Music captures many emotions and has many melodic features that crosses over with linguistics. The brain cross-processes a considerable amount in language and music cognition – the two are intrinsically linked. It’s no wonder then, that learning a language through songs and music is an effective method.
Why learn English through songs and music?
There’s considerable evidence to support cross-learning between music and language. Using musical methods to learn languages definitely helps. In addition, there is the “Mozart Effect”. This concept is about how listening to music can improve mental performance.
Everyday language and colloquial speech
Music contains lots of useful vocab with plenty of phrases and expressions. The intended audience is native speakers, so the language used is often colloquial.
Get familiar with the sound of English
Listening to lyrics can get you accustomed to the rhythm and pronunciation of the English language.
Get English stuck inside your head
Many lyrics are repetitive and catchy. You’ll memorise the patterns and they’ll stick in your head. Lyrics will infiltrate your day to day thoughts and in the end, many phrases will be truly locked in to your memory.
Songs are emotional
Music is emotionally arousing and that makes it hugely rewarding. It unlocks a certain emotional response which language can seldom access, which means you are rewarded more for your language learning!
It’s an easy habit to get into
If you find it difficult to get into a language learning routine then listening to foreign music can be an easy habit to get into. Swap your regular music and listen to foreign music instead to improve your language skills. You can have English songs playing at many times – your car, the shower, kitchens. And by picking music you like, you can listen to the same material over and over again, without becoming bored.
Music is culturally important
Learning language through music enhances your cultural understanding. This can help you get some perspective on English, including common topics and current events.
The benefits of learning English through songs and music
Increasing confidence
Learning English with music gives you an overview of the language and its syntactic functions. Your confidence of how sentences are structured and why, will grow. Also, it’s tremendously helpful to hear speech to understand their colloquial and cultural relevance.
Becoming more fluent and familiar with phrases
Lyrics are often articulated with particular fluency. It depends on the song, of course, but often, lyrics are spoken rhythmically and evenly to a beat. Glueing sentence formation to rhythm increases familiarity – it’s easier to recount things rhythmically rather than sporadically.
Learning more about English-speaking cultures
Music is one of the world’s main shared cultures. Its connective power is transferrable and far-reaching.
8 cool pop songs that makes learning English fun
Why pop music?
You don’t have to listen to pop music, it can be anything you like. However, pop is a good place to start purely because lyrics are often repetitive and simple. So are the melodies that go along with them and overall, they should be easier to understand.
- Blackbird by The Beatles
The Beatles have many catchy, memorable melodies and are great to help you learn English.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
- “ABC” by Jackson 5
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has written so many great lyrics. “ABC”, one of his earlier hits focuses on vocab related to relationships, love and education. It’s simple and its catchy chorus will have you humming all day long.
- “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young
Neil Young had just the one hit single but this tune is world famous and uses simple lyrics to evoke a search for true love.
I’ve been in my mind,
It’s such a fine line
That keeps me searchin’ for a heart of gold
And I’m gettin’ old
- “Our House” by Madness
This busy song takes you through some daily tasks that may feature in a British household. It’s quite literally worded and is easily relatable.
Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt
Then she sends the kids to school
It’s quite clearly a story that most people can connect with.
- “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye
This legendary tune uses the English past tense in many forms with plenty of idioms and figurative expressions. For example, ‘heard it through the grapevine’ means hearing something through gossip or rumours.
- “The Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars
This worldwide hit focuses on a lazy person who doesn’t want to do anything! Something relatable, for some! Its catchy and has future tenses like I’m gonna kick my feet up and stare at the fan. As well as tons of slang which is very popular in English:
Chilling means to sit back and relax – ‘I’m chilling on the sofa’
My old man is a slang term for ‘my father’.
The term birthday suit means ‘naked’ – that’s what you were wearing on your day you were born!
To let everything hang loose means to let it all relax.
- “Every Breath You Take” by The Police
Another worldwide hit, this has been covered in so many different languages. It’s about someone who longs for someone else, but despite popular opinion suggesting it’s a love song, many say it’s about a stalker. The Police’s lead singer, Sting explained in an interview; “I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership.”
And you can see that in the lyrics:
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
- “Beautiful Day” by U2
This is a quite challenging tune about the beauty of life. It’s quite powerful, it will easily get into your head and the chorus features some easier phrases.
The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
Using music is a fun, easy way to learn English!
Whatever your choice in songs, music is always a great choice for learning a language. There are many reasons for learning a language this way and it’s still a developing area of linguistics and science.
Music tickles the senses and helps us learn language through catchy melodies. It helps us remember things and complicated rhythms, and all of that helps us engage with more abstract sentences. We can learn new phrases and this allows us to broaden our grasp on colloquialisms, helping us to become more fluent.
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