10 February 2011 (Thursday)

First thing: in honor of Valentine's Day the theme for Thursday's (17 Feb) class is "your favorite love songs".  Students, please think of your favorite love songs (in any language, not just English) and we will listen to them on Thursday.

On 10 February, eleven students showed up!

We did a round of introductions, which included name, country of origin and favorite music. 

For the first time I have students from Mongolia and also Russian students from the Russian Far East.  I was surprised to learn that their city, Khabarovsk (map, info), is only 30km from China! 

I mentioned that I dream of visiting Lake Baikal (map, info) and one of my students said she spent a summer -- 3 months! -- there.  I had to teach the class the word "envious" (it is like "jealous") at this point.  I imagine Lake Baikal to be very beautiful and magical.  One day I must go there!

Back to music: It seems to me that R&B and hip-hop are particularly well liked.  I look forward to learning more about the students' taste in music over the coming weeks.

I asked the class if they know any music or bands from Seattle.  Blank looks.  So I showed them the video to the most famous song from Seattle ever: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (video, lyrics) by Nirvana (bio).  As soon as the song started half the class nodded in recognition of the song.

Since so many people in the class said they like hip-hop, I mentioned that Seattle has some hip-hop bands that are getting nationwide attention.  The most well known one is Shabazz Palaces (bio).  I don't know their music well myself, so I just picked the song on YouTube with the most views "Belhaven Meridian" (video).

Coincidentally, in the Seattle Times newspaper this week there was an article about a local rapper named Macklemore.  He has sold out three nights at the Showbox (my favorite live music venue in the world) and is going out on a national tour.  Here you can read the article and see some of his videos.

To see what kind of music the students like I asked for someone to pick a song.  First choice was "Who's That Chick" (song, lyrics) by Rihanna (bio).  As we watched the song and read the lyrics I explained what the word "tipsy" means (it means to have feel that you have drunk some alcohol, but you are not yet drunk).

The next song chosen was "Take Your Shirt Off" (video, lyrics) by T-Pain (bio).  After we watched it I asked the student who picked the song why she likes that song.  She answered that when she is sad, it makes her happy.  She doesn't pay attention to the lyrics, she just likes the energy of the song.

But she did mention that she is getting bored of the song.  At this point I explained the different forms of using the word "bored" and "boring".  For example, you can say:

"That song is boring."

"That song bores me."

"That song is boring to me."

But you *cannot* say "I am boring" if you mean to say "That is boring" -- the two sentences have very different meanings!

Speaking of club music like T-Pain, one of the students says he has been to the Seattle club "Trinity" but hasn't yet been to "Venom".  He said Trinity was ok but nothing special.

Another student had an example of a song which she likes to listen to when she feels pressure: "Kurenai" (video) by X-Japan (bio).  It was interesting to me to hear that the lyrics are a mix of English and Japanese.

This video was taken at their last concert, before they broke up.  The band actually got back together for reunion concerts, but the original guitarist had died during the time between, so they had a special place for him on the stage.

I mentioned that a Seattle band, Alice In Chains (bio) has a similar situation: The original singer died a few years ago and when the band plays the song "Black Gives Way To Blue" (video, lyrics), which is dedicated to him, they put a microphone on the stage where he would have stood.

Someone in the class mentioned at this point that Seattle songs seem to be pretty depressing.  I guess there's truth to that observation.  I motioned to the window and said, "With this kind of weather, what do you expect?!?"

I asked one of the students who hadn't been talking very much to choose a song.  He chose "No Promises" (video, lyrics) by Shayne Ward (bio).

Now one of the Russian students introduced us to a Russian rapper, Timati (bio), which features Snoop Dogg (bio), "Groove On" (video, lyrics).

Next song was a switch back to mellow: "I Believe I Can Fly" (video, lyrics) by Ronan Keating (bio).

The last song of the day was a perfect example of why I love doing this class.  It is a video with all the Mongolian music stars -- of every genre -- singing together: "Ugluu shig eh oron" (video). What a great way to learn about Mongolian music in one song/video!  (It's a long song and worth watching all the way through!)

With that everyone went home for the day.  I hope the students enjoyed the music and the conversation and will come back again on Thursday the 17th.