ESL Podcast 915 – Learning to Read Music

 　　Mike: You have a great voice. You should join our choir¹.

　　Grace: I don’t know anything about music. I can’t even read music.

　　Mike: It’s not that hard. I could teach you. Look, this is a piece we’re working on right now.

　　Grace: What’s that weird² thing at the beginning?

　　Mike: That’s the clef. It tells you which note each line and space on the staff represents.

　　Grace: Okay. What about these numbers?

　　Mike: That’s the time signature. It tells you how many beats are in each measure, and what kind of note gets one beat. This little number above there gives you the tempo³.

　　Grace: Hmm, that’s kind of complicated. Why are all of these notes stacked on top of each other?

　　Mike: That’s to indicate a chord, with two or more notes played together at the same time. See? Musical notation⁴ is really very simple.

　　Grace: I don’t think I got all that.

　　Mike: I’m happy to help you until you get the hang of it. We could even work on some duets. We could sing harmony or I can accompany you on the piano.

　　Grace: I think you’re overestimating⁵ my singing ability, but I’m willing to give it a try. At least, I think I can stay on pitch. I just don’t want to embarrass myself too much.

　　Mike: I think you’re overestimating the quality of our community choir!

1 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 tempo   

n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度

参考例句：

• The boss is unsatisfied with the tardy tempo.老板不满于这种缓慢的进度。
• They waltz to the tempo of the music.他们跟着音乐的节奏跳华尔兹舞。

4 notation   

n.记号法，表示法，注释；[计算机]记法

参考例句：

• Music has a special system of notation.音乐有一套特殊的标记法。
• We shall find it convenient to adopt the following notation.采用下面的记号是方便的。

5 overestimating   

对（数量）估计过高，对…作过高的评价( overestimate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I think you're overestimating his abilities. 我看你对他的能力评价过高。
• With hindsight, he was overestimating their desire for peace. 事后看来，他高估了他们对和平的渴望。