Idioms in English - Music

Hi, I'm Alex.

Welcome to this lesson on music idioms.

As you can see, today we're going to look at some of the more common music idioms in

the English language.

This will help with your conversational abilities, as well as your ability to understand and

communicate verbally with those in the English-speaking world.

So let's have a look at some of the idioms, and look at some examples of those idioms.

Okay, so the first idiom that we have here is "fit as a fiddle".

Okay, so the word "fit" itself should indicate that this has something to do with health.

Okay, a fiddle is a musical instrument, kind of like a violin, except, well, I don't really

know the difference exactly, but you can probably figure it out.

Okay, so "fit as a fiddle" simply means an extremely good health, or in perfect health.

Okay, so for example, I have "He ran the five-kilometer race."

So you can say, "He ran the five-kilometer race.

He is fit as a fiddle."

Okay, "How is Grandpa doing?

He's fit as a fiddle.

At the age of 60, he's still in perfect health.

Someone who takes care of themselves very well."

Okay?

Now, let's look at the second idiom, which is "That is music to my ears."

Okay, "music to my ears" means it is exactly what I wanted to hear.

Okay, so the example that I have here is, let's say this is your mother speaking, okay,

and she's talking to you on the phone.

She sent you a letter a while ago.

So she asks you, "You received my letter?

That's music to my ears.

That is exactly what I wanted to hear."

Okay?

So, well, that's exactly what it means.

It's music to my ears.

It's pleasing to my ears.

It's something that makes me happy, to hear you say something, okay?

But for another example, you can say, let's say, you're working out with a friend, okay?

You're both trying to lose weight, or something like that.

Your partner loses 10 pounds.

It's like, "Wow, you've lost 10 pounds?

That's music to my ears."

That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

That's good for you, essentially.

Okay?

How about, "And all that jazz."

Okay, so this is something that usually comes at the end of a sentence, okay?

It means everything included in the particular category that you are talking about, okay?

Everything included in the subject matter that you're discussing.

So, for example, if you're talking about your friend who likes cooking, you can say, "She

likes cooking and all that jazz."

Okay?

It means she likes cooking and everything related to cooking, okay?

He's into reading and all that jazz.

That means he likes reading.

He likes reading many, multiple books, maybe in different genres and categories, things

of that nature, okay?

So, everything related to a particular category, you would end it with saying, "And all that

jazz."

Okay, let's look at the next one, okay?

This is, "Change your tune."

Now, the word "change" itself gives us a clue here, okay?

It means that something in the present is not the way that you would like it to be.

So, change your tune.

If you tell someone else to change their tune, it means that you're asking them to change

their behavior or change their attitude, okay?

So, let's look at this example.

You're going to fail if you don't change your tune.

If you don't change the way that you are acting or you don't change your behavior or the way

you're speaking or studying, in this case, it means that you are going to fail.

So, you need to change your actions, okay?

Change the way you think about something.

So, you're going to fail if you don't change your tune.

Let's look at the next one, which is, "Face the music."

So, face the music.

Look directly at it, right?

So, what this means is you're going to accept and deal with the negative consequences of

something that was your fault, okay?

So, if someone says, "I'm off to face the music," it means I'm going to face the consequences

for something that I did that was wrong, that I knew was wrong.

So, the example we have here is, "Tom went to the office to face the music."

It means that Tom maybe stole candy from someone in a grade younger than his, and he had to

be sent to the office because he was caught.

So, he went to the office to face the music, to see the principle, okay?

To face the consequences of his actions.

And finally, the last one is, "Clear as a bell."

The word "clear" gives us the clue automatically as to what this means.

Okay, when you hit a bell, it rings perfectly clearly, right?

So, clear as a bell means clear and easy to understand.

So, the idiom explanation was "clear as a bell."

It was very easy to understand, which I hope you found this to be.

So, just as a review, "fit as a fiddle," so "fit" means in perfect health, in good health.

"Music to my ears" means exactly what you wanted to hear someone say in a situation.

And "all that jazz" means you're discussing something and everything else that goes with

it, okay?

So, again, "She likes cooking and all that jazz."

So, meaning she likes cooking, so she likes baking, she likes, I don't know, frying things,

making soup, everything to do with cooking, okay?

"Change your tune" means change your attitude or change your behavior because it's not good

in the present.

"Face the music" means face the consequences of something that you did that was wrong in

the past.

And "clear as a bell" means clear and easy to understand, okay?

So, I hope this explanation was clear as a bell to you.

For a quiz on these idioms to test your knowledge, please check out www.engvid.com.

Good luck.

My name is Alex McCarthy.

I'm a professor of English at the University of Michigan, and I'll see you next time.