Extensive listening: OK GO, How to find a wonderful idea

Where does OK Go come up with ideas like dancing in zero gravity, performing in ultra slow motion or constructing a warehouse-sized Rube Goldberg machine for their music videos? In between live performances of This Too Shall Pass and The One Moment, lead singer and guitarist Damian Kulash takes us inside the band's creative process, showing us how to look for wonder and surprise.

Singer and video director Damian Kulash, Jr. and bassist Tim Nordwind met at summer camp in 1987, and a decade later they formed OK Go. With Dan Konopka as drummer and Andy Ross as guitarist and resident computer programmer, they've built a unique career at the intersection of music, visual art, technology, and science. They're among an emerging class of artists whose 21st-century brand of experimental creativity dissolves the traditional boundaries between disciplines.

'When our band started, music and art were actually different things,' says Kulash. 'Musicians made plastic discs and artists made objects for galleries. Now we all make ones and zeros, so the categorical distinctions don’t make much sense anymore.'

You can read a full transcript here.

Alice Keys -BBC's 100 Women season

US singer and songwriter Alicia Keys talks to Babita Sharma for the BBC's 100 Women season about why she is sad that girls are still fighting to be themselves, and why she is very disappointed that Donald Trump has won the US election.

No task on the video. Just watch it, enjoy it and try to understand as much as you can.



Alicia Keys, welcome to Women 100.
Thank you.
What happened with you, with the decision that you had, very publicly saying I’m not going to wear make-up anymore?
I was becoming very, very overly concerned with other people’s opinions of me, to the point where I was, you know, I would be freaked out because I was leaving the house and didn’t have make-up on. I was just realising there was so much that I had learned and that I think we all learn as, especially as women, you know, and girls from the second we’re born, from before we even come out, there’s all of these images and these expectations and all of these, you know, particular pressures that are made us to think this is what beauty is, this is what a woman is, this is what a successful woman is, or this is what a famous woman is.
What do you think we, as women, can do to push against that? I mean, what should we be telling our daughters?
I, you know, I’m one just for variety, that’s my thing. I just want myself and my daughter, if I had one, and my sons, you know, to see a variety of what people look like. Here’s what people look like, you know what I mean? And we look a vast array of ways and it’s really not about make-up or no make-up or anything like that. It’s about what makes you comfortable and it’s about also being able to explore different versions of what makes you comfortable and seeing what happens and you should be able to without your dad, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your husband saying… Shhh! Everybody! Quiet! Just give me a second to have my own experience. It’s all you regardless.  And even for myself, when I want to wear make-up, that’s my choice, I can totally wear make-up and no one  should be able to say, oh didn’t you say you would never gonna…  No! That’s not what I was saying.
It’s a conversation you have on your new album. Congratulations, by the way, here.
Thank you.
Superbly written and performed by yourself.
Thank you.
But one track in particular that stood out for me, Girl Can’t Be Herself, it’s a beautiful song, and everything we’ve been talking about now, there’s bits of the lyric, I’m not going to do it justice by saying it out loud, but I’m wondering if… can you sing it for me?
The chorus, which is my favourite part, says:
When a girl can't be herself no more
I just wanna cry, I just wanna cry for the world
When a girl can't be herself no more
I just wanna cry, I just wanna cry for the world
It’s so beautiful.  It’s also quite sad for me, sad that even has to be out there, the message has to be given to girls.
Yeah, it is sad actually, it is sad that girls can’t be themselves, it’s sad that, you know, it is sad that through this whole election process in America that, you know, because Hillary was so strong and clear and tough, you know, how much unnecessary things were said about her being a woman, you know. We, as women, we can be anyway. We can be many ways. And it is sad when you can’t be yourself, you know, whoever that self is, whatever it is, and that’s a problem with girls all over the world, you know. And there’s so much oppression for women, and there’s so much oppression for girls. There’s so many, you know, unequal opportunities for girls and for women. And it is sad.
We’ve gone through one of the most bitterly fought elections in America’s history. You said in the past about Donald Trump that you don’t listen to anything that he says and you said you don’t care about what he says about women. He’s going to be your next president, the 45th president of the United States of American. How do you feel about that?
I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that such, so much hateful rhetoric and sexism and bigotry and racial slurs and intolerance would be rewarded with the presidency.
Alicia Keys, thank you for being part of our 100 Women season here on the BBC. Thank you very much.
My pleasure.

Reading test: Phil Collins marks comeback with European tour

In this week's reading test we are going to practise the 'insert the sentence' kind of task. To do so, we are going to read the BBC article Phil Collins marks comeback with European tour.

Read this text and choose the best sentence (A - K) for each gap. Three of the sentences do not correspond to any of the blanks. Gap 0 is an example.

A - after 10 years – 0 Example
B - after nerve damage
C - at which Nicholas played drums
D - his other hits include One More Night and Another Day In Paradise.
E - that enjoyed more UK top 40 singles than any other artist of the 1980s
F - to go out on the road, do some new things
G - which included the hit single In the Air Tonight
H - whose hits include In The Air Tonight and Against All Odds
I - will happen
J - will take place
K - would fill in for his dad on tour

Rock veteran Phil Collins is coming out of retirement (0) … with dates in London, Paris and Cologne. The star, (1) … , will play a five-night residency at London's Royal Albert Hall next June. That will be followed by two dates in Paris and two in Cologne.
Collins announced his retirement in 2011, (2) … left him unable to play the drums, but revealed last year he planned to go on tour. Although he has recovered some dexterity, he said he was unlikely to sit behind the kit on the new tour.
The star, now 65, said he would practice the iconic drum riff to In The Air Tonight on "a drum kit in the garage" as that was "something I feel I should do”. However, he said his 15-year-old son, Nicholas, (3) … .
Collins made a tentative return to the stage at a one-off show for his Little Dreams Foundation last year, (4) … "and all the band were very impressed". The star also sang two of his hits at the opening of the US Open tennis in New York in August.
"I thought I would retire quietly," Collins said. "But thanks to the fans, my family and support from some extraordinary artists I have rediscovered my passion for music and performing. I changed my mind. I'm living with my young kids and they want me (5) … and there's no reason why not."
Collins first came to prominence as the drummer and then frontman of Genesis. He made his solo debut with his 1981 album Face Value, (6) … . But the star played down his image as a 1980s soft-rock balladeer.
The Royal Albert Hall concerts (7) … on 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 June. The Cologne dates take place on 11 and 12 June with the Paris dates the following week. Tickets go on sale on 21 October. Collins's memoir Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography will be published later this week.

KEY: 
1H 2B 3K 4C 5F 6G 7J

Bruce Springsteen, Born to run

Bruce Springsteen has been singing about his own life for more than 40 years. Now’s he’s written about them in his autobiography, Born to Run.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1 How long did Sprinsteen's concerts last in his last tour?
2 How old is he at the moment of the interview?
3 What did his parents do?
4 How well did he do at school?
5 What does '22' refer to?
6 Why was Born to Run important for Bruce?
7 How does he describe Clarence Clemons?
8 What happened in 2011?
9 Who is Jake Clemons?
10 What happened to Bruce in his sixties?
11 How badly did it affect his music?
12 What picture of his dad did Bruce leave in his music?
13 What does he want to do with his life at the moment?

In the final dates of his international tour that ended this past week, Bruce Springsteen played one four-hour gig after another.
How do you keep doing that?
I’m conditioned to do it from many, many years of experience. Don’t try it at home, kids!
It’s the one arena where the singer, who turns 67 this week, can control the clock.
You’re looking for a particular moment, and then when you catch that, it feels so good sometimes. Then time disappears.
You get a little physically tired, though it’s amazing how you can do it every night when you’re called to.
We met on the singer’s New Jersey farm recently at the recording studio he built there.
Where do you think your drive comes from?
I believe every artist had someone who told them that they weren’t worth dirt and someone who told them that they were the second coming of the baby Jesus, and they believed them both, and that’s the fuel that starts the fire.
For Springsteen, the fire started in Freehold, New Jersey.
Give me the geography, where was home?
Home was right up here.
On the block around the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church.
My house was here, church was there. My aunt’s house was there. My other aunt’s house was right next to her.
‘The grinding power of this ruined place would never leave me’, he writes in Born to Run, his new autobiography, published by Simon and Schuster, a division of CBS.
Doug and Adele Springsteen’s son found both comfort and fear there. His mother, a legal secretary, rented him his first guitar. His father, who worked at Ford, was an angry man.
He loved me, Springsteen writes, but couldn’t stand me.
Oh my God! A pleasure to meet you.
My feelings exactly!
We made a surprise visit to the school at St. Rose of Lima.
I’m getting the willies. They're all my friends.
He is beloved here now. It was different when he was in class.
How did you do when you were here?
Not particularly well, you know. I was… I didn’t fit in the box so well.
Did I read they called you Springy?
Yes. That is correct, my friend. Amongst many other things.
Long after he moved away, Springsteen would drive back at times to Freehold.
I may still cruise through every once in a while.
What are you looking for when you do?
Well, they say, they say you’re looking to make things all right again, you know? And of course, there’s no going back, you know?
The long-haired guitar slinger, who earned his stripes in the bars of Asbury Park, was just 22 when he was signed to Columbia Records. His first two albums did not sell well, so he poured his soul into a new song called Born to Run.
You were reaching for something epic.
Well, I was trying to make the greatest record you’d ever heard. The record that after you heard it, you didn’t have to hear another record, you know?
Born to Run launched Bruce Springsteen. The album’s now iconic cover also featured sax player Clarence Clemons, Bruce’s mythic sidekick. The big man’s imposing presence came to symbolize the brotherhood of the E Street Band.
How would you describe your relationship with Clarence?
It was very primal, you know. It was just… you’re, you’re some missing part of me. You’re some dream I’m having. He was this huge force, you know? While at the same time being very fragile and very dependent himself, which is maybe what the two of us had in common. We were both kind of insecure down inside. And we both felt kind of fragile and unsure of ourselves. But when we were together we felt really powerful.
We were very different people, you know? Clarence lived fast and loose and wild and wide-open, you know? And I tended to be a little more conservative.
You said offstage, you couldn’t be friends.
I said I couldn’t, I couldn’t because it would ruin my life. But Clarence could be Clarence excellently. He was very good at it.
Until his health began a long decline. In 2011 Clemons suffered a stroke and died days later. Losing Clarence, Springsteen writes, was like losing the rain.
And it happened very quick and suddenly. And it was quite devastating.
When something like that, that as you say kind of came magically to begin with, goes away, you’ve got to be sitting there going, how do I replace this?
There’s no replacing Clarence. You gotta do something else.
Clarence had mentioned he had a sax-playing nephew, Jake Clemons. Springsteen turned to him to resolve the band’s identity crisis.
When you saw this was finally working, was it a relief?
Oh, yeah. Are you kidding? It was like the weight of the world was off my shoulders, you know?
But Springsteen faced an even greater challenge as he entered his sixties, a crippling attack of depression that he’d battle with the help of his wife and E Street Band member, Patti Scialfa.
It lasted for a long time, my sixties… so it would last for a year and then it would slip away. Then it would come back for a year and a half.
Do you see it coming? Do you feel it coming?
Not really, you know? It sneaks up on you. It’s like this thing that engulfs you. I got to where I didn’t want to get out of bed, you know? And you’re not behaving very well at home and you’re tough on everybody. Hopefully not the kids. I always try to hide it from the kids. But you know, Patti really had to work with me through it. And she was… her strength and the love she had was very important, you know, as far as guiding me through it. She would say, well, you’re gonna be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But it’s gonna be all right.
You still function with it?
Yeah, my thing is… For some reason, it never affected my work or any of my playing, you know. It was something, if I was dead down, when I came in the studio, I could work.
Springsteen, who wrote about it in the song This Depression, finally got through it with therapy and medication.
His late father also suffered from mental illness, and much of Springsteen’s book is an attempt to write a new ending to their relationship.
Yeah, my Dad was very important in it, because I felt I hadn’t been completely fair to him in my music…
How did you feel you were unfair to him in your music?
I think I left an image of him as sort of this very domineering character, which he could be at different times, I mean, he could be frightening. But he was also much, much more. He had a much more complicated life.
Springsteen describes an unannounced visit his father made to see him just days before the first of his three children was born.
What did he say to you?
Oh, you’re gonna get me now, man. He showed up at my door, he came in, we had a couple of beers… It was early in the morning and I think he said, Hey, you know, you’ve been really good to us. I said, Yeah. He says, I wasn’t so good to you. And I said, Well, you did the best you could, you know? And that was it. That was, that was the only recognition I needed of our history.
It was a little thing, but it was everything?
It was a small thing, but it was everything. It was… it changed our relationship immediately. It was just a lovely gift. It was a lovely epilogue to our relationship, you know. It really was.
The relationship Bruce Springsteen has with his fans is deep and enduring.
I’m still in love with playing and my attitude at this point in my life is, this is what I love to do. I wanna do as much of it as I can.
Again and again on this tour, he played his longest shows ever in the U.S, around four hours every night.
You could play for just two and a half hours, you know?
I suppose I could! Nah.

Key:
1 four hours
2 sixty-six (turns 67 this week)
3 her mom was a legal secretary and her dad worked for Ford
4 not too well because he didn't fit in the box
5 his age when he signed for Columbia Records
6 the record launched his career
7 very primal, a huge force while at the same time being very fragile and very dependent himself, insecure down inside and fragile and unsure of himself  
8 Clemons suffered a stroke and died days later
9 Clarence's newphew, who replaced him in the band as saxophone player 
10 he had to battle depression
11 it had no effect whatsoever
12 a domineering, frightening person
13 to keep on playing

Reading test: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Write

In this week's reading test, we are going to practise the traditional multiple-choice reading comprehension task. To do so, we are going to read The Guardian article Bruce Springsteen, Born to Write.

Read the text and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence. 0 is an example.

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Write

Virtually all rock memoirs follow a similar pattern of rise and fall, before ending with acceptance – brought on by sobriety, spirituality, the death of peers, or just the plain realisation that it’s not worth hating your bandmates any more. Virtually all, too, are at their best in their early pages – covering the early years – when the passion for music still burns bright, when it’s all still fun, when the star is rising, rather than burning out.
Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born to Run, out at the end of September, looks as if it might be a little different. For a start, there’s his status: no bass player with a second-rate hair-metal band, he. It’s hard to imagine this will be full of changes, often one of the only selling points of lesser rock biogs. His status, too, is current: no one else has spent as long as Springsteen selling out stadiums, year after year, to ecstatic receptions. No one else of his stature seems to feel the need to commune with their flock with such frequency.
Then there are the precedents: among his generation (and his commercial and critical peers), both Bob Dylan and Neil Young have produced books that moved away from the traditional rock volume. Dylan told an irregular narrative that avoided many major events, telling the stories less told. Young’s focused heavily on his passions – audio fidelity, green motoring – while his relationship with Crosby, Stills and Nash was dismissed with startling brevity.
Less controversial than either of them – in his public image, at least – Springsteen is likely to offer his fans a more straightforward read. The introduction to Born to Run, which he released on his website recently, promises to answer the two questions that occupy the mind of anyone watching someone undeniably great working a stage: how do they do that, and why do they do that?
Why, after 50 years as a musician, after more than 40 playing the song that gives the book its name, does Springsteen still need to hear 90,000 people singing “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!” back at him? The foreword offered some clues: “DNA, natural ability, study of craft, development of and devotion to an aesthetic philosophy, naked desire for … fame? … love? … admiration? … attention? … women?… sex? … and oh, yeah …. a buck. Then … if you want to take it all the way out to the end of the night, a furious fire in the hole that just … don’t … quit … burning.”
Springsteen has long appeared one of the most knowable of rock stars. So many of his songs, if not autobiographical, have appeared to give direct information on his childhood, his family, his town, his country. One album, Tunnel of Love, dealt with his disillusionment with his first marriage. Songs are songs: they are a truth, they are not the truth. But it’s not only in the songs: there are books compiling his many interviews. And this rock Charlemagne has his own Einhard, in the form of writer Dave Marsh, who has conveyed his thoughts to the world. Even while writing this book, he cooperated with Peter Ames Carlin on the really very decent biography, Bruce, published in 2012.
So, on the face of it, one really shouldn’t need this book. Don’t we all know about his dad, his struggles, his superstardom and so on? Yes, but we still only know the facts of the legends. Born to Run gives us the chance, at last, to know why Springsteen needed to build those legends.

0 Example:
Rock bands
A hate one another.
B play their best music towards the end of their careers.
C tend to have ups and downs.

1 Bruce Springsteen’s book will be different because
A his band is relatively unknown.
B he doesn’t play the bass.
C of his current position in the music world.

2 Other musicians of Springsteen’s generation
A avoided talking about their enthusiasms.
B discussed key events in their careers.
C published unconventional books.

3 Bruce Springsteen’s fans
A are expecting the book to answer very simple questions.
B are expecting the book to offer lots of anecdotes.
C can already read the book on the artist’s website.

4 Springsteen
A doesn’t feel the need to communicate with his public any more.
B has a song called Born to Run.
C has taken 50 years to write the book.

5 Springsteen’s songs
A always deal with personal problems.
B are anything but autobiographical.
C help us understand the person behind the artist.

6 Born to Run
A is a biography.
B was written by Bruce Springsteen himself.
C was written by Peter Ames Carlin.

7 The book will tell us
A how Springsteen managed to become famous.
B the most important facts of Springsteen’s life.
C what motivates Springsteen to do what he does.

KEY:
1C 2C 3A 4B 5C 6B 7C

Listening test: Streaming music

Listen to part of a radio programme where the reporters are talking about streaming music and complete the sentences below with up to THREE words. 0 is an example.



0 Example:
Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime and Apple Music are examples of streaming service companies.

1 These companies have a huge _______________ , which the listener can listen for free.

2 Premium members of Spotify can enjoy unlimited access to _______________ for $10 a month.

3 We must differentiate between streaming music and the _______________ .

4 iTunes takes _______________ of the price the user pays.

5 The money the label pays the songwriter is called _______________ , which is about 8 cents per song.

6 The artist usually gets between _______________ percent of the list price.

7 The artist usually has to pay back _______________ to the record label for publicizing.

8 Taylor Swift makes about $3 _______________ , download or physical record.

So let’s start off with just explaining how streaming music works. So there are many different streaming service companies out there. Uh, the most famous being Spotify, Pandora, uh, Amazon Prime and now most recently Apple Music is joining the group and most of them are free listening so they have a huge library of music and, uh, a listener can sign up and listen for free as long as they’re willing to hear advertisements once in a while. But most of the services like Spotify, you can upgrade to a premium membership which usually charges about $10 a month and that is for unlimited access to ad-free music.
Hmm, and if you think about what your music budget, what your entertainment budget is for the month, $10 a month for unlimited music, you know, for the price of a CD a month is just astronomically a good deal for, uh, listeners.
Sure. It is a great deal from the listener’s point of view but, uh, I wonder what it’s like for the artist. Uh, Sam, can you tell us a little bit about the digital download model versus this new streaming model?
Yes. So digital downloads have been a long, uh … around for a long time as well and, uh, they’ve started to see … they had their controversy from when they initially started as well. Let’s get an idea, say, you buy a download off of iTunes. So iTunes takes it cut which is about 30% of the list price and then they remit the rest of that to the label then the label pays the songwriter, the songwriter, I think, that’s not the performer and necessarily, not all of the time it’s called a mechanical royalty which is typically about 8 cents per song. So for a 10 song album, you get about 80 cents for the download. Um, then the label also has to pay the artist who is signed to their label, um, is not necessarily always the same person. As I said, it’s the songwriter so the royalty that’s typically between 12 to 18 percent of the list price. So on a $10 list price of a download say, the artist would see about a dollar 50 per download. Now, also the artist has, remember–that is signed to that label, also has to payback depending on what their contract said, um, marketing costs back to the record label for, um, publicizing, uh, recouping some of the cost that the label has already spent to market their record in the first place. So, around $1.50 per download which doesn’t, say, seem like a lot but it’s something. At least they could make something from it. So for artists and especially for big artists like Taylor Swift who writes and co-writes the majority of her music anyway, um, she’s one of the rare artists who she of course recoups the money that her label spends on making the record and marketing her records as well. Uh, so she’s set in the vicinity to make about $3 per record sold, um, download or physical record sold and when we’re talking the millions and millions and millions that Ms. Taylor sells, she’s making herself a lot of money.

Key:
1 library of music
2 ad-free music
3 digital download model  or digital downloads
4 30%
5 (a) mechanical royalty
6 12 to 18
7 marketing costs
8 per record sold

Extensive listening: The Virtuoso Marcus Roberts

Who's the greatest American musician most people have never heard of? To many people, it's Marcus Roberts.

The Virtuoso Marcus Roberts was the title of a CBS 60 Minutes segment back in 2014.

"Marcus went blind when he was 5 years old. And soon began trying to make sense of life in the darkness. He was unusually curious, and even tore his toys apart just to find out how they worked. Roberts developed a powerful, analytical intelligence, capable of producing music that will move your mind as well as your body. The story of his genius begins with a precious gift from his parents: a piano."

You can read the full transcript here.

Listening test: The spirit of Harlem

Listen to a Harlem resident talking about her neighbourhood and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence.



1 Tourists used to … Harlem.
A dislike
B love going to
C purposely avoid

2 Nowadays
A plenty of people visit the area.
B there is a tourist bus in the area.
C very few buses take tourists to that area.

3 Thomas Dorsey was a
A guitarist and composer.
B gospel singer.
C religious leader.

4 Peggy Taylor describes gospel music as 'secular' because
A it is associated with Thomas Dorsey.
B its origins are not religious.
C it is fun to listen to.

5 The rhetoric of gospel preachers has influenced
A jazz music.
B modern chat shows.
C political speeches.

6 In Montgomery, Alabama,
A a social movement started.
B Martin Luther King was arrested for participating in the 1955 Bus Boycott.
C Peggy Taylor was the finance officer of a church.

7 Harlem
A has a reputation for welcoming visitors.
B is best visited by going on your own.
C starts in 150th Street.

Harlem is without doubt one of the most fascinating areas of New York. Occupying the section of Manhattan that lies to the north of Central Park, for decades it was considered a dangerous ghetto that white New Yorkers — and tourists — tended to avoid.   
Yet all that has changed and now busloads' of European tourists go there, to enjoy the wonders of soul food and music.
Peggy Taylor works for Harlem Spirituals Gospel and Jazz Tours. We began by asking her to define gospel music.
Gospel means the first four books of the New Testament, so you're talking about the birth of Christ, you're talking about a very joyous occasion. And gospel music itself was created by a blues guitarist named Thomas Dorsey —not to be confused with the band leader Thomas Dorsey. This was another Thomas Dorsey and he called his music 'gospel blues' and he wrote the famous song, Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
Gospel, somebody said, is really the music of Saturday night with Sunday morning's words. So you have something that is at once religious, but also secular; secular in the music, in the beat, in the syncopation, but the sentiment is religious.
In addition to the fabulous music, another part of the appeals of attending a gospel ceremony is listening to the powerful rhetoric of the preacher. The speeches of Barack Obama clearly contain this element. Peggy Taylor, who grew up in Alabama, had first-hand experience of an even more charismatic preacher.
I was a member of Martin Luther King's first church, which was in Montgomery, Alabama, which he became pastor of at the ripe young age of 26! And my father was the finance officer of the church, a long-standing member, and so I was, of course, a member and I listened to his sermons every Sunday and we participated in the famous Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which really began the civil rights movement.
Back in Harlem, Peggy Taylor admits that things have improved dramatically.
Tourism in Harlem today is a very accepted thing. People realise now that Harlem is not dangerous, they can even come to Harlem on their own, but, of course, I recommend that they come with a tour first, in order to get the lay of the land. Harlem is a vast, vast neighborhood and if you really want to get an overview of Harlem, you should take a tour first and then you come back on your own. And everybody has their guide books and they know now how to get to 125th Street, and they know that they can go to the museums, to the Schomberg Library, to the night clubs. People have a much easier way of seeing Harlem today and I think that's very positive. And the Harlemites are very accepting of it, too. People just take it for granted now that tourists come to Harlem.
KEY:
1C 2A 3A 4B 5C 6A 7A

Genius -A site for annotated songs

Genius is a site where users annotate songs. Contributors to the site give the lyrics of the song with explanations and examples, so that the song can be better understood.

One of the main difficulties about English music (for both native and non-native speakers) is understanding the context and all the cultural references in the song.

On Genius, users explain the hidden meaning of lyrics and give examples, so that we can learn both the meaning of the lyrics and what they refer to. The story behind the song is sometimes featured.

On Genius we can find all music genres as well and an A-Z index of artists.

Here are the annotations and lyrics for Beyoncé's Formation.

H/T to English Fluency Now

Extensive listening: Adele the Interview

Adele recently sat down with 60 Minutes Australia for an interview, and as part of the show, she also sang “When We Were Young,” the album track that she co-wrote with young singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr., live in a studio. 
WHEN Liz Hayes sat down with Adele, one of the most successful singers of our time, she wasn’t expecting such an emotional and candid interview.
The British singer-songwriter, who soared to fame after the release of her debut album 19 in 2008, has since landed an astonishing 10 Grammys, four Brit awards, an Oscar and a Golden Globe. She’s already on track to become a billionaire by the age of 30, but admits there’s never been a time that she hasn’t felt nervous or unsure of herself.
“There was quite a long period where I didn’t believe in myself,” the 27-year-old star told Hayes in the exclusive 60 Minutes interview. “I’m waiting for someone to send me back to Tottenham or something.”
Despite already having two hugely successful albums under her belt, and with her long-awaited third album, 25, released last week, the Rolling In The Deep singer said it’s only now that she feels like she’s taking control of her life. “For the first time in my entire life I feel like I’m dealing with myself,” she told Hayes, adding that she was an “emotional wreck” and was paranoid about disappointing her fans with her latest album.
Hayes, who spent several days with Adele in London while she was recording 25, says the young woman she got to know is incredibly hard on herself and felt immense pressure to succeed after taking several years off.
Adele’s years away from the spotlight coincided with an operation to remove a benign polyp on her vocal cords in 2011. The next year she made a spectacular comeback, winning an Oscar for her Bond theme song, Skyfall.
Hayes added: “Adele has struck success from the get-go and even she finds it hard to believe. She feels the pressure because she was so successful so early, she felt pressure to maintain great work and so that’s why she felt so very nervous about releasing this album, she was just so worried that it wasn’t going to be up to everybody’s expectations.”
The TV presenter said her time with Adele left her with no doubt that the singer is uncomfortable with the notion of being a ‘celebrity’.

Extensive listening: The art of asking

In this TED talk, The Art of Asking, Alt-rock icon Amanda Palmer defends that we shouldn't fight the fact that digital content is freely shareable and suggests that artists can and should be directly supported by fans.

You can read a full transcript for the talk here.

10 Questions for Joshua Bell

Time interviewed violinist Joshua for their section 10 Questions for.

Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Basically, Joshua Bell plays the violin and conducts the orchestra at the same time.
2 Directing a film and conducting are two very similar activities.
3 Joshua Bell paid $2.5m for the Gibson Stradivarius.
4 Having a violin like this is like having a baby.
5 The thief who stole the Gibson Stradivarius didn't manage to play with it.
6 Violinists tend to play faster as they grow older.
7 Joshua Bell has starred in the film Chasing Ice with Scarlett Johansson.
8 Joshua Bell is not proud of his Washington experiment.
9 Joshua Bell has children.
10 Joshua Bell is addicted to gambling.
11 When Joshua Bell was a child he wanted to be a detective.

Hi, I’m Belinda Luscombe. I’m an editor-at-large with Time. I’m sitting here with violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, who has just started a sort of a new career as a conductor with the Academy of St Martin the Fields. Mr Bell, welcome.
Thanks, thanks.
You’ve got your first conducting CD coming out. With the Academy of St Martin of the Fields, how do you play and conduct at the same time?
I sit in the first violin chair and I lead everything while I’m playing with the first. So it means sometimes I’m playing, sometimes I’m directing with the bow, sometimes it’s just facial gestures.
Is conducting like directing?
It’s very much like directing a film. The conductor has the idea of how they want to pace the piece, how the emotions they want at every moment. And that’s… it maybe sounds easy, but it’s, it’s not.
And is it like directing true that everybody who’s a performer secretly thinks that they would be a great conductor.
This is true, like me. I’ve been playing for years, concertos, playing with orchestras, watching conductors, and all along I’m thinking, I think I could, I could do that. I’ve been hearing these Beethoven symphonies my whole life and thinking, I want to hear it this way, you know? And someday I want to get up there and show my way of doing it, and that’s what I’m, I’m getting to do.
So, this violin, it’s… I think, you paid somewhere between $2.5m, that violin the Gibson Stradivarius, and it’s been stolen twice, right?, does it travel with its own security?
Well, I can’t give out my security my security secrets…
Oh, then you’d have to kill me!
… but it’s been the best investment I’ve ever made financially, although I’ll never see the, the profits from it because I will die with this in, in my hand. You know, the only way anyone can really understand travelling with a violin like this is that it’s like a baby, which is completely priceless and it is delicate and… but it’s been around 300 years. Still, still has its original varnish, much of it, and it will be around for hundreds of years after I’m gone.
And it survived that instant where it was stolen and covered in boot polish...
Well, it does have a bit of intrigue around it. It was notorious by then for having been stolen from right here in Carnegie Hall in New York. Eventually the thief confessed the theft, that he had stolen it. He was a violinist and he just played on it his whole life so, covered it in shoe polish to disguise it and then played on it his whole life, so… it’s kind of a neat story.
One cliché of musicians is that when they’re young they like to play really fast.
Right.
And then as they get older they learn to slow down. Is that, have you found that to be true of you?
That’s a little disconcerting when you’ve poured your heart and soul into a Brahm’s sonata and then you play a little flashy and afterwards people come back and say, I loved that, that … Paganini piece. God, I was moved by this like did you… I just poured my soul into the big piece before that.
So you are known for sort of experimenting a little bit. I mean, you’re obviously a classical player and the, the classical canon is your first love. But you’ve worked with bluegrass musicians, you’ve worked with Sting, you’ve worked with some Broadway people. Is there something you haven’t tried yet?
I look at music as just being music. And there’s good music and bad music as far as I’m concerned, so sometimes it takes me into bluegrass but… or because I met some amazing people like Edger Meyer and Sam Bush and Bellafleck and people like that and they just took me into this world and I follow that path and then next week, or actually just recently they asked me to do a song with Scarlett Johansson for a film called Chasing Ice, just a call out of the blue, and I said, why not, you know, and I didn’t know she sang, she’s got a beautiful voice, and now that song is nominated for, for an Oscar.
Six years ago you did this interesting experiment where, which is, you know, such an Internet meme now.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. No, no. Really?
Yes, you do… where you, you bashed in a Washington subway.
Right, right.
You did some difficult Bach pieces and nobody recognized you, hardly anybody stopped. One guy recognized you, few people stopped. Maybe this story’s been told wrong, and a video was taken of it. And that video, you know, keeps coming back, again and again. Are you sup… well, have I got the story wrong?
Sure, I mean, the story itself was about ten pages in The Washington Post.
Right, right.
I have mixed feelings about it. I, I… it’s probably the thing I get asked most about…
Which is like pouring your heart into the Brahms sonata.
A little bit, a little bit. You know, I have done other things besides. But you know what, someone comes backstage after a concert, after I’ve played the Tchaikovsky concerto and tells me, you know, I’d never been to a classical concert but I read that article, was intrigued and now I’m, I’m a fan of classical music. I mean, that’s, this is the audience I want to reach.
With family life, fatherhood. How do you juggle it all?
Well, I need balance. I need to get away from music. I’ll take two days off in-between concerts and then fly to Las Vegas and forget about music.
Are you a gambler?
I gamble a little bit, yes.
And do you like the tables? What, I mean…
For me the adrenaline of performance, of performing is like an incredible high. And I think when you’re used to having that high, you look for it in other things, so I’ve, I love, you know, watching sports and that, and getting that excitement, or going to a black jack table and risking, you know, losing money. It’s… it gets the adrenaline up, so it’s probably a little bit unhealthy but…
Well, as long as you, I mean, you seem to be comfortable.
Violinists, actually, historically are notorious gamblers.
Going back into… oh, really?
Yeah, Vaniasky and Paganini they all were known for having lost intru… lost their Stradivariuses in gambling tables.
What hand would…
It’s somehow a lot of… it runs in the family.
What hand would have to have to put the Gibson Strad down? You have to have a, would it have to be like a royal flush?
It would have to be a royal flush.
If you had not found the violin, or you know, music, if your parents had not been, you know, you said you had a fortunate childhood. Then, what, what would the alternative Josh Bell have done?
When I was home, around New Year’s time, my sister brought out a tape that I hadn’t heard for many years of my first, my very first interview when I was seven years old. I was playing my debut with the Bloomington Symphony Indi… in Indiana, playing Bach concerto, and they interviewed me for a kids’, kids’ radio station. And so my answer to that very same question, say, what do you want to be when you grow up, detective or scientist? Actually both things I could imagine myself doing even to this day. I love puzzles. I love figuring things out.
Josh Bell, thank you very much.
Thank you.

KEY:
1F 2T 3T 4T 5F 6F 7F 8T 9T 10F 11F

10 questions for Natalie Maines

Singer Natalie Maines talks on motherhood, the future of the Dixie Chicks and why she can't go back to country music in the Time Interview.



Natalie Maines is a singer song-writer. She’s best known as the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, who are best-known for their album Taking the Long Way, which won lots and lots of Grammys and sold lots and lots of copies. And I’m super glad to say she’s here with us today, she’s got a new album called Mother. Natalie, thanks for coming.
Thank you.
Okay, so the last time you were in Time Magazine, you were on the cover, it’s almost seven years ago to the say since that happened and then, what you been doing?
I’ve been being a mother, raising my two boys, Slade and Becket with my husband Adrian.
The new album’s called Mother. Why did you, is it because of the break that you took for motherhood that you called it that?
I felt like it was a word that everyone would have some sort of emotion about ‘Cos everyone has a mother, so whatever emotions your mother conjures up for you. You know, I just felt it would make people feel something.
In the Time story, one of the things you said was that what shocked you about the controversy over your remarks at the London concert was that people seemed to be asking you to change who you were. And I wonder if seven years on, and having seen, having been through motherhood and, and different things, if you still hold that view, that you can’t change who you are.
I mean, I recognize things in myself I wanna change and I work on those, but that particular circumstance or incident isn’t one of the things that I feel proud that I spoke up and that I, you know, exercised my right to free speech, and I think it’s very scary that so much of the country criticized me for doing that.
It did at the time cause a huge ruckus, and I’m sure you get asked about it all the time. And for a while you had to have quite serious security. I mean,  there was, it was quite alarming, though.
Yeah.
Appropriately. Has that all died down now or is it still?
It has, I do worry a little bit, that being out, you know, I’ve sort of disappeared so I wasn’t on people’s mind, so it crossed my mind do I wanna get back on people’s minds? Will this lead to something scary? I hope not.
Since Taking the long way, which was, as we’ve discussed, an enormous success, there hasn’t been another Dixie Chicks album. How come?
After the Grammys that night something just felt like the ending of a chapter to me, the ending of a battle. And I was victorious, and I was walking away. So, country music is not something I’m dying to get back into.
According to what I’ve read, which may or may not be true, since it’s on the ever-reliable Internet, you are actually more of a holdout that Emily or Marty. They would actually like to get back to making music and reform the Dixie Chicks, and you’ve been the reluctant one, is that true? I mean, they have kids as well.
I know. We’d have to ask them. But, yes, they would probably be up for it before I would be. But they understand.
Do you think if the country music establishment had stood by you more when you did make those remarks that you would be less reluctant to return and make another album?
Yeah, probably. That definitely had something to do with it. It never felt like I fit into that country genre before I joined it, and then when we were so accepted I thought, oh, it’s not what I always thought it was. It’s not so close-minded and conservative. Here they are accepting me. Well, they thought I was something else, I guess, I never, you know, tried to hide my politics or my liberalism, but I don’t know, I guess people see what they want to see, so it was really sort of a disappointment to me to see that all the stereotypes that I thought of as a child about country music, they really were, they really were there, are there.
Natalie, thanks so much.
Thank you.

Extensive listening: The Recyclers: From trash comes triumph

The Recyclers: From trash comes triumph is a CBS 60 Minute segment aired in November 2013.

The residents of Cateura, Paraguay, don't just make a living from the massive garbage heap in their town. They also make music.

This is the way reporter Bob Simon introduced the segment:
"Ever heard of a town built on a garbage dump? We hadn't until last year when we visited a community on the outskirts of Asuncion, the capital of the tiny, impoverished South American country of Paraguay. It's called Cateura and there is trash everywhere -- in its streets, its rivers, in people's backyards -- but we decided to take you to Cateura tonight, not because of the poverty or the filth, but because of the incredible imagination and ingenuity of the people who live there. Our story is also a reminder that, ultimately, music will triumph everywhere and anywhere."

You can read the full transcript here.

A Photographer Revisits the Forgotten Land of Song

National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey travels back to Svanetia, a remote region of Georgia, to revisit the people and the place that inspired his future career.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions about it. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 students.



1 What was Aaron doing when he first went to Svanetia?
2 What was special about the Svanetia language, according to the German linguist?
3 What was Aaron's plan when the bus stopped?
4 What was Aaron's adopted family celebrating?
5 What did Aaron write in his journals to help him learn about the language and culture?
6 What was the family doing all the time?
7 What are some of the themes that run through the songs?
8 What was Aaron's reaction when he reunited with Nuna, her adopted mother, after 13 years?
9 What does Aaron say the job of a reporter is?

To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.

The first time I went to Svanetia I was not planning on going to Svanetia. I wasn’t a photographer yet.I was a backpacker (1) but this is the story that made me a photographer.
I met a German linguist who told me about a place where people spoke a language that had never been written (2), that was surrounded by seventeen, eighteen thousand foot peaks, so this German linguist drew a map on a napkin for me and I transferred it into my journal and I left the next day.
And on a bus ride into the mountains a woman turned round me after about two hours and said where are you going and I said, Well  I'm going to camp when the bus stops at the end of the road (3) and she just looked at me and said, no, God, please don't do that and she took me with her and she took me to a wedding.
And that wedding was of the eldest daughter of the family (4) that ended up adopting me in this region and they got me drunk and made me dance and I woke up the next morning in their home and they probably felt some pity on me and thought we should shelter this kid, he doesn't know what he's doing. That started a three-year relationship, that's now I guess a sixteen-year relationship, now that National Geographic sent me back.
Yeah, my journals really are pretty pedestrian at times. I was very young. They’re embarrassing to read sometimes but there are some things I still really love in the journals. I wrote down recipes and I wrote down vocabulary so I would have like daily language lessons for myself and, of course, the song. I wrote down all the songs (5).
I saw the potential for a story that was a little bit more like poetry, that was revealed more about the soul of people and the space and it was that third year that I returned specifically to try to make a story with pictures and that became my first photo story.
That was some of my first rolls of film. It’s the first story that made me fall in love with the people, with the place. That really is what it is, like the story made me fall in love with a whole community. It was imagery of that family, that family is central to all of those early trips and the photographs. They were beautiful people, they were musical and their home was filled with song. All the time I would wake up to singing (6). I would go to bed to the family singing together and from the very first trip they taught me their songs. And I remember those songs when I came back 13 years later.
You know I might think, the songs are about heroes and about love and about your friends having you back (7), all good things that good country songs are about.
The reunion with my adopted family was a little embarrassing because a Georgian television crew followed me and I told them they had to stay back at the gate. It was really emotional for me, you know, and I saw my, my mother from that family, Nuna. I went to her and I, I hugged her and it just made me start weeping (8).. Like the songs that were really buried in me that, they just came out like I, I love this woman and that came out when I saw her and when I held her and it was exciting to see them and it was confusing to see them in how you restart a relationship after 13 years but the fact that they wanted to bring me in again, that they had not forgotten me, that they still thought of me in that way was very moving to me. And they did, they took me in again.
so I found this, I found all the families again. I sat down with them again, and sang with them again, and talked to them about their lives. And the old man still played chess in the backyard in the same spot. And the girls, the whole family still sings in the kitchen. And there are some other things that just never change and I found a lot of those again.
There were, other scenes that I found that weren't necessarily literally the person in the same place, but I found the same scenes again. I found the dancers and the traditional singers and it brought back that memory of those first images when I see them together side by side like I see what has survived.
These stories are not just about making pretty frames. We, we tell the stories of entire peoples, so if we do the story right, we preserve those things, you know, in… that's what our job is, to preserve that poetry (9).
 So many people that have never heard of Svanetia or this region in the Georgian Republic or where these people, these ones, this may be the only thing they ever read about these people and I think that's what I look for now in all of my projects is can I can I keep finding that? Can I keep carrying that much?

Talking point: Music

This week's talking point is music. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

• What kind of music do you like the best/least? Why?
• Do you prefer Spanish music or from other countries?
• Which decade of pop music do you prefer?
• Who is the greatest musician in the world, living or dead?
• When did you last dance and what was the music?
• Can you play a musical instrument?
• Which do you prefer –music from the 21st century, the 20th century or before that?
• When did you last listen to live music?
• Have you ever sung karaoke? When? Did you like it?
• Do you prefer classical music, traditional music or singer-song writers?
• What good/bad things does music bring to us? 
• Do you know anyone who is addicted to music?
• Why are classical music and opera so esteemed if so few people like them?

To illustrate the point, watch Alicia Keys' interview for Time magazine, where she talks about her career and the way she learnt to love music.




I’m Gilbert Cruz for Time.com and we’re here with Grammy award-winning artist, Alicia Keys. Alicia, thank you for being with us today.
My pleasure.
Our first question is from Courtney Jones, who is from Houston, Texas. Courtney asks, ‘What’s one song that still hast the ability to move you when you sing it?’
Every song has the ability to move me when I am sing it, which is something I’m very grateful for, because the songs that I write, they are very personal and they are very like emotional and I can understand them, you know, I can understand them even if the time has passed already, I can understand it. I have to say I’d probably say ‘Falling’ is the song for me. Obviously I’ve sung it a lot, but there’s a magic about that song that is just unbelievable (…) and the way it signifies the beginning of, you know, kind of my career and my life as I know it in this world. It’s like, you know, it gives chills every time (…).
Our next question is: Do you think it’s important for inner-city children to be exposed to classical music? When were you first exposed to classical music?
Wow, I do think it’s important to hear all kinds of music, you know. When I was introduced to classical music I was, I guess, you know, six or seven, which was because I wanted to study piano so badly and when we found the teacher that would help to teach me, who lived in my building, she taught classical music. So I didn’t… I wasn’t exactly looking for classical music but it found me and I found that it really opened me up to become, you know, just more… understand things even better.
Our next question: I’m amazed with how effortlessly you play the piano while singing. Who is your favourite pianist and why?
I love Nina Simone. She's definitely one of my favorites. I love here very, very much. So she's, she's probably my, my favorite (...). I love that she's a very, extremely creative, powerful, don't hold her tongue back for anyone woman who sits at the piano and will play you underneath the table. She will play anyone under the table (...).
Our next question is from Ahmo Mehmedovi. Because so many of your songs are about female empowerment, do you consider yourself to be a role model to young women?
I do. I do. I think that we all are, you know, role models to each other and have that ability to affect someone in a positive way. And I think that that, that's more my goal is to affect people in a, in a positive way, in a way that can possibly take their thoughts and, and turn them into something that could really fuel them and I find that I really wanna give people ah, something powerful and empowering and possible to think about and live for 'cause I think we see all the other stuff way too often.
Last two questions: What or who inspired you to start playing piano?
I'm not sure exactly how it happened. All I know is that I had this incredible fascination with pianos and when I would pass them I would wanna play them and I would wanna learn how to play them and if I heard people who could play I'd wanna learn how ya play like them and how could I get this music? How could I make it sound like that? It was like this feeling that just made me wanna learn. And thank God for me I had a, a supporter, a mother who was OK with that, you know, who could've probably said, please go to school leave me alone. But she said OK if that's doing that to you then let's see what we can figure out. So, I'm really grateful for that.
Our last question is about the Keep the Child Alive Foundation.
Good because if you didn't ask me I was gonna tell you.
Well, can you tell us some of the, some of the, sort of more moving things that you've seen in, in all the years you've worked with this foundation?
I sat down with this women named Mama Carol and she is mother to I would say now over a thousand children who have lost their parents or at least one parent or most of them both from, due to aids and she is now their, you know, caretaker, their advice giver, their person they can go to, to ask for help. And so I, I sat with these kids in Soweto and we just sat in a circle on the floor and I just listened to them and we spoke and it was, you know, the sun was up and then the sun was down and it was just so beautiful to hear how through all that they have experienced which would break any spirit, any strong spirit could possibly be broken by that. They are still so motivated and ready to change the world and want people to understand them and how they are humans and, you know, emotional young people but still that they're not gonna wait for anyone to come get 'em or save 'em or help 'em. They're gonna figure it out and they're gonna make it and they're gonna take care of their brothers and sisters and they're gonna make sure they're OK. And, you know, that type of strength and that type of determination that makes me very proud because it shows me what's possible. And it's possible when we just put our effort towards it.
Alicia, thank you very much for talking to us.
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.

Taylor Swift announces new album

In mid-August this year Taylor Swift announced that she was to release a new album.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions about it.

The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.



1 Why is Taylor Swift making history that day?
2 What does 'two years' refer to?
3 What's the key word of what may happen in two years?
4 When was Taylor Swift born?
5 What's the lesson she has learnt in these two years?
6 What two things does she think about all the time?
7 What greatly reflects life and who we are?

You can check the answers by reading the transcript below

Welcome to this live stream extravaganza adventure-a-thon! Tonight they’re telling me that we’re making history because this is the first ever worldwide live stream for ABC and Yahoo to get together (1) and I’m so excited I can’t even!
Well, I’ve been working on a new album for two years (2). And two years gives you enough time to grow and to change (3), and to, you know, change your priorities, change where you live, change your hair, change what you believe in, change who you hang out with, what’s influencing you, what’s inspiring you. And in the process of all of those changes that happened in the last two years, my music changed.
I’m thinking about how this new album is a bit of a rebirth for me because it’s so new. I’ve never really made these kinds of changes before. And having been born on December 13th, 1989 (4), this album is called 1989.
The song that… the idea came up with and what I wanted to write about was the idea that, I’ve had to learn a pretty tough lesson in the last couple of years that people can say whatever they want about us at any time. People can say whatever they want about us at any time and we cannot control that (5). The only thing we can control is our reaction to it. And I figure that we had two options. You can either let it get to you, let it change you, let it make you bitter or not trust people. Option two, you see, you just shake it off.
I wanted to tie this to this metaphor that I’ve been thinking about a lot because all I think about are metaphors and cats (6). My idea was that life itself and who people actually are can be greatly reflected in how they dance (7). We basically decided that we would get this huge group of incredible professional dancers of all different types of dance and throw me into the middle of them and see what happens. So fun fact, at the end of the video, you will see a group of about 100 fans. Those are people we plucked from Instagram, Twitter, website, letters, everywhere. Can I get a round of applause?
Thank you to the fans in New York and around the world. Thank you to ABC and Yahoo. This is the most unbelievable party you threw for us. And to go, pre-buy the album go to taylorswift.com. You know what they say. There’s no sale like a presale. No one says that. I love you. Thank you for watching with us.

America's Got Talent

This is Kenichi Ebina's performance in America's Got Talent back last year.

Self-study activity:
It is a much more light-hearted activity today, where English almost plays a secondary role. Watch the video up to 00:40" and note down Heidi Klum's questions to Kenichi. Watch the same excerpt again and note down Kenichi's answers.

After the performance, write down the adjectives and remarks the panellists use to describe Kenichi's performance.



Hi there.
Look at you.
Hello.
What’s your name?
My name is Kenichi Ebina.
What is your act?
Um, my act is a dance-ish performance.
Dance-ish?
Ish, yes.
Okay. How did you get into dance-ish kind of performing?
Um, I knew only the one step called the running man. Like... and when I did it, people got loud and I said, yeah and so I was like, oh, I feel good.
All right. Good luck. Have fun.
Thank you. Thank you.
Oh, my god!

Ouch!
Yeah, I’m good.
Wow.
Wow.
That was crazy! There you go! Wow!
It’s amazing!
Wow!
Kenichi, that was pretty awesome.
Thank you.
I loved it. The stuff that you did, I haven’t seen anything like it before. You have a control over your body that is unbelievable.
Thank you, thank you.
Being the youngest judge on the panel, I can say, that was off the chain!
Thank you.
Honey, you’re no spring chicken. What are you talking about?
Oh, I am. I thought your head had come off your body. It was that convincing.
We see a lot of guys who come on stage who try to do what you do. They can’t do it. And you have a story to tell, you know you were doing the Matrix there. That was the whole movie, all in 90 seconds.
It was awesome.
It was magnificent. I could watch you all day.
Me too.
Thank you.
Right?
Yes, Howie?
I’m telling you that is the best dance we’ve seen in Chicago. It’s the best dance I’ve seen in a long time.
Thank you.
You told a great story.
Yeah, you were wonderful.
Thank you. Yes.
Let’s vote guys. I’m gonna start it off with a big yes!
Thank you!
I like what Heidi does with her eyes when she votes. It’s a yes.
Now, it’s a yes from me, you really would.
Thank you, thank you.
And my vote is yes-ish.
Thank you.
You’re going to Vegas!
Thank you!

How playing an instrument benefits your brain

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What's going on? Anita Collins explains in this TED-ed lesson the fireworks that go off in musicians' brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

Remember that if you drop by TED-ed , you can do a number of tasks related to this video, which include comprehension questions (Think), additional resources to explore (Dig Deeper) and conversation (Discussion).

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.

The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.



1 Tasks such as reading or doing math problems each have specific areas of the brain where they are carried out.
2 Listening to music has a specific area of the brain where it is developed.
3 Listening to music and playing a musical instrument are pretty much equivalent in terms of brain activity.
4 Playing a musical instruments makes the visual, auditory, and motor cortices stronger, which allows us to outperform in other activities.
5 Listening to music involves skills controlled in both hemispheres of the brain.
6 Playing a musical instrument makes the brain bigger.
7 Musicians make better planners and strategists.
8 Musicians usually have better memory.
9 Research has shown that learning to play a musical instrument shares a lot of aspects with learning other activities related to the arts.

Did you know that every time musicians pick up their instruments there are fireworks going off all over their brain? On the outside, they may look calm and focused, reading the music and making the precise and practiced movements required. But inside their brains, there's a party going on. How do we know this?
Well, in the last few decades, neuroscientists have made enormous breakthroughs in understanding how our brains work by monitoring them in real time with instruments like FMRi and PET scanners. When people are hooked up to these machines, tasks, such as reading or doing math problems, each have corresponding areas of the brain where activity can be observed.
But when researchers got the participants to listen to music, they saw fireworks. Multiple areas of their brains were lighting up at once, as they processed the sound, took it apart to understand elements, like melody and rhythm, and then put it all back together into unified musical experience. And our brains do all this work in the split second between when we first hear the music and when our foot starts to tap along.
But when scientists turn from observing the brains of music listeners to those of musicians, the little backyard fireworks became a jubilee. It turns out that while listening to music engages the brain in some pretty interesting activities, playing music is the brain's equivalent of a full-body workout. The neuroscientists saw multiple areas of the brain light up, simultaneously processing different information in intricate, interrelated, and astonishingly fast sequences.
But what is it about making music that sets the brain alight? The research is still fairly new, but neuroscientists have a pretty good idea. Playing a musical instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once, especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices. And as with any other workout, disciplined, structured practice in playing music strengthens those brain functions, allowing us to apply that strength to other activities.
The most obvious difference between listening to music and playing it is that the latter requires fine motor skills, which are controlled in both hemispheres of the brain. It also combines the linguistic and mathematical precision, in which the left hemisphere is more involved, with the novel and creative content that the right excels in.
For these reasons, playing music has been found to increase the volume and activity in the brain's corpus callosum, the bridge between the two hemispheres, allowing messages to get across the brain faster and through more diverse routes. This may allow musicians to solve problems more effectively and creatively, in both academic and social settings.
Because making music also involves crafting and understanding its emotional content and message, musicians often have higher levels of executive function, a category of interlinked tasks that includes planning, strategizing, and attention to detail and requires simultaneous analysis of both cognitive and emotional aspects.
This ability also has an impact on how our memory systems work. And, indeed, musicians exhibit enhanced memory functions, creating, storing, and retrieving memories more quickly and efficiently. Studies have found that musicians appear to use their highly connected brains to give each memory multiple tags, such as a conceptual tag, an emotional tag, an audio tag, and a contextual tag, like a good internet search engine.
So, how do we know that all these benefits are unique to music, as opposed to, say, sports or painting? Or could it be that people who go into music  were already smarter to begin with? 
Neuroscientists have explored these issues, but so far, they have found that the artistic and aesthetic aspects of learning to play a musical instrument are different from any other activity studied, including other arts. And several randomized studies of participants, who showed the same levels of cognitive function and neural processing at the start, found that those who were exposed to a period of music learning showed enhancement in multiple brain areas, compared to the others.
This recent research about the mental benefits of playing music has advanced our understanding of mental function, revealing the inner rhythms and complex interplay that make up the amazing orchestra of our brain.

Key:
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Talking point: Dancing

This week's talking point is dancing. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that you can think up ideas beforehand and the conversation flows more easily when you get together with your friends. You will also be able to work out any vocabulary problems.

• What different types of dancing can you think of (ballet, tap, disco, salsa, etc.)
• Think of two adjectives to describe each type of dancing, v.g., disco is fun but tiring.
• Which type of dance do you prefer? Which have you tried? Which would you like to try?
• How often do you go dancing?
• How do you rate yourself as a dancer?
• When and where was the last time you went dancing? Who did you go with? What was it like? What did you do before and afterwards?
• Which songs do you like dancing to? How do they make you feel?
• Have you ever taken dancing lessons? Would you be willing to pay to learn how to dance?
• Why are ball dances so popular these days?
• Do you know any really good movers and clumsy dancers?
• What dancing TV shows do you know? Do/did you watch them? Why (not)?
• How many different benefits (physical and psychological) of dancing can you think of?

To illustrate the topic, listen to the Elllo activity Are you a good dancer? where six people answer the question.

Remember that at Elllo you will find comprehension questions about the listening as well as a full transcript and a selection of some of the vocabulary items used by the speakers.