The Union Jack

Music Idioms 1. A Jam Session/Jamming: If musicians play in a jam session, they play whatever they feel like playing in an informal setting. They play in an improvised setting, e.g. a few of my friends came over my house yesterday, and we had the most amazing jam session. 2. Blow your own Horn/ Blow your own Trumpet: If you blow your own horn/ trumpet, you proudly boast about your talents and successes. 3. Face the Music: If someone has to face the music, they have to accept the consequences of doing something wrong, e.g. I guarantee we will face the music in the future-face up to. 4. Change your Tune/Sing a Different Tune: If you change your tune, you change your opinion about something or your attitude towards someone. 5. (Go) For a song: If you buy/ sell something for a song, you buy/sell something for a very cheap price, at an unexpectedly low price- for peanuts. 6. Make a Song and a Dance about something: If you make a song and a dance about something, you make a big deal out of or a fuss over, something that isn’t very important. 7. Music to your Ears: If something is music to your ears, it’s just what you want to hear. 8. Play it by Ear: If you play it by ear you don’t plan ahead but you do whatever you can to make sure it is successful. 9. Ring a Bell: If something rings a bell, it sounds familiar or you think you’ve heard it before but you don’t remember the exact details. 10. Make Chin Music (slang): Talk/ Chatter-Chatterbox. 11. Elevator Music: Soft, usually jazz music played in public places. The phrase is often used derisively. 12. Set something to Music: To write a piece of music to accompany a set of words, e.g. the musical set lyrics to music. The rock band set the poem to music. 13. Stop the Music/ Stop the Presses (Informal): Stop everything! Hold everything! Press refers to the printing presses used to print newspapers. This means that there is recent news of such magnitude that the presses must be stopped so a new edition can be printed immediately, e.g. John (entering the room): Stop the presses! There’s a fire in the kitchen! Mary: Good Grief! Let’s get out of here! Stop the presses! Shouted Jane. I have an announcement to make. 14. Canned Laughter: prerecorded sound effects that can be played repeatedly. Canned Laughter today is often used in broadcasting to stimulate the reaction of a nonexistent live audience. 15. Chime in: If you Chime in, you interrupt or join a conversation , especially to repeat or agree with something, e.g. While I was explaining to the bus driver what had happened, the bus passengers chimed in and gave their version. 16. Drum (something) into someone’s Head: If you drum something to somebody through constant repetition, you drum it into their head, e.g. when we kids at school, multiplication tables were drummed into our heads. 17. As Fit as a Fiddle: a person who is as fit as a fiddle is in an excellent state of health or physical condition, e.g. my grandfather is nearly ninety but he’s as fit as a fiddle. 18. Play Second Fiddle: If you play second fiddle to someone, you accept to be second in importance to that person, or have a lower position, e.g. when Charles becomes chairman of the family business, his brother declared that he would rather leave than play second fiddle to him. 19. Fiddling while Rome burns: If you say that someone is fiddling while Rome burns, you mean that they are doing unimportant things while there are serious matters to be dealt with, e.g. His visit to the trade fair was fiddling while Rome burns according to the strikers. 20. Jazz something Up: If you jazz something up, you add something to try to improve it or make it more stylish, e.g. the dress needs a scarf or a necklace to jazz it up. 21. Strike/ Hit the false Note: If you strike a false note you do something wrong or inappropriate, e.g. He struck the wrong note with his future mother –in-law when he bought her a book on gardening – her favourite hobby! 22. Sound like a Broken Record: Someone who says the same thing again and again sounds like a broken record, e.g. Dad! Stop telling me to be careful when I drive. You sound like a broken record. 23. Tickle the Ivories: this is a humorous way of talking about playing the piano, e.g. my grandfather loves playing the piano. He tickles the ivories whenever he gets the chance. 24. Call the Tune: the person who calls the tune makes all the important decisions and is in control of the situation, e.g. He shows a lot of authority but in fact it’s his wife who calls the tune. 25. Sing a Different Tune: if someone sings a different tune, they change their opinion about something or their attitude towards something, e.g. He had no consideration for people out of work until he lost his job; now he’s singing a different tune. 26. Fine Tuning: Small changes to something to improve or make it work better are called fine-tuning, e.g. we are still fine-tuning our new website and appreciate your patience. 27. Blow the Whistle: If you report an illegal or socially-harmful activity to the authorities and give information about those responsible for it, you blow the whistle, or you are a whistle-blower, He refused to blow the whistle on his boss for fear of losing his job. 28. Clean as A Whistle: Something as Clean as whistle is extremely clean. This can also mean that a person’s criminal record is a clean, Bob spent the afternoon washing and shining his car until it was as clean as a whistle. 29. Clear as a Bell: If something is as clear as a bell, it is very clear or easy to understand, e.g. his instructions were as clear as a bell, everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to do. 30. Another String to Your Blow: If you have another string to your blow, you have another way of making a living. 31. Good enough for Jazz: Sufficient to suit the purposes at hand without needing to be perfect, e.g. there are still a few kinks to work out in how users’ comments are displayed , but it’s good enough for jazz at the moment. 32. Sing the Blues: (Literally) to sing blues music or in that style, e.g. There was this old man singing the blues last night; it was a really moving bit of music. By extension: to complain, whine, or express grief , especially as a means of gaining sympathy from others, e.g. Many people will sing the blues over trivial inconveniences, while millions of others silently suffer the real hardships every day. 33. Jazzy-Jazzier-Jazziest: pertaining to or suggestive of jazz music. Informal: Lively or active, Informal: fancy or flashy, e.g. a jazzy sweater. Jazzily (adverb), Jazziness (noun). 34. Jazzed (Up): Alert; having a positive state of mind, e.g. those guys were jazzed up and ready for the game. Alcohol or drug intoxicated, e.g. Dave was a bit jazzed up, but not terribly. Forged or altered (tinseled), e.g. better not try to cash a jazzed up check at this bank. 35. It takes two to tango: this is used to suggest, when things go wrong, both sides are involved and neither party is completely innocent, e.g. I know you saw what he did, but it takes two to tango, they are both equally to blame. 36. With bells On: This means to arrive somewhere happy and delighted to attend, e.g. yes I’m going to the party too, and I’ll be there with bells on. 37. You Can’t Unring a Bell: this means that once something has been done cannot be changed and you have to live with the consequences, e.g. I’m afraid you can’t unring the bell now, everyone heard what you said. 38. March to the Beat of your Own Drum: When someone does things the way they want to, without taking anybody or anything else into consideration, e.g. all he knows is to march to the beat of his own drum. 39. Swan Song: This expression is used to describe a final act before dying or ending something, e.g. I am going to resign tomorrow. This project was my swan song and now that it’s been completed, I will leave. 40. Strike a Cord: Used to describe something that is familiar to you of something or is connected to you somehow, e.g. that poem really struck a cord in me; it reminded me of my youth so much. 41. See you in the Bug Drum: a goodnight phrase used for children, e.g. Okay get some sleep now. See you on the big drum. 42. Whistle for It: If someone says this to you, it means that are determined to ensure that you don’t get what you are after, e.g. you can whistle for it as much as you like, this is an heirloom of our family and will stay with us! 43. Whistling Dixie: If someone is whistling Dixie, they talk about things in a more positive way than the reality. Mainly used in the US, e.g. he heard what the doctor had to say, but he still seems to be whistling Dixie. 44. Make a Song and a Dance about It: When someone makes a big deal out of, or a fuss over something that isn’t that important, e.g. I wish she’d stop making such a song and a dance about me moving out, it’s not a big deal. 45. Drum up Support/Business/ Interest: Try to get extra support/ Business/Interest by various means, e.g. I’ve been trying to drum up support for the local women’s right campaign by speaking to people in the neighborhood. We need to try and drum up some interest from the local residents; otherwise we’ll never be able to go ahead with our building plans! 46. Wet your Whistle: To drink something alcoholic, e.g. why don’t you join us tonight and wet your whistle? It’s been a long time since we went out together! 47. Trumpet something: To deliberately broadcast some news so everyone can hear, with the intent to boast about something, e.g. He hasn’t stopped trumpeting his promotion ever since he got it last month! It’s very annoying! 48. March to the same tune/ Sing from the same songsheet: When everyone follows the same plan, or says the same thing, can be used in the negative form, too, e.g. I would say the reason our business is failing is because everyone is not marching to the same tune! He is always singing from the same songsheet as others. I’ve never heard him come up with his own original ideas.