La música or just music is a great conversation starter and the perfect way to raise cultural awareness since Spanish speaking countries have an array of music styles and dances. Learning music related vocabulary is a handy tool to start any conversation. Whether you are a music lover or not, music is a recurrent topic in any real life conversation so it is important to acquire music phrases to get involved in any chat. This topic is perfect for beginners to share their interests and opinions using basic vocabulary and grammar structures.
A good way to start a conversation is talking about the music you like the most. To do so, you simply use
| 1 | Me gusta, Me encanta | I like, I love, |
| 2 | Me interesa | I’m interested in, |
| 3 | Prefiero | I prefer. |
If you want to ask someone else about their music preferences, you simply use question words such as
| 1 | ¿Qué clase de música…? | What kind of music….? |
| 2 | ¿Quién es tu cantante favorito? | Who’s your favourite singer? |
| 3 | ¿Cuál es….? | Which is…? |
Talking about estilos de música or music styles is really simple for any Spanish speaking student since most of them remain the same in both languages. You need to remember that nouns in the Spanish language are preceded by a definite article: masculine (El) or femenine (La). In order to know which one to use, you have to pay attention to the ending of the noun: La cumbia, La salsa or El rock alternativo.
Types of Spanish Music
| 1 | El rock latino | Latin rock |
| 2 | La cumbia | Cumbia |
| 3 | El merengue | Merengue |
| 4 | El rap | Rap |
| 5 | El reggeaton | Reggeaton |
| 6 | La música clásica | Classical music |
| 7 | La salsa | Salsa |
| 8 | La música sinfónica | Symphonic music |
| 9 | El blues | Blues |
| 10 | El folklore | Folk music |
| 11 | La ópera | The opera |
| So as to spice up a conversation, Spanish speaking students need to know basic music related vocabulary such as músicos or musicians, lugar de eventos or venue, tipos de grupos musicales or types of musical groups. You can use these vocabulary in short sentences such as Rosalía es una cantante or Rosalía is a singer, La Oreja de Van Gogh es una banda or La Oreja de Van Gogh is a band, El concierto es mañana or The concert is tomorrow. In every example, the noun is in the singular form, so the verb that matches the 3rd person in singular is es or is. |
| 1 | La canción | A song |
| 2 | La banda | A band |
| 3 | El concierto | The concert |
| 4 | El escenario | The stage |
| 5 | La letra | The lyrics |
| 6 | El músico | The musician |
| 7 | El/La solista | The soloist |
| 8 | El duo | The duet |
| 9 | El cuarteto | The quarter |
| 10 | Concierto acústico | Acoustic concert |
| 11 | El coro | The chorus |
| 12 | El/la canta-autor | The songwriter |
| 13 | La audiencia | the audience |
Once Spanish speaking students are familiar with basic vocabulary related to music, it is important to learn some verbs so as to form coherent sentences. The most common verbs are aplaudir, cantar, tocar, interpretar, escuchar or to clap, sing, play, interpret, listen to. When you go to un concierto people tend to aplaudir at the end of it. La vocalista canta rock nacional or the vocalist sings national rock. La banda interpreta una canción en español or the band interprets a song in spanish. La audiencia escucha música heavy metal or the audience listens to heavy metal music.
| 1 | Interpretar una canción/música/ una sinfonía | To perform a song/ music/ a symphony |
| 2 | Ensayar una canción | To rehearse a song |
| 3 | Escuchar una canción/ música/ un CD/Jazz/ grabación | To listen to a song/music/ a CD/ Jazz music/ a recording |
| 4 | Sonar una nota/ la trompeta | To sound a note/ the trumpet |
When talking about musical instruments you simply use the verb tocar which means to play a musical instrument. It is important that the name of any musical instrument is followed by this verb since, otherwise, it literally means to touch. You simply say Yo toco la guitarra or I play the guitar.
| 1 | El piano | The piano |
| 2 | El violín | The violin |
| 3 | El saxofón | The saxophone |
| 4 | Las castañuelas | The castanets |
| 5 | La trompeta | The trumpet |
| 6 | El violonchelo | The violoncello |
| 1 | Esta música es muy buena | This song is really good |
| 2 | Rosalía canta muy bien | Rosalía canta muy bien |
| 3 | Este cantante tiene una voz muy grave | This singer has a throaty voice |
| 4 | Esta banda toca muy bien | This band plays very well |
| 5 | El concierto es espectacular | The concert is spectacular |
| 6 | El espectáculo es genial | The show is great |
| 7 | El espectáculo es pésimo | The show sucks |
Music is considered to be a good conversation starter. When you are learning Spanish, it is useful to have a few topics of conversation in mind so as to get involved in a chat in Spanish. If you run out of topics, talking about músicos or musicians, canciones or songs will help you practice your speaking skills.
| 1 | No puedo creer que aun no hayas escuchado a Alejandro Sanz | I can’t believe you haven’t heard Alejandro Sanz yet. |
| 2 | Ayer fui a un concierto de David Bisbal y me encantó | I went to a David Bisbal’s concert yesterday and I really enjoyed it. |
| 3 | Escucha la letra de esta canción. Tiene un mensaje muy profundo | Listen to this song’s lyrics. It has a very profound message |
| 4 | Cierto. La letra en realmente muy buena | It 's true. The lyrics are really good |
| 5 | ¿Qué piensas de Ricardo Arjona? | What do you think of Ricardo Arjona? |
| 6 | La verdad es que tiene un estilo muy personal | To be honest, he has a very personal style
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| 7 | ¿Conoces esta canción? | Do you know this song? |
| 8 | No. ¿Quién es el/la cantante? | No. Who 's the singer? |
| 9 | ¿Cómo se llama esta canción? | What’s this song’s name? |
| 10 | No sé como se llama | I don’t know its name |
| 11 | ¿Quién toca? | Who 's playing? |
| 12 | ¿Quién canta? | Who 's singing? |
| 13 | ¿Conoces esta banda? | Do you know this band? |
| 14 | ¿Cuál es el nombre de esta banda? | What’s the name of this band? |
Learning music related vocabulary will massively improve your vocabulary and grammar. Talking about the music you like or listen to in Spanish will help you develop your communication skills and raise cultural awareness about the Spanish speaking culture. It is also highly important to recognize a wide range of adjectives to give an opinion on different musical styles or particular singers or bands.
