Image by Xi WEG on Flickr.com.

What is your favorite type of music – rock, pop, R&B, country, classical, techno? No matter what type of music you like the best, being able to talk about the music you like, or don’t like, is a good thing. After all, everyone likes to talk about music, right? Today I have a vocabulary building post for you with words about music to help you be better prepared to talk about your favorite music.

First take a look at the lit of words below and see how many of them you already know, I bet there will be at least few.

airplay
album
catchy
composer
concert
hit
instrument
instrumental
lyrics
live
latest
musician
number one
record
single
singer
soundtrack
top ten
vocal(s)

You might know what some of these words mean in general, but what do they mean when they are specifically related to music? Take a look below at this same list of words and definitions. See if what you thought the word meant, is really what it means.

airplay – the amount of time a song is played on a radio station, i.e. how often it is played
album – a collection of songs on a CD or record
catchy – a song that is easy to remember and sing
composer – a writer of music
concert – a public performance of music
hit – a popular song
instrument – a tool used to create music
instrumental – a song (or part of a song) that has no words
lyrics – the words of a song
live – music that is played in front of an audience
latest – the most recent music/song from an artist
musician – a person who plays a musical instrument or sings, as a hobby or as a profession
number one – the most popular song at any given time
record – a collection of songs; synonym to album
single – one song from a collection of songs or album
singer –  a person who sings songs
soundtrack – the music that accompanies a film or TV show
top ten – the top ten most popular songs in a particular genre of music at any given time
vocal(s) – the singing, or the words, in a song

Lastly, take a look at how some of these words are used in context.  See if you can figure out which words from above fit in the blanks below.

1.    The _____________________ to the new James Bond movie is amazing.
2.    I wish my favorite artist would get more ______________ on the radio.
3.    I am going to a __________ at the Rose Bowl this Friday. This will be the first time I see my favorite singer ______________.
4.    Phillip is an amazing ________________. I don’t know anyone who plays guitar as well as he does.
5.    This week’s ________ _________ songs on the local country radio station are all great, but the ___________ ____________ song this week is my favorite.
6.    That new song by Jay-Z is so _______________; I can’t stop singing it.

Answers:
1. soundtrack; 2. airplay; 3. concert & live; 4. musician; 5. top ten & number one; 6. catchy