Shadowing Practice: Dream Theater interview - James LaBrie (part 1) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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47 sentences
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1
Sometimes at live shows you cover whole albums.
2
You did Monster of Puppets, Number of the Beast, Dark Side of Moon, Made in Japan.
3
Which one was the hardest to do and why?
4
I don't know.
5
I think maybe
6
Made in Japan just because we were...
7
Just because of our scheduling and stuff like that, we were doing a lot of shows.
8
I was learning memorizing the lyrics in between and stuff like that.
9
But not musically, it was pretty easy.
10
But I think that one and maybe
11
Number of the Beast, it was the same situation.
12
Which, I mean, we're aware of that.
13
I mean, when we're out on the road and we're planning on covering a classic album, we're doing two things at once.
14
We're concentrating on our shows and our music as well as learning someone else's music.
15
Why these albums?
16
Because they are albums that we grew up, we were inspired by, that we think are classic rock albums of their time.
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And it's our way of just saying, you know, here's our interpretation and here's us paying homage to a great and fantastic album from that band.
18
Is that one that is most special for you?
19
Well, actually, doing
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Dark Side of the Moon was pretty incredible.
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And we had Theresa who was doing all the background female vocals and that.
22
And she had been with us on the Scenes from New York DVD.
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So there's a bit of a history there with her so that was kind of cool because it was a little bit,
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it was very deep in that sense
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and it just had a really great vibe and you could tell everyone was really into it.
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Not that they haven't been into whenever we're doing any like
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Master of Puppets or Number of the Beast or anything like that, I mean the people were totally into it.
28
Yeah, any plans for doing that again?
29
Well, definitely, I mean, we're going to be doing,
30
you know, stuff like, like a, fuck you.
31
I'm looking at that guy there, interrupting us.
32
Anyways, we're going to be doing, yeah, definitely, we're going to be covering a lot of classic albums.
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It's just a matter of, it's timing, you know, when we're going to do something and when we can do this.
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But we definitely plan on, in the future, we will continue to cover.
35
classic albums.
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Don't get this question wrong, but I was thinking, you can imagine that people think because you're doing this,
37
is it not a little bit disparaging from Dream Theater?
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Is this not that hard, this music to play?
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No, no, I don't think it's that.
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I mean, you know, it's not a matter of us doing something that we feel is challenging.
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It's something that we feel inspired us.
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It's something that we feel that we can, we respect.
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So it has nothing to do with whether it's complicated or technical like we are, because there's many different sides to Dream Theater as well.
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It's not just all about the progressiveness.
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There's also metal, there's also classic rock, there's also alternative influence in our music, and even pop influence to a certain degree.
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So it's stuff that we feel is really our way of saying, this album had an impact on us,
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and we feel that it'd be really cool for our fans to hear this album with us doing it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Dream Theater interview - James LaBrie”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: album, classic, Beast, definitely, shows. This video has 47 sentences and 573 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:39. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| complicated adjective | /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ | Difficult or convoluted. |
| lyrics noun | /ˈlɪɹ.ɪks/ | The words to a song (or other vocal music). |
| interpretation noun | /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/ | An act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version. |
| vocal adjective | /ˈvoʊ̯.kəl/ | Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech. |
| concentrate verb | /ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/ | To bring to, or direct toward, a common center; to unite more closely; to gather into one body, mass, or force. |
| anyways adverb | /ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/ | Anyway, anyhow, in any case. |
| vibe noun | /vaɪb/ | An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing. |
| bind verb | /ˈbaɪ̯nd/ | To tie; to confine by any ligature. |
| homage noun | /(h)oʊˈmɑʒ/ | A demonstration of respect, as towards a person after his or her retirement or death. |
| interrupt verb | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/ | To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking. |
| disparage verb | /dɪsˈpæɹɪd͡ʒ/ | To dishonor by a comparison with what is inferior; to lower in rank or estimation by actions or words; to speak slightingly of; to depreciate; to undervalue. |
| memorize verb | /ˈmɛm.əˌɹaɪ̯z/ | To fully learn so as to have entirely available to the memory; to learn by heart, commit to memory. |
| musically adverb | /ˈmjuːzɪkəli/ | In a musical manner. |
| progressiveness noun | The quality of being progressive |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Which, I mean, we're aware of that.
- Is that one that is most special for you?
- I'm looking at that guy there, interrupting us.
- No, no, I don't think it's that.
- It's something that we feel inspired us.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: interpretation /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/, homage /(h)oʊˈmɑʒ/
- Long words — get the stress right: complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, interpretation /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/, musically /ˈmjuːzɪkəli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like inspire, complicated, lyrics.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.