The British poet and playwright William Shakespeare said
“There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is”.

Music is very powerful. It can change your mood, help you connect to others, and even heal you. Music can also be very helpful in your language learning journey.

As I have said before in my articles about English Literature,  learning a language is a lot easier when you have a context. Reading a story, you can remember words easily because they fit in with what is happening in a story. The same is true of music. If you are listening to English-language music and you encounter a word which you did not know the meaning of before, you are more likely to remember what the word means one you learn it, because you will remember it as part of the song.

How can you do this? The most effective way is to find music that you enjoy! The more fun you are having, the more language you will retain. People sing in English in all kinds of genres of music, from many different periods of history, so you are probably going to find some English-language music that you like listening to.

Perhaps you do not associate opera with the English language, but actually there are many English-language operas where the songs tell a story. The first opera to be composed entirely in English was Venus and Adonis (1683). Many English-language operas are based on Greek myths, which are still a huge influence on modern British culture, so listening to these songs can also help you understand British culture.

You can learn more about English-language opera here: https://theopera101.com/operaabc/history/english/

The most popular music genres in the UK nowadays are rock and pop, and the most popular band is Queen. Perhaps you have heard some of their songs before? The most famous, which is known as the unofficial British anthem, is called Bohemian Rhapsody. Most British people know all the words to this song, even if they do not know the words to the real national anthem.

In my articles about learning English from novels, I mentioned that reading children’s novels can be a great way to learn English, as the language is more simple than novels written for adults. The same can be true of music. Of course, as an adult, you may not enjoy listening to music made for children – a lot of children’s music is highly patronising. But there are some artists out there who are enjoyable to listen to by adults as well as little ones. The favourite children’s artist in my family is called Raffi. Most of his songs are in English, and they are fun and feel-good. You can find him on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/@Raffi

If there are any English-language movies you enjoyed watching as a child, you could also try listening to the songs from these movies to help you to learn English. Some of my favourite children’s-film music is from The Lion King. I also like Coco, and Aladdin. All of these films are made by Disney. You could also listen to translations of Studio Ghibli songs if that is what you enjoy.

I hope this article has given you some ideas about how to use music to help you on your language learning journey. One final thing I would like to mention is a great website for using music to learn English. It’s called Lyrics Training and you can find it here: https://lyricstraining.com/

Lyrics Training is a kind of game you can play to test your listening skills. First, you find a song which you already know. Then, you choose your level. ‘Beginner’ is of course the easiest, but why not challenge yourself? Then the song starts playing, with the video. In the video you can also read the lyrics – the words of the song. But, some of the words are missing! The aim of the game is for you to type the missing lyrics as fast as you can.

Interested in learning more about music and the English language? Please book a class with me.