mu ‧ sic S1 W1 /ˈmjuːzɪk/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ music , ↑ musical , ↑ musician , ↑ musicianship , ↑ musicology , ↑ musicologist ; adjective : ↑ musical , unmusical; adverb : ↑ musically ]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: musique , from Latin , from Greek mousike 'art of the Muses' , from Mousa ; ⇨ ↑ muse 2 ]
1 . a series of sounds made by instruments or voices in a way that is pleasant or exciting:
I often listen to classical music when I’m in the car.
A new piece of music was specially written for the occasion.
2 . the art of writing or playing music:
Peter’s studying music at college.
music lessons
music business/industry etc
a career in the music business
3 . a set of written marks representing music, or paper with the written marks on it:
I left my music at home.
McCartney never learned to read music.
⇨ ↑ sheet music
4 . be music to your ears if someone’s words are music to your ears, they make you very happy or pleased
5 . set/put something to music to write music so that the words of a poem, play etc can be sung
⇨ face the music at ↑ face 2 (7)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ listen to music
Ella was listening to music on her iPod.
▪ play music
A small band was playing jazz music.
▪ write/compose music
He composed the music for the 'Lord of the Rings' films.
▪ make music (=play or compose music)
We began making music together about five years ago.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + music
▪ loud/soft/quiet
They were kept awake by loud music from next door.
▪ pop/rock/classical etc music
Johnny Cash was one of country music’s greatest stars.
▪ live music (=played by musicians on stage)
Most of the bars have live music.
▪ recorded music
Live music can sound very different from recorded music.
▪ background music (=that you hear but do not listen to)
the soft background music in the restaurant
▪ choral music (=sung by choirs)
We perform a wide variety of choral music.
▪ instrumental music (=with no singing)
a programme of instrumental music
▪ chamber music (=classical music played by a small group of musicians)
a performance of Schumann’s chamber music
▪ orchestral music (=classical music played by a large group of musicians)
He has a large CD collection, mostly orchestral music.
▪ piano/organ music
I love listening to piano music.
■ music + NOUN
▪ a music lover
Her recordings delighted music lovers.
■ phrases
▪ a piece of music
It’s a beautiful piece of music.
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say ' classic music '. Say classical music .
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ music the sounds made by musical instruments or people singing:
The music was really loud.
▪ tune the main series of musical notes in a piece of music:
a folk song with a pretty tune
▪ melody the main series of notes in a piece of music that has many notes being played at the same time, especially in classical music:
The soprano sang the melody.
▪ harmony the chords or notes in a piece of music that support the melody:
the rich harmonies in the symphony
▪ piece ( also piece of music ) an arrangement of musical notes – use this about music without words:
It’s a difficult piece to play.
▪ composition formal a piece of music that someone has written:
This is one of his own compositions.
▪ work a piece of music, especially classical music:
one of Mozart’s best-known works
▪ track one of the songs or pieces of music on a CD:
the album’s title track
▪ number a piece of popular music that forms part of a concert or show:
the show’s first number