11 students today, 5 of whom were new. I am happy that so many people are coming each week!
As I was setting up the laptop + projector I asked one of the new students what kind of music he likes: he said he likes jazz like Stan Getz (info). I asked him if he is familiar with the Miles Davis + Gil Evans series of albums (info on those albums), but he said he is not familiar with those records.
Three of the new students today just arrived in Seattle from their homes in Asia on the weekend! I feared they might still be jet-lagged, so I wanted to make sure we played energetic music so they wouldn't fall asleep.
I started the class by asking if anyone had any interesting Valentine's Day stories from yesterday. One student said he went out on a "fake date", but otherwise no one had any interesting stories.
I told the class I had gone to see the movie "Pina" (video preview, info) at the Cinerama theater (website) downtown. The Cinerama is one of the best theaters in Seattle to see movies -- it has an extra wide screen from the 1950's and is one of the few theaters in the USA with that kind of screen. Additionally, "Pina" was fantastic in 3D -- in my opinion the best use of 3D in a film so far. The movie is a documentary about a modern dance company in Germany, so you have to like modern dance, but it's really a feast for the eyes. It has been nominated for an Oscar this year.
We had a few themes for the day:
* More love songs inspired by Valentine's Day,
* Breakup songs,
* Any other song people felt like sharing.
The first song chosen was a continuation of love songs: "The Very Thought Of You" (video, lyrics, song info) by Nat King Cole (info). The student chose it because the lyrics come from the heart; they are not contrived or commercial.
Next one of the new students chose "Sealed With A Kiss" (video, lyrics, song info) by Brian Hyland (info). This is not quite a "love" song, but it is a song about longing for your loved one.
Someone mentioned that the song "Mad World" (video with lyrics, song info) by Gary Jules (info) has a similar musical feeling to "Sealed With A Kiss".
The next song chosen was not a love song nor a breakup song; it's just a song the student likes: "Waka Waka" (video, lyrics, song info) by Shakira (info). This song has been picked a few times in the class over the years. We watched the video then I told the class that previously I had learned that the song is actually an old Cameroonian army song (video) and Shakira totally took credit for writing the song!
I asked the student how she had become aware of the Shakira song and she said she was talking to a friend on the phone and Waka Waka was playing in the background.
I asked the class if they are familiar with the Shazam iPhone/Android app (info) which makes it so your phone will recognize a song playing near you. Most of the students hadn't heard of the app. It's very handy: if you hear a song and you want to know who sings it, just start the Shazam app, hold your phone up and in about 30 seconds it will tell you the song title and singer. Amazing!
Next song chosen was back to love songs: "Always On My Mind" (video, lyrics, song info) by Willie Nelson (info). [Actually, the version the student was thinking of was not the Willie Nelson version, but he couldn't remember who the singer of the version he knows is. Maybe Elvis (video)?]
For the next song one of the new students, from Korea, wanted to show that not all Korean music is K-Pop: we listened to a song that was on his phone (plugged his phone into the speakers) so I don't know the artist or song title. It was a style of music I have never heard before from Korea! It had an accordion in it. It sounded to me more like German or European folk music. Very interesting, but sorry, no links.
At this point I reminded the class that we had three very jet-lagged students, so we needed to keep the energy level of the songs up!
I mentioned to the class that if they like musicals, "Beauty and the Beast" (video, info) is coming to the Paramount Theatre (info) from 21-26 February (ticket info). While the tickets are a bit pricey, I suggested the students skip a few Starbucks lattes and apply the money they saved to buying a ticket. But apparently most of the students don't drink Starbucks! How do they stay awake while studying?!?
For the next song one of the new students chose a song we had listened to last week as well: "Something" (video, lyrics, song info) by The Beatles (info). It's a great song, so we listened to it again!
Since the video for "Something" shows The Beatles together with their girlfriends/wives, I told the story about how Eric Clapton (info) fell in love with George Harrison's wife and wrote a song about it: "Layla" (video, lyrics, song info). So it's kind of a love song. But not a good situation...
About 10 years after he wrote this song for her, Clapton actually married Harrison's now ex-wife. So he got her in the end! And they all stayed friends. Until Clapton and the ex divorced, too. Love can be a messy thing, but it makes for good songs.
About 10 years after he wrote this song for her, Clapton actually married Harrison's now ex-wife. So he got her in the end! And they all stayed friends. Until Clapton and the ex divorced, too. Love can be a messy thing, but it makes for good songs.
By now most students had picked at least one song so I asked someone who hadn't picked one for a choice. He chose "Everlong" (video, lyrics, song info) by the Foo Fighters (info) because it's his favorite song by the Foos. I explained that the word "everlong" doesn't really exist, that it's just a combination of the words "forever" and "long time", but that I like this made-up word because it conveys the feeling of both terms in one word.
The last song of the day was a breakup song: "She's Gone" (video, lyrics) by Steelheart (info). Apparently in Korea this song is very popular to sing karaoke to. I was surprised that this song, that I had never even heard, was such a popular karaoke song!
With that we broke for the day. It was a lot of fun!
UPDATE: Somehow I forgot to add the last page of my notes from this week's class, so am doing it a week later. Here are more songs we listened to on 15 February:
"Bahara Bahara I Hate Luv Storys" (video) by Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (info).
This song made me think of "Im Nin'Alu" (video) by Ofra Haza (info). Her vocal was later sampled into "Paid In Full" (video) by Eric B & Rakim (info).
The last song was "World Is Mine (live)" (video) by Hatsune Miku (info), who is actually an animated computer "person". I wonder if this kind of "manufactured" persona will be increasingly popular in the future, especially for live concerts.
Miku is in a series of Toyota commercials (video), which, while in American English, I have never seen...
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