Music idioms

If someone says something that you are very pleased to hear, you can say that it is music to your ears, as in ‘Their offer of help was music to my ears’ (=música celestial)

It would be quite a different matter however, should you be required to face the music,(=hacer frente a las consecuencias) as this would mean that you have to accept punishment or criticism for something you have done wrong. If that happens, it's probably better not to make a song and dance about it (= great fuss, exagerar; complain a lot about something in an annoying and unnecessary way).

Sometimes it's difficult to strike the right note (create a particular mood by the way you speak or behave) but, if you do so, you might touch or strike a chord with someone (produce a particular emotion in them), as in 'Her tale of woe struck a chord with Edward'.(=Tocar las fibras sensibles)

If you change your tune, you change your opinion or attitude, as in 'Is that your dog? You've changed your tune. You always used to hate dogs!’(=cambiar de opinión)

If you dance to someone’s tune, you do what they tell you to do and, in that situation, it's that person who calls the tune (is in control), as in ‘At the moment the money markets are not sure who is in charge and who is calling the tune (=mandar, tener la última palabra)’.

The expression to the tune of is used to emphasize how large a sum of money is, as in ‘The company is in debt to the tune of £1.2 billion’,(=nada más y nada menos que, por la friolera de ) and if something goes for a song, it is sold at a very cheap price, as in ‘Video recorders are going for a song these days’.(=baratisimo)