Lesson 26 Vocabulary
English word English Definition English Example sentence
1 to sing along to a song to sing a song together with a recording of the song I sing along to Tokunaga Hideaki songs sometimes.
2 accapella without instrumental music If you can sing accapella beautifully, you have a really great voice.
3 to be tone-deaf unable to hear the difference between musical notes or sing the right musical notes My uncle is tone-deaf; he can't sing well at all.
4 to sing in key to sing with the correct pitch of voice I can sing in key, except in really high keys.
5 to be well-known to be known by many people Madonna is a well-known singer.
6 to hum along with ~ to sing the notes of a song while keeping your lips closed If I don't know the lyrics, I just hum along with songs.
7 one's go to song A song you always pick when you go to karaoke because you can sing it well. I wanted to impress my friends, so I sang my go to song.
8 on stage to do something (usually singing) on a stage During the event, Obama was onstage with Bruce Springsteen.
9 to lose one's voice to be unable to use one's voice, usually due to strain. I sang so much that I lost my voice.
10 open mic night an event where anyone can get up on stage and sing to a group of people in a bar / club. My local coffee shop had an open mic night once a week.
11 to have a sing off to compete against someone in regards to singing ability Let's have a sing-off and see who's the better singer.
12 to hit a high note to use your voice to create a note that is very high in pitch When you sing songs written for female vocalists, you have to hit some high notes.
13 a tambourine a small musical instrument that is held in one hand and played by shaking or hitting it with the other hand Tambourines are associated with hippies in America, so they are not very popular nowadays.
14 to lip sync to pretend to sing or say recorded words Lip-syncing is very difficult because timing is very important.
15 to project one's voice to make one's voice sound very loud "If you want to sing without a microphone, you really have to project your voice."
16 to sing back up to sing the backing track to a song Michael Jackson always had many people singing backup.
17 lead vocals the words of the song that are the lead singer The person who sings lead vocals is usually the most popular in a band.
18 a chorus a part of a song that is repeated between verses The choruses of many AKB48 songs are really really easy to remember.
19 to know ~ off by heart to know something very well I know "Happy Birthday" off by heart.
20 to compete against ~ to try to be better or more successful at something than someone else I competed against Kaori Kozai in a singing competition
21 an oldie but a goodie an old song that is still popular Many songs from the 50's are oldies but goodies.