Another week, another opportunity to fine-tune our knowledge of the differences and similarities between some similar-looking Spanish words. These are música and músico.
Starting with the feminine noun música, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
La música is the art of creatively combining sounds melodically, harmonically and rhythmically to have a particular effect. It is also an instance of this or the written or printed instructions for producing it. What is it? Music.
la música popular
popular music
Empezó a estudiar música a una edad muy temprana.
He began to study music at a very early age.
De niño, aprendió a tocar música en la banda familiar.
As a boy, he learned to play music in the family band.
En este periodo, comenzó a componer música para orquesta.
In this period, she began to compose orchestral music.
un método para aprender a leer música
a method for learning to read music
Una música is a woman who excels at playing or writing music – a musician:
Estudiaba para ser música profesional como su madre.
She was studying to be a professional musician like her mother.
Turning to the masculine form músico, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
Unsurprisingly, given the last sense, un músico is a man who excels at playing or writing music – a musician:
Soy músico.
I’m a musician.
Su padre también era un músico destacado.
His father was also an outstanding musician.
Es un vocalista, músico y compositor estadounidense.
He’s an American vocalist or singer, musician and composer.
Son todos músicos profesionales.
They’re all profesional musicians.
Having shuffled through the noun uses of músico and música, it’s time to turn to its use as an adjective (whose ending is in harmony with the noun it describes). So what does it mean? Musical. (You will find the Spanish word ‘musical’ is more frequently used as an adjective in this case.)
las composiciones músicas para las próximas festividades de Semana Santa
the musical compositions for the forthcoming Holy Week festivities
DID YOU KNOW?
Especially in Catalonia, for dessert you may be offered postre de músico (literally musician’s dessert). This is a little dish of frutos secos – perhaps avellanas (hazelnuts), almendras (almonds), nueces (walnuts), piñones (pine kernels) and dried fruits such as pasas (raisins) – often accompanied by a glass of moscatel (muscatel – a sweet dessert wine). Why is it called this? No one knows for sure, but perhaps musicians were thought to lack time to eat something more substantial between performances.
To tune into the differences in usage between some more linked or closely related Spanish words, come back next week.
