Are you the kind of person who likes to plan everything? Or would you rather just play it by ear? This episode is about being in the moment, not planning too much, and accepting what happens. To play it by ear is a very common expression used when people are deciding not to make plans. Listen in to hear more about this expression and some similar ones.

Maura:

Andrew, do you have any guesses about the origin of this expression?

Andrew:

Hmm. To play it by ear. It sounds musical to me.

Maura:

Yes. That’s why I asked you, because you’re a musician. So I thought you would probably figure it out.

Andrew:

Mmhmm. Yeah. When I play music, actually, I play a lot of different instruments, and I’ve always been really bad at reading music. And music theory is not something that comes easily to me. So usually when I play music, I play it by ear. I just listen and try to figure out what I’m doing while I’m playing.

Maura:

Exactly. So that’s where this expression comes from. That people would play music without looking at any notes and they just improvise the music in the moment. Maybe they’re jamming with some other musicians. And so it’s the same idea, except now we’re not talking about music anymore. We’re talking about plans for something.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

To take things as they come

To play it by ear

Set in stone

On the spur of the moment

To come easily (to someone)

To be down (with something)

Or what

To pull it off

To go with the flow

To roll off the tongue

A big step

When in doubt

To roll with the punches

It’ll happen for you

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Image Atari magazines