10 January 2008 (Thursday)

This was the first session of the new quarter where my conversation group was promoted in the Bellevue Community College English classes. I knew a lot of people would show up for this class to see what it is about. Usually I get about 20 people for the first class and, truthfully, it is hard for me to keep everyone interested with so many tastes in music.

Experience tells me that after the first large group in a quarter the following sessions are smaller, consisting of students who are real music fans and enjoy talking about music. Throughout the day today before class I wondered how many people would show up and what the group would be like.

When I arrived at 4.30pm there was already a group of students waiting in the room. But no media cart! I quickly called the media center and asked to have a media cart delivered to the room.

12 students, including the three who participated last quarter, showed up. That's a good and manageable size!

While we waited for the media cart I did the introductions about the class, explaining how it works. I introduced myself and then asked each student to introduce him/herself by name, where he/she is from and what kind of music they like.

This quarter I have a lot of students from Korea! But also some from Russia and one from Turkey. Everyone seemed to be true music fans and I am very encouraged by this group!

The media cart finally arrived at 4.40pm, in the middle of the introductions. As soon as the introductions were over I jumped into asking for suggestions for music to show the new students how the class works.

Because there are so many Korean students I asked one of them for a recommendation of music. She chose a Korean crooner, Sung Si Kyung (bio). We watched the song "Kori-esuh" (On The Street). I asked why she chose this song and she said she likes his voice.

Kung-Soo was clearly disinterested in this song and stated flatly "I don't like this singer." I asked why not and as he described his view I realized he feels Sung Si Kyung is "cheesy", so I tried to describe what this slang term means. It is used often in American English and any of my students would impress their Americans friends if they use it in a conversation.

I can't find an accurate definition of "cheesy" online! The closest definitions say "of inferior quality". But in the is context of critiquing a cultural thing (ex. singer, song, tv show, movie, etc), it means something is not very creative and that it tries to appeal to the lowest common denominator; it takes the easy way instead of the creative, challenging way.

The next song chosen was another Korean artist, Seo Taiji (bio). We watched the video "FM Business". I had never heard of this guy before, but the student who picked the song told us about how he doesn't like to be in videos or go into public. That is why the video is just animation. The student said that Seo just wakes up, makes music, goes to sleep and that is all. Wikipedia says his stardom in Korea is like that of Michael Jackson in the US -- wow!


The idea of an artist not wanting to be "seen" in public made me think of the band KISS (bio): until 1983 they were *never* photographed without their makeup on; it was a closely held secret and a great mystery what they actually looked like. Hiding an artists identity is now a somewhat common device: see Slipknot or Sido (a rapper from Germany) just to name a couple.


Since we had heard a couple of songs -- and quite divergent styles! -- from Korea, I asked one of the other students, this one from Turkey, to pick a song. This student loves opera music and chose "Nessun Dorma" sung by Pavarotti (bio). I asked when she likes to listen to this song, for example, when she is happy, or sad? She said she *always* loves this song!


The class asked her if there is a Turkish opera singer she likes. She suggested Ayhan Ustuk, a Turkish tenor. We watched this performance from Le Contes d'Hoffman.




Next Marianna chose "A Beautiful Lie" (video, lyrics) by 30 Seconds To Mars (bio). I asked what the lyrics of the songs are about but we didn't find a definitive answer. In fact, we decided that they are mostly non-sensical, that they just paint ideas like an impressionist painting without actually telling a specific story.



The next song chosen was "The War Is Over" by Sarah Brightman (bio). The link we clicked on for the video was a version of the video created by a fan which incorporates scenes from a video game. And this song is apparently not even featured in the video game! It is the handiwork of a fan of both Sarah Brightman and the video game. Very creatively done, I must say. This is the official video of the song (lyrics).

The student who chose the songs said she loves it because it has a calm feel to it and because she is against war.

This song made me think of suggesting Kate Bush to the student who chose it as another artist to explore. I played the song "Wuthering Heights" (video, lyrics) by Kate Bush (bio). However, as we watched the video I realized two things:

1/ Most of these students would think that the 70's look of the video is cheesy.

2/ When I first heard Kate Bush I *hated* her voice! It was only later that I came to love her singing.

To solve problem 1/ I simply covered the YouTube window with a window with the lyrics ;-) .

About point 2/, I asked the class if they have that same experience, detesting a singer's voice at first, then later coming to live that voice. Some had a similar experience. As another example of a singer who I didn't like at first but now think is brilliant I showed a clip of a Tom Waits (bio) song, "Going Out West" (video, lyrics).

To end the class I suggested another song that was a combination of a couple things we just talked about: a beautiful female voice and socially conscious lyrics. I played Sarah McLachlan (bio) "Wold On Fire" (video, lyrics). The video shows how much money a typical music video costs and how Sarah took that money, made a very simple video and put all the money that would normally be spent on video-related costs into charitable programs which help poor people.


With that class ended. The group seems really engaged and fun -- I look forward to next week!