Mixtapes

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• killer
• take down
• backlash
• sell out

• track
• a crush
• lost art
• burn a CD

• antiquated
• kick off

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

“Making a mixtape is like writing a letter.” Or so says the main character in the movie High Fidelity, a guy who’s better at expressing his feelings through other people’s songs than by using his own words.

Making mixtapes, or recording a mix of songs by various artists onto a single cassette tape, became popular during the 1980s. Some people like mixtapes because they can put a bunch of their favorite tracks together in one place. Other people give mixtapes as gifts. Giving your crush a mixtape filled with love songs is one way to tell them how you feel.

Fans of the mixtape, like the guy from High Fidelity, think making an awesome mixtape is a lost art. Listen to Devan try to convince Amanda that making a mixtape is better than burning a CD.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amanda

Devan

Amanda:  So, I have this crush. I may have crossed the line, but I made him this, um…Well, I burned him this mixed CD last night.

Devan:  Oh, CD, you should’ve made him a tape.

Amanda:  A what?

Devan:  A mixtape.

Amanda:  I don’t know what that is.

Devan:  You know, like a cassette tape. You never used to make people mixtapes?

Amanda:  Um, how is he supposed to play that?

Devan:  On a tape player.

Amanda:  A tape player?

Devan:  He could play it in his car. See, this is why…

Amanda:  In his car?

Devan:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Not unless it was made in like 1970.

Devan:  See, though, let me explain to you why a mixtape is far superior to a mixed CD.

Amanda:  OK.

Devan:  If you would give him a mixed CD, what’s the first thing you do when you get a mixed CD? You skip through the tracks to find the ones you know and that you like.

Amanda:  Yeah, and?

Devan:  And, did you not put thought into the order that you put those songs on that CD?

Amanda:  No, I didn’t.

Devan:  You didn’t put any thought into transitions?

Amanda:  No, I didn’t.

Devan:  See, a mixtape is a lost art. It’s a lost art. Because with a mixtape, they can’t skip through the tracks so they have to listen to it from beginning to end. And you can put all this like art and technique into the transition from one song to the next, to the meanings…

Amanda:  Like a story? Like one chapter to the next?

Devan:  Exactly. Like, did you see High Fidelity when he’s explaining how to make a mixtape?

Amanda:  Yes.

Devan:  You gotta kick it off with a killer. And then you take it down a notch. You know? It’s like that. There’s an art to making a mixtape. Making a mixed CD is just too easy, it’s just click, click, click, burn, send. There’s no art in that.

Amanda:  So, um, hold on. I didn’t realize there’d be that much backlash about me just burning this CD. It’s no big deal. I mean, I didn’t really think that I sold out with that.

Devan:  Maybe next time you should put a little more thought into your presents. People will appreciate them more.

Amanda:  Well, maybe you could supply the equipment and the material so I could actually do something that antiquated. Deal?

Devan:  Deal.

Amanda:  Awesome.

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