is actually between two people who are selecting or deciding Who is going to be a member of the musical group that they are in charge of.
So they're going to listen to people playing music and then decide if this person is good enough to be part of their group.
Let's get started.
Okay, we need to find one more act for this year's show.
How many more people are waiting to audition?
There are two more.
Should I call in the first one?
Yep, let's get this over with.
What did you think of that performance?
Yeah, that's true, but I wouldn't call her a virtuoso.
The piece she played was pretty rudimentary.
True enough, but I still think she's a winner.
Let's hear the next one.
Well?
He certainly played with a lot of flair.
He has amazing chops, I think.
I haven't seen anyone play with such artistry in a long time.
Nobody can fault him on mastery of the music.
But don't you think he lacked originality and expressiveness?
It's clear that it's a stalemate.
I want the first performer and you want the second.
What should we do?
I think we should duke it out and the winner gets his or her choice.
That's brilliant.
That's why they pay you the big bucks.
Our dialogue begins with Janine saying, Okay.
So there's actually more than one group in this performance, this show.
She says To audition means to sing or play a musical instrument act or dance for a short period of time so that someone can see and listen and decide if you are good enough to be part of this performance.
So, for example, here in Los Angeles, in Hollywood...
People go on auditions, and that's the expression we use, to go on an audition.
They go on an audition to be part of a movie or to be part of a television series.
And it's usually quite short.
It's usually a minute, two minutes, maybe five or ten minutes long.
Not a long time.
If you're interested in this topic, be sure to listen to English Cafe number 132, where we interview an actor here in Los Angeles.
So Janine is asking how many people are waiting to audition.
Calvin says there are two more people.
Should I call in the first one?
Should I tell the first person to come in now?
Janine says, yup, Y-U-P, which is a short, informal way of saying yes.
She says, let's get this over with.
To get something over with means to do something as fast as you can, often because it isn't very pleasant.
You're trying to get something done that you don't really want to do.
So they listen to the musical performance and then they talk about it.
Of course, we don't actually get to hear the musical performance.
Kelvin says, What did you think of that performance?
What was your opinion?
Janine says, I thought she was flawless.
F-L-A-W-L-E-S-S To be flawless means to be perfect.
A flaw is an error or a mistake.
So to be flawless means means to have no mistakes, no errors.
Janine says she plays with a lot of passion.
Passion here means enthusiasm, a very strong love of something, someone who really loves it and is enthusiastic about it.
Calvin says yeah, meaning yes, that's true.
But I wouldn't call her a virtuoso.
A virtuoso is a very good musician who plays very, very well.
Yo-Yo Ma is a famous American virtuoso on the cello.
Kelvin says the piece she played was pretty rudimentary.
Rudimentary means basic and simple, not very advanced or difficult.
Janine says, true enough, meaning yes, that's true, I agree, but I still think she's a winner.
Calvin says, let's hear the next one.
And of course, then they listen to the next performance.
Afterwards, they come back and talk about it.
Calvin says, well, meaning, what is your opinion?
Janine says, he certainly played with a lot of flair.
Flair, F-L-A-I-R, here means with a lot of style, in a very interesting, perhaps unusual way.
He has a lot of flair.
He does things in interesting and unusual ways.
Calvin says he has amazing chops, I think.
Chops, C-H-O-P-S, here means ability or skill to do something.
It's often used to describe someone who is very good at music, but it could be used for anything.
You could say he has great cooking chops, meaning he has a lot of ability or skill or talent to do that thing.
Chop has a number of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Calvin says, Artistry means with a lot of talent, a lot of artistic talent, someone who has a lot of skills in music, for example, or singing or acting, something in what we would call the arts.
He has a lot of artistry.
Janine doesn't really agree.
She says nobody can fault him for On mastery of the music.
To fault someone means to say that someone did something wrong, to say that this person is not very good at something.
You may say, I won't fault you for not knowing how to type.
I won't blame you.
I won't say you did something wrong.
She says no one can fault him on mastery of the music.
Mastery, M-A-S-T-E-R-Y means expertise, having a full or complete knowledge of something, or ability to do something.
It's another way of saying to be very good at something.
Janine says, don't you think he lacked originality and expressiveness?
She doesn't think that this performer was very original.
He lacked or didn't have originality, meaning he wasn't different.
He wasn't unique.
He didn't do something that no one else has done before.
Expressiveness is a word we would use to describe someone who has an ability to show you how they feel or think, usually through their art, through their music, their singing, their dance, their acting.
Someone who is very expressive shows their emotions.
You can feel what they are feeling.
Kelvin says, no, I think he's a winner.
Janine says, it's clear that it's a stalemate.
When you have a stalemate S-T-A-L-E-M-A-T-E one word You have a situation where neither person can win.
It's often used to describe a situation where two people cannot agree.
We're at a stalemate or we have a stalemate.
Janine says, I want the first performer and you want the second.
What should we do?
So they don't agree on which performance should be the final act, the final performer in this show that they are putting on, that they are putting together, organizing.
Calvin says, I think we should duke it out and the winner gets his or her choice.
He's joking here, because to duke something out means to fight someone in order to decide an argument to actually hit them.
That sort of fighting, to duke it out.
The two boxers duked it out.
They fought each other.
Well, of course, Calvin is just joking, we hope.
Janine says, I have a better idea.
We add them both to the bill.
Bill here means a written list of who will be performing in a play or at a concert.
Bill has many different meanings in English, but this one means a list of those who will be performing at a certain concert or play.
Calvin says that's brilliant.
That's a great idea.
That's why they pay you the big bucks.
When someone says they pay him the big bucks, they mean they pay him a lot of money.
A buck is another word for a dollar.
Bucks, plural, means money in general.
And big bucks means a lot of money.
Janine says I would be flattered if we weren't all volunteers.
To be flattered means to be happy that someone said something nice about you, to be happy that someone likes you or what you have done.
A beautiful woman comes up to me and says, May I have your telephone number?
Well, I'm flattered.
I'm also, of course, married.
Janine says, I would be flattered if we weren't all volunteers, meaning we don't get paid for this.
If we did get paid for this, then I would be conditional.
I would be flattered.
But, of course, they don't get paid anything.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, we need to find one more act for this year's show.
How many more people are waiting to audition?
There are two more.
Should I call in the first one?
Yep, let's get this over with.
What did you think of that performance?
I thought she was flawless.
She plays with a lot of passion.
Yeah, that's true, but I wouldn't call her a virtuoso.
The piece she played was pretty rudimentary.
True enough, but I still think she's a winner.
Let's hear the next one.
Well?
He certainly played with a lot of flair.
He has amazing chops, I think.
I haven't seen anyone play with such artistry in a long time.
Nobody can fault him on mastery of the music, but don't you think he lacked originality and expressiveness?
No, I don't.
I think he's a winner.
I think we should duke it out and the winner gets his or her choice.
That's brilliant.
That's why they pay you the big bucks.
I would be flattered if we weren't all volunteers.
The script today was by someone who has great writing chops, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
