Episode 87 B

EPISODE 87
LEVEL B2

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

 

MUSICIANS AND MUSIC

Bobby is a musician and her job is to help rock musicians and other stars handle (= deals with)the pressures of fame and an often ridiculous lifestyle. One key aspect of her work is to ease (= make it easier)any tension among band members before a tour starts. Sometimes a band can even ask her to join the entire (=the whole) tour, in the same way as they would take their own personal physician, chef or trainer. When a group of people are on the road for months at a time, with a punishing (= really exhausting) schedule, alternately bullied (= criticised) by the manager and worshipped by fans, it does not make for the most stable atmosphere. Easy access to drink and drugs can add to this potent (=strong) cocktail. In this business everybody is paranoid about everything. There are some managers who are in therapy themselves, but nobody is supposed to know about it. Performers are often reluctant (= not willing) to admit they can no longer cope because they are afraid they will be thought weak. She set up her specialist practice Rock’n’Roll Therapy with another therapist in the early 90sand has been working in this area ever since. A lot of boy band come from problem families and have a very low opinion of (= not believe in yourself) themselves. When someone in a fragile (=stressful / weak) situation finds the fans have turned against them, the effect can be even devastating. If people learn to have a sense of self then it doesn’t matter if in the eyes of the world, they are great one day and rubbish the next, because they know who they are. A lot of the work I do is about helping them to know themselves ad recognising that success or failure in the business isn’t the be-all and end-all (= the only thing that matters) of life.

 

EXERCISE 1 

Answer the questions after reading the text:

1. What do you think would be the most stressful aspects of being on a tour?
2. Why do you think members of a rock band might want to have a therapist?
3. In what way could the feelings with fans be devastating?

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

SUBJECT:

• A man is standing over there. The man is my uncle.
  => The man _____WHO_______ / ____THAT_______ is standing over there is my uncle.

• The book  is lying on the table. The book is mine.
  => The book ______WHICH_____ / ______THAT______ is lying on the table is mine.

 

OBJECT:

• A man is coming tomorrow. I love the man.
  => The man ______WHO______ / ___WHOM________ / _____THAT____ I love is coming tomorrow.

• I bought the book. The book was very expensive.
  => The book ______WHICH_____ / _____THAT______ I bought was very expensive.

 

OBJECT + PREPOSITION:

• I work with this man. The man is very intelligent.
  => The man ____WHO________ / ______THAT_____  I work with is very intelligent.
  => The man with  ____WHOM______ I work is very intelligent.

• I paid for the book. The book is interesting.
  => The book ______WHICH______ / _____THAT_____ I paid for is interesting.
  => The book for  ___WHICH________ I paid is interesting.

 

POSSESSION:

• The boy’s hair is red. The boy is my brother.
  => The boy _____WHOSE________ hair is red is my brother.
  => The boy with red hair is my brother.

• The roof of this house is red. This house is mine.
  => The house ____WHOSE__________ roof is red is mine.
  => The house with the red roof is mine.

 

EXERCISE 2

Complete the sentences with an appropriate relative pronoun: who, which, that, why, when.

1. Until I was 8 we live in a village called Stanway ………………..is now a suburb of Colchester.
2. The school ………………. I went to was a 20-minute walk away.
3. I got on well with my sister ……………………… is ten years younger than me.
4. That’s the reason ………………….. the garden of our second house was so small.
5. There are some therapists ………………….knowledge is really crucial.

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

EXERCISE 3

ROLL UP = arrive somewhere, often late or unexpectedly
WEAR YOURESELF UP = make yourself very tired
STUMBLE ON = find by chance
THE HIGH POINT OF THE WEEKEND = the most enjoyable part

1. Don’t …………………. with loads of equipment.
2. Don’t …………………….by trying to see all the acts.
3. At one point I …………………an amazing performance of jazz dance.
4. For me, going to this concert was the ………………………  the weekend

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

EXERCISE 4 

MAKE FOR = provide
MAKE UP = become friends again after an argument
MAKE OUT = manage to see, read or hear
BE MADE UP OF = consist of 

1.It doesn’t ………………. the most stable atmosphere.

2. I couldn’t …………………… a good excuse for being late so I told the truth.
3. There was so much noise that I couldn’t ………………. what they were saying.
4. The band is………………. a drummer, a guitarist and a vocalist.

 

NEWS

Music has soothing powers

“”Music has soothing powers which work wonders on the mind, body and soul,” says Kolhapur-based IT professor Sachin Jagtap who uses musical therapy to aid the healing process of patients.

Music is proven to lift spirits and have a calming effect on people. City based IT professor Sachin Jagtap, who is a firm believer in the healing powers of music, has introduced music therapy in the city. Interestingly, he uses Indian classical ragas to help people with ailments. 

I heard a claim this week that has thrown me for a loop:

Music therapists should not be allowed to work by themselves with individuals with communication disorders.

Given that I am a board certified music therapist (and have been for 10 years), my reaction to this claim is likely stronger than most. Nonetheless, I am struggling to understanding how music can be divorced from communication. Certainly you can have communication without music . . . but can you have music without communication. 

As a music therapist, it is within my training and scope to use music to elicit spontaneous speech and communication, to address speech, language, and communication needs, and to target nonverbal expressions. I don’t diagnose or evaluate communication disorders. I don’t treat communication disorders. I assess and address speech, language, and communication needs . . and if the client is lucky enough, I get to do this in collaboration with a speech-language-pathologist .”

 

To lift = to make sb happier
Healing powers = possibilities to cure sth
Ailments= small health problems
Throw sb for a loop = make sb irrigated
Struggling = trying very hard
Disorders = small health problems

 

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