MUSIC IDIOMS


Whenever you learn you should not forget to have fun. Here are some idioms related to music. First look at the explanations and then try to do the exercises.

swan song

Someone’s swan song is the last time they do something for which they are famous. The swan song for an actor or performer is the last time that they appear before an audience.

play it by ear

If you play something by ear, then you decide how to act or respond to a situation as it happens, rather than by planning in advance how you are going to act.

don’t drop a clanger!

This spoken English expression refers to a situation where you say or do something, which embarrasses or insults someone nearby, without you realising it.

…..and all that jazz

and other similar things. It is used at the end of a sentence or list instead of the word “Etc.”

music junkie

people who constantly listen to music, in class, when bored, when going to sleep, waiting in line, EVERYWHERE and if they have a crappy MP3 player, constantly looking for batteries.

music to my ears

very pleasing information, excellent news.

go for a song

to buy something very cheaply

   

make a song (and dance) about something

if one makes a song and dance about something in Britain, they behave as if it was worse, more serious, more difficult etc than it really is. However in the States people will use it to say that an explanation or excuse is too long and complicated:

 

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3