Shadowing Practice: Mick Jones Thinks Today's Music Is Contrived | HPL - Learn English Speaking with Video

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35 sentences
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1
What do you listen to, if not your own stuff?
2
Well, I like to keep my ear to the ground.
3
I mean, I have amongst my children several people that are...
4
Several of my children are in music. And...
5
That's true, even some of your stepkids.
6
Yes, Mark Ronson is my stepson and...
7
Sam as well.
8
Pardon?
9
Sam.
10
And Samantha, yeah.
11
And two of my younger boys are preparing albums at the moment.
12
Um, I listened, I kind of, um, very varied, you know.
13
As far as rock goes, I think perhaps two of the bands that I think stand out, perhaps are The Black Keys and Queens of the Stone Age.
14
I like that.
15
Why?
16
Because it's got that raw kind of edge to it.
17
It's natural.
18
It doesn't sound contrived at all.
19
So much of music and songwriting seems contrived, if not is contrived.
20
What do you make of that?
21
How did that happen?
22
Well, I guess it's recycling it in a way.
23
I think the 70s, I think people have this image, young people have this image that the 70s were this free thing where things were being,
24
the world was being reinvented and music and everything.
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I think they're fascinated by that period, which I don't think these days has the flamboyance or the excitement
26
that was there when people were just discovering and making that kind of music.
27
There was kind of a, you know, musicians had balls, for lack of a better term, you know?
28
You felt their presence was larger than life, truly, and not because of the staging and the lighting and the, you know, marketing.
29
It was something else.
30
Yeah, you, um, everything has sort of been done in a way.
31
So, I mean, it's never everything.
32
Yeah, yeah, no, I know what you mean.
33
A lot of it was created then and, um, and, you know, as you say, it was, people were larger than life, some of the artists, uh,
34
uh, and, you know, some great artists, some great music, and a lot of it has become timeless.
35
Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 35 sentences and 351 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:24. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
discover verb/dɪˈskʌvə/To find or learn something for the first time.
amongst/əˈmʌŋst/Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. See usage note at amidst.
vary verb/ˈvɛəɹi/To change with time or a similar parameter.
excitement noun/ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/The state of being excited (emotionally aroused).
musician noun/mjuˈzɪʃən/A composer, conductor, or performer of music; specifically, a person who sings and/or plays a musical instrument as a hobby, occupation, or profession.
pardon noun/ˈpɑːdn̩/Forgiveness for an offence.
timeless adjectiveEternal.
contrived adjective/kənˈtɹaɪvd/Created in a deliberate, rather than natural or spontaneous, way.
fascinate verb/ˈfæsɪneɪt/To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone.
flamboyance nounThe condition of being flamboyant.
recycle verb/ɹəˈsaɪkəl/To break down and reuse component materials.
reinvent verb/ɹiːɪnˈvɛnt/To invent again something that has already been invented.
songwriting nounThe work of a songwriter.
stepkid nounstepchild
stepson noun/ˈstɛpsʌn/The son of one's spouse from a previous relationship.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
stand out verbTo jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.).

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, don't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like discover, amongst, vary.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →