8 New English Idioms for Your Vocabulary [Music Idioms]

Hey,

it's Annemarie was Speak Confident English and welcome to this week's Confident

English lesson.

This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want

for your life and work in English. This week we're going to have some fun.

We're going to add some new idioms to your active English vocabulary that you

can use for daily conversation to help bring some focus to the idioms you're

going to learn this week I thought we would focus on a theme and the theme is

music. In English, we have the idiom: Music makes the world go round.

What that means is that ordinary things in life can't happen without music.

Music is powerful.

It can move us emotionally or allow us to express feelings.

It helps us connect to others and to our culture. If you're like me,

you cannot live without some music in your daily life.

I almost always have music playing in my office and in my home,

no matter what time of day it is.

So let's add eight new idioms to your English vocabulary that focus on music in

some way.

Idiom, number one,

and maybe my favorite on this list is music to my ears.

For example, when I found out about the job promotion,

it was music to my ears. What do you think that means?

When I found out about the job promotion, it was music to my ears.

We use this idiom when we want to say that we've received good news or

information that makes us feel happy.

So have you gotten some good news recently when you heard that news?

Was it music to your ears?

Idiom number two is elevator music.

Have you ever called a customer service line and while you were on hold,

you were listening to some soft but kind of boring music.

That's what elevator music is. It's that soft,

quiet music that you hear in public places. For example, restaurants,

elevators, offices, and customer service lines.

Idiom number three to sound like a broken record,

let's think about that one for a moment.

If you think about a record playing on a record player,

if there's a scratch on that record, what happens to the music?

It plays that annoying,

repetitive sound again and again and again.

Every time the record goes around when someone sounds like a broken record,

what that means is they're repeating the same thing again and again and it's

kind of annoying.

There's something that I always say when I talk about learning and remembering

new vocabulary. Now, if I want to tell you that information,

I might say, I don't want to sound like a broken record,

but here is how you learn and remember new vocabulary.

First you focus on a small number of words. Second,

you create real life examples of how to use that new word or expression,

and number three, you make sure there's repetition. Now,

when I said I don't want to sound like a broken record, what that means is,

I know I say this a lot, I know I repeat it,

but I don't want to sound like a repetitive, annoying record.

Idiom number four is jam session. When I say jam here,

I'm definitely not talking about something like strawberry jam,

blueberry jam or apricot jam. Instead,

I'm talking about music.

A jam session is when a group of musicians play together in an improvised way.

What that means is there's no plan or preparation.

They're listening to each other and responding through music.

So I'm curious, have you ever been to a jam session before? If you have,

I'd love to know about it. Tell me about it in the comments below this video.

The next one on our list is to blow your own trumpet.

Let me give you an example and let's see if you can identify the meaning.

Bill is always blowing his own trumpet.

I'm tired of hearing about how great he is as a salesman.

What do you think? Is it positive or negative?

How did I use it in that sentence?

When someone blows their own trumpet,

they boast or brag proudly about their achievements and successes.

And it can often sound arrogant. So in this case,

it's not a positive idiom.

Idiom number six on our list is to face the music.

And this one's a tricky one.

We have to be a bit careful with it because we often use it when we're giving

advice,

but if we tell someone it's time to face the music,

it can feel aggressive or abrupt.

Let's say that something terrible happened at your work.

Maybe your company lost a big client.

Your team might be upset for several days and it might be difficult to feel

motivated to do your work,

but after a few days it's time to face the music.

What that means is it's time to accept an unpleasant situation or unpleasant

consequences and to move forward.

That isn't always easy to do and again, we want to be very careful.

A few weeks ago I did a lesson on how to show kindness,

care and sympathy when someone's going through a difficult time.

If someone's grieving a loss,

it can be very difficult to overcome those feelings and to find the motivation

to move forward.

It's a very abrupt way to tell someone to stop grieving and to move on.

It's a good idiom to know,

but it's also an idiom to be careful with idiom.

Number seven is to play by ear, and if you have this unique talent,

I will be very jealous.

To play or do something by ear is to perform or play an instrument without any

practice or preparation and to do it really well.

For example, my niece has this unique talent. She can listen to some music,

go sit at a piano and play that song.

She can play the piano by ear.

Now before we move on to idiom number eight, the last one on our list,

this idiom to play something by ear has a second meaning and it's totally

different than the first.

Let me give you an example sentence and see if you can identify the second

meaning. I'm not as prepared as I should be for this presentation.

I'll have to just play it by ear. What do you think that means?

I'm not as prepared as I should be,

so I'll have to just play it by ear.

What that means is to act spontaneously and to adjust to the situation.

That's not always easy to do, but sometimes it's necessary.

And now idiom number eight is to be as fit as a fiddle.

Are you as fit as a fiddle? Here's an example,

if you're not sure of the meaning.

My dad recently got all of his medical reports back and the doctor shared some

great news. He's as fit as a fiddle.

What do you think when someone is as fit as a fiddle?

They're in great health.

And with that you've got eight new idioms on the theme of music for your English

vocabulary.

I would love for you to share your favorite idiom with me and use it in an

example sentence. You can do that by sharing in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this lesson, you can let me know in three simple ways.

Number one,

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if you know someone who loves learning English idioms,

you can send it directly by email.

Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time for

your Confident English lesson.