In American English, when someone says he has to "face the music", it doesn't mean he is going to a musical performance or a concert.
Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful sports car. She says, "Please don't drive i. I's an extremely fast car." But you want to pretend the car i yours. So, you drive it around one night. As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. When your fiend returns, you must "face the music". It can be losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her car or both.
In 1851, the writer James Fenimore explained "face the music". In a theater the orchestra（管弦乐队）sits in front of the stage. So, the actors on stage face the musicians. Many actors are very nervous, and this condition is called "stage fright "They may want to run away. "Facing the music" means accepting it and not giving in to it.
Word experts say "face the music" may come from the army. A soldier could be forced out of the horse cavalry（骑兵团）because of the serious mistake in the war. The army drummers would play a sad beat. The soldier would be seated backward on a horse and face the music of the drums.
To "take your medicine" is to accept the bad result from something you have done. And if someone says, "You made your bed. Now lie in it, "he means you create a bad situation and you must deal with it. "Pay the piper" is also similar to "face the music". But it's fun to "lie in the bed and enjoy music".
There are many idioms（习语）in the English language，whose real meanings are largely based on the context. Don't read only with your eyes, or you would make a foo of yourself.
