Vocabolario sulla musica – Podcast in lingua inglese
Vocabolario sulla musica – Podcast in lingua inglese
Nel nostro quarto episodio parliamo di musica e di come ci fa sentire. Ascolterai una storia su musica e memoria, scoprirai alcuni dei benefici del canto e sentirai un articolo su come la musica influisce sul cervello.
Se vuoi migliorare il tuo inglese, qui trovi i testi di ogni parte dell’episodio. E non dimenticare di consultare il glossario finale (vocabolario sulla musica) con parole ed espressioni che forse non hai mai incontrato.
https://embeds.audioboom.com/posts/7802284/embed/v4
Episode Four: Thank you for the music
Narrator: Ever wonder what it’s like for someone not to be moved by music? No foot-tapping to a good tune, or jumping along to the beat at a concert, or singing aloud in the car to your favourite song? Music has the power to transport us, and ignite something in us, it even can make the hairs on your arms stand on end . This episode is called Thank you for the music.
Story One:
I recently saw a story covered on BBC news about an 80 year old called Paul Harvey. A former music teacher who now has dementia, he is an example of how musical ability can survive memory loss.
Paul’s son gave his Dad a challenge: to compose a piece of music from just four notes. It had been an “old party trick” of his father’s and he would improvise a song. Although diagnosed with dementia, he has continued to be able to play piano pieces from memory and create new ones. The composition was filmed by his son, put up on twitter and it went viral.
The brilliant performance was aired on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House for World Alzheimer’s Day, and this led to the BBC Philharmonic orchestra getting involved to orchestrate and play his piece. A great honour. Not only that but the song was released as a single, and it sped to the top of the iTunes and Amazon charts with proceeds going to the Alzheimer’s Society and Music for Dementia . Not many 80 year olds can boast at having a top single.
Music can help relieve depression, anxiety and other problems associated with dementia. Even those in the most severe stages of the disease, who can not speak or dress themselves, can still improvise music. Needless to say, it is very moving to watch the clip and it reminds us of the healing power of music.
Story Two:
Narrator: People love to sing, whether you are a budding soprano, or tone deaf. In fact, there’s solid scientific evidence to prove that singing is, in fact, good for your body and your mind.
Here are just some of the benefits of singing:
Singing is a natural antidepressant
Singing has been shown to be a joyful and uplifting experience. It generates a sense of positivity, happiness and enjoyment and helps distract people from any negative thoughts and feelings.
Singing lowers stress levels
Making music in any form is relaxing. Singing releases stored muscle tension and decreases the levels of a stress hormone in your bloodstream.
Singing stimulates the immune response
There’s evidence that singing boosts the immune system and helps fight off illnesses.
It may improve snoring
Regular singing may change the way you breathe, even when you’re not singing. Researchers found that significantly fewer choir members snored. This led them to recommend regular singing as a potential treatment for snoring.
And Improves lung function
Because singing involves deep breathing and the controlled use of muscles in the respiratory system, it may be beneficial for certain lung and breathing conditions.
Finally, it develops a sense of belonging and connection
When you sing together with others, you’re likely to feel the same kind of camaraderie and bonding that players on sports teams experience.
So what are you waiting for, stick on your favourite song, and sing it loud and proud!
Story Three:
Intro:
Everyone loves music right? Wrong. For roughly 3 to 5 percent of the world’s population, listening to a song is halfway between boring and distracting. This is a phenomena called musical anhedonia. Although these people may be capable of experiencing pleasure in other ways, they don’t enjoy music .
Story:
R esearch shows that the vast majority of people who enjoy music show an increase in heart rate or skin conductance—where a person’s skin temporarily becomes a conductor of electricity in response to something they find stimulating. Musical anhedonics, however, show no such physical change to music.
Recently, an experiment at the University of Barcelona identified people who didn’t listen to music as a hobby, and then tested them with numerous different pieces of music. One of the pieces included John Williams heartfelt score to Schindler’s List and the other, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Those affected showed no changes during the music, however they were able to identify what they thought they should be feeling.
A recent study took those findings a step further by studying responses in the brain to music and found that the listening and reward parts of the brain simply didn’t interact in response to music for anhedonics.
Still seem strange to you? Well, the findings have helped musical anhedonics within their social circles. They now have scientific proof that music really does nothing for them , and can get their well meaning family and friends to stop sending them songs!
Vocabolario sulla musica
Questo glossario accompagna l’episodio 4 della serie di podcast e ti offre il vocabolario sulla musica che hai ascoltato o letto e che potrebbe esserti nuovo o poco familiare.
Introduzione
- Moved – colpito/a emotivamente, commosso/a
- Foot-tapping – muovere il piede a tempo di musica; può anche essere un aggettivo composto per indicare una musica vivace e allegra
- make the hairs on your arms stand on end – ti sconvolge o ti spaventa (letteralmente: ti fa rizzare i peli delle braccia, cioè ti fa venire la pelle d’oca)
Storia uno
- top of the charts – molto popolare, al primo posto o quasi nella classifica delle canzoni più ascoltate
- moving – aggettivo che indica qualcosa che suscita una forte emozione (commovente)
Storia due
- budding – agli inizi, ma che mostra già segni di talento (in erba)
- tone deaf – incapace di percepire le differenze tra i suoni musicali (stonato); si usa in modo colloquiale per dire che qualcuno non sa cantare o non è portato per la musica
- stick on – phrasal verb che significa put on o play, cioè mettere su, far partire (su un dispositivo o un lettore)
Storia tre
- took those findings a step further – sviluppare o portare avanti qualcosa
- does nothing for them – non ha alcun effetto su di loro
- pieces of music – un singolo brano o composizione (ricorda che music di solito è non numerabile)
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