After much thought, I have decided to take a break from meeting every week for the summer.
I will continue to organize events for the group through the summer. Last week some of us we went to both the flamenco show and did the boating on Lake Union, both of which were a lot of fun!!
If you ever have a question about any cultural event(s) in Seattle this summer, do not hesitate to call or write me an email -- I will be happy to advise on activities!
Here's wishing you all a great summer!
Steve Z
22 June 2008
10 June 2008
Upcoming event: Boating trip Friday, 20 June
I have suggested to the class that we do a fun field trip together: boating on Lake Union in Seattle! We have talked about which day to do this and it seems that Friday, June 20th works for the most people. In order for me to more easily track who is coming, I am going to send an "Evite" (an electronic invitation) to everyone in the class. Please look for an email from me via "Evite" then go to www.evite.com to confirm if you will participate in this activity. Here is the plan:
Note: if the weather is bad (cold or rainy) we can cancel up to 48 hours in advance of the reservation!
We meet over at Lake Union in Seattle at 5.30pm on Friday, 12 June.
- We will be on the lake for about two hours.
- Each boat holds about 10 people. You can bring your friends who are not in the music discussion class.
- It will cost about $20 each.
- We will bring our own food and drink.
- There will probably be too many people to fit into my small car; you will have to plan on getting to the starting location yourselves (carpool or bus). You will have to get yourself to here: http://www.theelectricboatco.com/location.asp
Upcoming event: Flamenco night, 17 June (Tuesday)
Hong-Bo will return home to Korea soon and I want to take him to see my friends do their flamenco performance before he leaves. We will go on Tuesday, 17 June.Anyone else who wants to come is welcome to join us; if you want to come write me an email and I will figure out how to pick you up and bring you home. I would pick you up at about 8.30pm and you will get home about 11.30pm. The performance doesn't have an entry fee, but you must be over 21-years old (because it's in a bar) and you are expected to buy two drinks during the evening.
Here's the info about the show:
When: Tuesday, 17 June, show starts 9pm, ends 11pm.
Where: Capitol Club, 414 East Pine (map)
5 June 08 (last class of the quarter!)
12 students today. All wondering, like me, if winter is ever going to end in Seattle this year...
(I have to type my notes from the class.)
(I have to type my notes from the class.)
29 May 08
8 Students today, including one new student from Shanghai.
First order of business was determining which will be the last day of class for the Quarter. Considering the schedule for final exams, we decided next week (5 June) will be the last class of the quarter! Theme for the last class will be songs about "goodbye." :-(( Fortunately most of my students are staying in Seattle and going to attend BCC during the summer. So we will see each other!
Still no decision on whether we will continue during summer.
I said that I want to take the students out on a field trip boating on Lake Union to celebrate the end of the quarter. We talked about possible dates.
We actually didn't talk much about music today. I asked my students if Hong Kong is a good place to live and work. We talked about that for quite a while. And we talked about style of life and work in Asia versus in Europe.
Finally we talked a bit about music.
The most important musical event of the past week was, of course, the Eurovision contest, won by Dima Bilan (bio) of Russia with the song "Believing" (video, lyrics)! One of our favorite words in class, "cheesy", was used to describe this performance.
We decided to make a theme of "competition winners". The next video/song was "The Time Of My Life" (video of the announcement of the winner) by the recent American Idol winner David Cook (bio).
We watched a "Dancing With The Stars" video but now I can't remember which one... no matter, it was time to end class and we had had fun talking about life today rather than music anyway :-)
Next week, last class! Theme = "Goodbye"
First order of business was determining which will be the last day of class for the Quarter. Considering the schedule for final exams, we decided next week (5 June) will be the last class of the quarter! Theme for the last class will be songs about "goodbye." :-(( Fortunately most of my students are staying in Seattle and going to attend BCC during the summer. So we will see each other!
Still no decision on whether we will continue during summer.
I said that I want to take the students out on a field trip boating on Lake Union to celebrate the end of the quarter. We talked about possible dates.
We actually didn't talk much about music today. I asked my students if Hong Kong is a good place to live and work. We talked about that for quite a while. And we talked about style of life and work in Asia versus in Europe.
Finally we talked a bit about music.
The most important musical event of the past week was, of course, the Eurovision contest, won by Dima Bilan (bio) of Russia with the song "Believing" (video, lyrics)! One of our favorite words in class, "cheesy", was used to describe this performance.We decided to make a theme of "competition winners". The next video/song was "The Time Of My Life" (video of the announcement of the winner) by the recent American Idol winner David Cook (bio).
We watched a "Dancing With The Stars" video but now I can't remember which one... no matter, it was time to end class and we had had fun talking about life today rather than music anyway :-)
Next week, last class! Theme = "Goodbye"
22 May 08
7 students today. Last week Rice didn't show up because his first child was born -- congratulations to Rice, his wife and his little boy!
Someone asked if we are going to continue doing the class during Summer Quarter. I hadn't planned that far ahead! I have to ask BCC if a room is available.
I asked if anyone had any adventures since met last week. Pinar said she had been to Westport on the Pacific Ocean coast. Coincidentally a work friend of mine was at Westport on the weekend with a bunch of surfer friends of hers!
I mentioned that my favorite place on the Washington coast is Rialto Beach (photos). It's very far from Seattle -- about 4 hours by car, but it's so wild and beautiful! Well worth the trip!
The most important musical thing to note for this week was, of course, the upcoming Eurovision contest on Saturday.
I told the class that a Seattle band has the #1 album in the USA this week: The album "Narrow Stairs" by Death Cab For Cutie (bio) is the number one album. I said that I really like the first single from the album "I Will Possess Your Heart" (long video, short video, lyrics + interpretation) and watch the video multiple times each day. (The longer version of the song is better than the short one -- it builds up and allows more time for the song and video to develop.) After I pointed out some of my favorite lines from the lyrics Pinar mentioned that she liked them -- she hadn't really understood the lyrics that way before I explained them.
Since the songs is so clearly about the pursuit of passion I asked the class if they know about the book The Alchemist (info) by Paul Coelho. Most of them knew about this book. It is one of my favorites.
I mentioned that I had gone to a concert by Yoshida Brothers (info) last night. It was a lot of fun. What was also great about the evening was that I heard about the Yoshida Brothers from one of my Language Of Music students almost two years ago and I was able to go see the show in Seattle with her!
The concept that the Yoshida Brother's do of combining traditional music with modern touches inspired one of the students to show a video from China of the Twelve Girls Band (女子十二樂坊) (info) where 12 women play traditional music, but clearly with a very modern presentation (video).
I asked if this kind of music is usually played by men or women in China. The answer was, "It's usually men, that's the selling point of the Twelve Girls Band!" I'll have to keep my eyes open for their next (first?!?) concert in Seattle!
I remembered that I wanted to play a song for Marianna, who likes heavy music. The song is "A Tout Le Monde" (video, lyrics) by Megadeth (bio). I wanted to play it for her because Marianna likes women heavy metal singers and this song the woman singer from Laguna Coil (bio). I don't think Marianna had heard this song before but she said she likes it. It's a very commercial song for Megadeth, but I have to admit to liking the vocal melodies a lot.
As a further example of the singers that Marianna likes she played "Broken" (video, lyrics) featuring Amy Lee from Evanescence (bio) together with the band Seether (bio).
Suddenly we had a theme for the class -- duets between men & women!
Someone chose Mariah Carey (bio) + Boys II Men (bio) "One Sweet Day" (video, lyrics). Pinar, our resident opera singer, said she can't stand Mariah's "breathy" style of singing. I have to agree.
The next duet chosen was Ricky Martin (bio) with Meja (bio) "Private Emotion" (video, lyrics).
Next duet: Dido (bio) (who was unknown when she did this song) and Eminem (bio) "Stan" (video, lyrics). An inspired choice!
From one classic (of one genre) to another classic (of a completely different genre): Andrea Bocelli (bio) and Sarah Brightman (bio) "Time To Say Goodbye" (video, lyrics + story).
The last duet (and song) of the day was "Try Touching" (or is it just called "Touch"?) (video) by Younha (bio) and Wheesung (bio).
Someone asked if we are going to continue doing the class during Summer Quarter. I hadn't planned that far ahead! I have to ask BCC if a room is available.
I asked if anyone had any adventures since met last week. Pinar said she had been to Westport on the Pacific Ocean coast. Coincidentally a work friend of mine was at Westport on the weekend with a bunch of surfer friends of hers!
The most important musical thing to note for this week was, of course, the upcoming Eurovision contest on Saturday.I told the class that a Seattle band has the #1 album in the USA this week: The album "Narrow Stairs" by Death Cab For Cutie (bio) is the number one album. I said that I really like the first single from the album "I Will Possess Your Heart" (long video, short video, lyrics + interpretation) and watch the video multiple times each day. (The longer version of the song is better than the short one -- it builds up and allows more time for the song and video to develop.) After I pointed out some of my favorite lines from the lyrics Pinar mentioned that she liked them -- she hadn't really understood the lyrics that way before I explained them.Since the songs is so clearly about the pursuit of passion I asked the class if they know about the book The Alchemist (info) by Paul Coelho. Most of them knew about this book. It is one of my favorites.
I mentioned that I had gone to a concert by Yoshida Brothers (info) last night. It was a lot of fun. What was also great about the evening was that I heard about the Yoshida Brothers from one of my Language Of Music students almost two years ago and I was able to go see the show in Seattle with her!The concept that the Yoshida Brother's do of combining traditional music with modern touches inspired one of the students to show a video from China of the Twelve Girls Band (女子十二樂坊) (info) where 12 women play traditional music, but clearly with a very modern presentation (video).I asked if this kind of music is usually played by men or women in China. The answer was, "It's usually men, that's the selling point of the Twelve Girls Band!" I'll have to keep my eyes open for their next (first?!?) concert in Seattle!
I remembered that I wanted to play a song for Marianna, who likes heavy music. The song is "A Tout Le Monde" (video, lyrics) by Megadeth (bio). I wanted to play it for her because Marianna likes women heavy metal singers and this song the woman singer from Laguna Coil (bio). I don't think Marianna had heard this song before but she said she likes it. It's a very commercial song for Megadeth, but I have to admit to liking the vocal melodies a lot.As a further example of the singers that Marianna likes she played "Broken" (video, lyrics) featuring Amy Lee from Evanescence (bio) together with the band Seether (bio).Suddenly we had a theme for the class -- duets between men & women!
Someone chose Mariah Carey (bio) + Boys II Men (bio) "One Sweet Day" (video, lyrics). Pinar, our resident opera singer, said she can't stand Mariah's "breathy" style of singing. I have to agree.The next duet chosen was Ricky Martin (bio) with Meja (bio) "Private Emotion" (video, lyrics).Next duet: Dido (bio) (who was unknown when she did this song) and Eminem (bio) "Stan" (video, lyrics). An inspired choice!From one classic (of one genre) to another classic (of a completely different genre): Andrea Bocelli (bio) and Sarah Brightman (bio) "Time To Say Goodbye" (video, lyrics + story).The last duet (and song) of the day was "Try Touching" (or is it just called "Touch"?) (video) by Younha (bio) and Wheesung (bio).15 May 08
Today was Hong-Bo's birthday -- Happy Birthday Hong-Bo!!
Today was a beautifully sunny, warm Spring day! Correspondingly hardly any students showed up to hang out in our room... at first there were only 3 students :-(( .
We decided to forgo the internet connection in the room and go sit outside on the grass and chat.
As the four of us walked out of the room Jorge and EJ walked up, carrying a guitar and a violin respectively. So we all sat on the grass and listened as EJ and Jorge played some songs and others tried their hands at the instruments. It was very fun and idyllic hearing the guitar and violin float on the warm air across the square.
We didn't really talk about songs like we usually do. But we have pictures!
Today was a beautifully sunny, warm Spring day! Correspondingly hardly any students showed up to hang out in our room... at first there were only 3 students :-(( .
We decided to forgo the internet connection in the room and go sit outside on the grass and chat.
As the four of us walked out of the room Jorge and EJ walked up, carrying a guitar and a violin respectively. So we all sat on the grass and listened as EJ and Jorge played some songs and others tried their hands at the instruments. It was very fun and idyllic hearing the guitar and violin float on the warm air across the square.
We didn't really talk about songs like we usually do. But we have pictures!
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