Describing music and music making

• Adverbs are used to describe a verb and give greater emphasis.

• Use adjectives to describe music and music making.

• This guide contains reading and listening practice.

Useful vocabulary to describe music genres, instruments and making music includes:

Useful verbs include:

For example:

Es mi canción preferida porque me gusta el ritmo – me hace bailar. - It’s my favourite song because I like the rhythm - it makes me dance.

Mi música favorita es el rock porque es increíble y tiene buenos instrumentos. - My favourite music is rock because it’s incredible and it has good instruments.

Normalmente escucho la música en mi móvil, usando una app. - Normally I listen to music on my mobile, using an app.

Adverbs describe a verb and help to give greater emphasis.

Many adverbs in Spanish are formed by taking the feminine singular form of the adjective, such as rápida, and adding mente to the end.

For example:

El cantante es realmente increíble. - The singer is really incredible.

Ayer el artista cantó perfectamente. - Yesterday the artist sang perfectly.

Useful adverbs include:

Averbs of frequency

Here are some useful adverbs of frequency and other phrases which indicate frequency:

For example:

Toco a la guitarra raramente. A veces toco en una banda. - I rarely play the guitar. Sometimes I play in a band.

Nunca he tocado un instrumento pero tengo una clase de música dos veces a la semana. - I have never played an instrument but I have a music lesson twice a week.

Me gusta escuchar música todos los días. - I like listening to music every day.

Voy a conciertos regularmente y toco en un grupo a menudo con mis amigos. - I go to concerts regularly and I play in a band often with my friends.

Find out more about using adverbs in the Adverbs in Spanish guide.

Read Dani’s email to Javier and answer the questions.

Hola Javier, soy Dani.

Mi cantante favorito se llama Elena Estrella. Su verdadero nombre es Carla García López. Esta noche dará un concierto, compré dos entradas. ¿Quieres venir?

Realmente aprecio el talento que tiene Carla para escribir canciones. Para mí es una artista trabajadora, absolutamente original. Su letra a veces es difícil de entender pero me ayuda a comprender mejor la vida. ¡Él es realmente genial!

Here is some vocabulary to help you describe music concerts, shows and festivals:

Useful verbs

Useful adjectives for music events.

For example:

Prefiero escuchar la música clásica porque me hace relajarme y me gustan las orquestas. - I prefer listening to classical music because it makes me relax and I like orchestras.

La fiesta musical tiene géneros diferentes de música, como el flamenco y el pop. - The music festival has different genres of music like flamenco and pop.

El año pasado fui a un concierto con mis amigos y nos divertimos mucho bailando y cantando. - Last year I went to a concert with my friends and we had a great time dancing and singing.

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Adjectives are useful to describe people, songs and performances.

In Spanish, adjectives usually go after the noun.

For example:

Es una canción (noun) maravillosa (adjective). - It’s a wonderful song.

La cantante tiene seguidores (noun) internacionales (adjective). - The singer has international fans.

In Spanish, adjectives must agree with the noun. For regular adjectives, change the o to a when using it for a feminine noun, and add s. for a plural noun.

For adjectives that do not end in o, but end in a consonant, such as l, these do not change if the noun is masculine or feminine, but add es for a plural noun.

For adjectives which end in z, the z is replaced by c in the plural.

Remember if you have more than one adjective in Spanish you need to add the word y (and) between the last two adjectives. Remember that ‘and’ becomes e when it is in front of a word beginning with i.

For example:

La canción tiene una letra emocionante y alegre. - The song has moving, cheerful lyrics.

Tiene un ritmo rápido e increíble. - It has a fast, incredible rhythm.

Find out more about how adjectives agree with nouns in the Adjectives in Spanish guide.

You are going to hear someone talking about music.

Decide which word fills in the gaps in the following sentences.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when talking about music and music making.

Useful vocabulary includes:

For example:

La cantante principal de la banda es una estrella famosa. - The lead singer of the band is a famous star.

El grupo grabó una nueva canción la semana pasada. - The band recorded a new song last week.

All vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful Higher Tier vocabulary to use when talking about music and music making.

Now you have revised the important vocabulary and key grammar points for talking about music and music making, why not have a look at the Talking about social media and games guide.