Music: yesterday and today

Lesson Overview: Music – Yesterday and Today

This lesson explores vocabulary and expressions to discuss music across different time periods, focusing on the contrast between past and present musical styles, preferences, and trends. Designed for B1 level learners, it offers practical language tools to describe music genres, express opinions, and narrate experiences related to music.

Key Themes and Vocabulary

• Describing music genres: le rock, le jazz, la pop, le classique, le rap
• Talking about time: expressions such as jadis (formerly), auparavant (previously), de nos jours (nowadays), and aujourd’hui (today)
• Expressing opinions: phrases like Je préfère (I prefer), Je trouve que (I find that), and comparative structures such as plus… que (more… than)
• Narrating experiences: use of the passé composé and imparfait tenses to talk about past music experiences and compare them with current ones

Useful Example Phrases

• Hier, j'écoutais du jazz, mais aujourd'hui, je préfère la musique électronique. (Yesterday I was listening to jazz, but today I prefer electronic music.)
• Autrefois, les concerts étaient moins fréquents qu'aujourd'hui. (In the past, concerts were less frequent than today.)
• Je trouve que la musique moderne est plus énergique que la musique d'autrefois. (I find that modern music is more energetic than music of the past.)

Language Tips and Differences

Unlike English, French often places adjectives after the noun, and some expressions of time use specific adverbs such as jadis which doesn't have a direct common English equivalent but means "formerly" or "in the past." The use of tenses in French to express past actions or habitual past actions is essential for talking about music "yesterday and today." For example, imparfait describes ongoing or repeated past actions (j'écoutais), while passé composé describes completed actions (j'ai écouté).

Common phrases to get comfortable with include:

• Je préfère... / I prefer...
• Je trouve que... / I find that...
• Plus... que... / More... than...
• Moins... que... / Less... than...
• Jadis... / Formerly...
• De nos jours... / Nowadays...