Collocations for music - noun

beautiful, fine, good, great, wonderful
loud
quiet, soft, sweet
The soft background music made her feel sleepy.

ambient
heavy
Heavy music thundered from the basement.

light
serious
cool, funky
dramatic, lively, upbeat
tonal
atonal, twelve-tone
contrapuntal, polyphonic
live
recorded
background
canned, elevator (esp. AmE), piped (BrE)
band, choral, instrumental, orchestral, symphonic
guitar, keyboard, organ, piano, vocal, etc.
chamber
church, liturgical, religious, sacred
secular
mood
film, movie (esp. AmE)
ballet, incidental, theme
the incidental music for a radio play

acoustic, computer, digital, electronic, online
African, Indian, Irish, Western, etc.
mainstream, traditional
alternative, underground
urban
period
The movie uses appropriate period music.

experimental
avant-garde, Baroque, classical, contemporary, early, medieval, modern
popular
black, country, dance, disco, folk, gospel, heavy metal, hip-hop, house, indie, jazz, pop, rap, reggae, rock, soul, techno, world, etc.

piece
bar, line

listen to
Listening to music is a great way to relax.

hear
She could hear loud music from the party upstairs.

make, perform, play, sing
We love to make music as a family.

play, put on
Put some music on, would you? (= play a CD, etc.)

blare, blare out, blast, blast out, pump out
bars and nightclubs blaring music late into the night

download
turn down, turn up
Could you turn that music down?

compose, write
arrange, score
put sth to, set sth to
Schubert set several poems by Goethe to music.

create, produce
The city has produced a lot of good music.

provide
a beach party with music provided by a local band

release
distribute
broadcast
record
burn
I use my laptop to burn music to a CD.

rip
software that rips music from CDs

be into (informal), enjoy, like, love
She's really into indie music.

appreciate
The ability to appreciate music is largely learnt.

pirate, steal

sound
The music sounded vibrant and loud.

play
Calypso music played faintly in the distance.

blare, blast, boom, pound, pump
disco music blaring out of the open windows of a car

come, drift, emanate, flow, waft
The music was coming from next door.

fill sth
Music filled the air.

drown sb/sth out
fade, fade away, fade out
accompany sth
the music which accompanied the dance

emerge from sth
the music emerging from the cities of America

evoke sth, inspire sth
reflect sth

biz (informal), business, industry
scene
Rio's live music scene

world
She is a rising star in the music world.

genre
press
The album has been praised in the music press.

magazine
charts
The band are number one in the music charts.

award
concert, event, festival
collection
appreciation
aficionado, buff, enthusiast, fan, lover
composer, critic, director, journalist, mogul, producer, promoter, teacher
the choir's music director

group
legend, star
music legend, Elvis Presley

label
CD
video
download, file
album, track
channel, station
retailer, shop (esp. BrE), store (esp. AmE)
room, studio
venue
library
piracy
education
academy, college, school
class, lesson, workshop
therapy

to (the) music
to dance to the music

in time to (the) music
They did their exercises in time to the music.

music and song
an evening of Scottish music and song

the sound of music
The sound of pop music drifted through the open window.

a style of music
taste in music
Her taste in music was eclectic.

words and music
He made up the words and music for the song.

printed, sheet

bar, line, sheet

read
Can you read music?

score
stand
I pulled the lyrics out and laid them on the music stand.

publisher, publishing

music for
music for piano, cello and voice

with music, without music
He played the piece without music.