19 February 2014 (Wednesday)

8 students came today! There was no specific musical theme for the day -- just any songs people had in mind!

As always, I asked if anyone had any musical adventures the previous week. But no one had.

However, one student was going straight from class to see the Paul Simon/Sting concert! The student really likes Paul Simon (info) and was very excited to see him perform. I know he isn't that into Sting (info). 

I told the class that my first job at an internet company was as a researcher for a multimedia biography about Sting! While I loved the band The Police (info) -- mostly for the drummer, who is my favorite "rock" drummer -- I couldn't stand Sting's solo work. But after a year of learning about what motivates him I have to say I came to appreciate him as an artist. Now I listen to him often. I don't like *everything* he does, but I like a lot of it and I realize what a great artist he is, always trying something new.

Anyway, I asked which song the student was looking forward most to hearing. He said "The Boxer" (video, lyrics, song info) by Simon & Garfunkel (info). 

[Here's a review of the concert from the Seattle Times.]

The first request we heard was a Chinese song, "Gala" (video). The student who chose it says it gives him inspiration and strength to keep going forward despite the hardships of life. He also said it gives him hope that China can produce great quality music/art.

The next song was "Tomorrow Never Knows" (video, lyrics, song info) by Mr. Children (info). The Japanese students in class assured me that Mr. Children is a band that *everyone* loves in Japan.

The next song was "Say Something" (video, lyrics, song info) by Christina Aguilera (info) with A Great Big World (info). The student who chose this song said she has heard it a lot on the radio while here in the US. 

The conversation led to talking about the frustrations of not being able to express one's self in a foreign language and culture; how language can be a hurdle to eloquently express one's self. And then how a person can feel smaller in the foreign country than at home simply due to difficulty with language.

The next song chosen was "Will & Elizabeth" (video, song info) from Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (info). The student who chose this song love the Pirates Of The Caribbean series and loves movie soundtrack music.

We had heard a little bit of the new U2 song "Invisible" a couple of weeks ago, but now we heard the full version (video, lyrics, song info) where the band played live on top of a building in New York City. Man, the drummer looks cold! The student who chose this song says it is classic U2 for him -- he really likes it!

After that I had to show a video of Seattle grunge band Mudhoney (info) playing "Touch Me I'm Sick" (video, lyrics, song info) on top of the Space Needle this past summer.

The last song of the day was "Let It Go" (video, lyrics, song info) from the animation movie Frozen (info).


Theme for the next class is "songs you love but your parents (would) hate".

See you on Wednesday afternoon!

12 February 2014 (Wednesday)

5 students came today (2 of whom were new!). With Valentine's Day at the end of the week naturally today's topic was "love songs"!

But first I posed my weekly question about whether anyone had had any musical adventures in the past week. I was the only one who had had any: Sunday I had gone to a Chinese New Year festival as well as a heavy metal concert in the evening -- quite a contrast of music on one day!!

The Irish band The Strypes (info) are coming to Seattle in March. I am going to the concert and had asked if any of the students (who are over 21 years old) wanted to join me. But it doesn't look like anyone can :-( One of the students mentioned that he things The Strypes's version of "Can't Judge A Book By The Cover" (video, lyrics, song info) is better than the original (original video).

The first song along our theme was "Because The Night" (video with lyrics, song info) by Patty Smith (info). The student who chose it chose it because it's not an obvious choice of songs (he said he could have made a much more obvious choice). He likes her because she's a poet and there's depth to her lyrics.

The next song chosen was "Heart's Content" (video with lyrics, song info) by Brandi Carlile (info). What a sweet song!!! The student who chose it heard it in a romantic scene in a movie and was charmed by the song + scene.

I mentioned that Brandi is from Seattle. She has a lot of songs that I like, but for me her most impressive performance is her live version of "Hallelujah" (video, lyrics, song info), a song originally by Leonard Cohen (info) which has been covered many times.

The next song was "Be Without You" (video, lyrics, song info) by Mary J Blige (info). The student who chose it says the song describes his situation with his girlfriend back in his home country. Long distance relationships are hard!

The next song chosen was a live version of "Happy" (video, lyrics, song info) by The Rolling Stones (info). The guitarist, Keith Richards (info) sings this song. The student who chose this song likes Keith Richards even though he technically isn't a very good guitarist.

I knew that one of the students in the class loves the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. She also likes the Rolling Stones (favorite song: "Gimme Shelter" (video with lyrics, song info) but did not realize that Keith Richards made an appearance in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie (film clip) (Here's an interview with Keef + Johnny Depp).

Next was "Count On Me" (video with lyrics, song info) by Bruno Mars (info). The student who chose it had heard it on a compilation album and just liked the song -- she didn't know Bruno Mars is popular or that he had sung at halftime of the Superbowl!

The next song was something completely different: "Down With The Sickness" (video, lyrics, song info) by Disturbed (info). The student chose it just to show that she also likes hard music, not just soft music.

The last song of the day was chosen by a student who wasn't in class -- she had written me an email saying she couldn't attend but requested that I play "Sharin no Uta" (車輪の唄) (video, song info) by Bump Of Chicken (info). This song depicts the parting moment of lovers but at the same time there is hope in the line "Let's meet again someday". 


With that our time for the week was over. I don't have a theme for next week... let's just talk about any songs on your minds!

5 February 2014 (Wednesday)

Only a few students showed up today... maybe it's mid-terms time? Nonetheless, we had a fun conversation.

I had not assigned a theme for the day so it was an open forum. The first song chosen was actually sent by text by a student who was not in class to one of the students in class. It was "When My Boy Walks Down The Street" (video, lyrics, song info) by Magnetic Fields (info). Since the student who chose this song was not in class I don't have an explanation for why he chose it.

The next song was "Light Of The Morning" (video, lyrics, song info) by Band Of Skulls (info). I didn't make notes for why she chose this song -- sorry!

As we were going to watch the next video a commercial came on YouTube that has an interesting story. The commercial is for Duracell batteries and tells the story of Derrick Colman, a Seattle Seahawks football player who is deaf. It's a very inspirational video!

Now we continued on to the next song: "7" (video, lyrics, song info) by Sunny Day Real Estate (info), a band from Seattle.

Speaking of the Superbowl, one of the students mentioned that Bob Dylan (info) was in a commercial during the Superbowl. I didn't remember seeing that commercial and was surprised that Dylan would "sell out" like that, but it's true, he was in this commercial.

I mentioned that I can't stand Bob Dylan's singing voice. One student had never heard him before so we played "Blowin' In The Wind" (video, lyrics, song info), one of his most popular songs, as an example of him singing.

Still on the subject of the Superbowl I asked the class if they would allow me to play my favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers (info) video, "Give It Away" (video, lyrics, song info). I like how crazy and out-of-control they are in this video.

Ok, to be fair I should post a link to Bruno Mars's Superbowl halftime performance.

The next song chosen was "Love Somebody" (video, lyrics, song info) by Maroon 5 (info). The student who chose it had heard it a lot when she first arrived in Seattle. She also likes the video where the singer is waiting to have a real, tangible girlfriend. 

This led us to a long discussion about what women expect from men and what men expect from women in relationships in the students' home countries. 

The last video we watched was also a video from the Superbowl: the new U2 (info) song "Invisible" (video, song info).

With that time ran out for the day.

For next class, since Valentine's Day is Friday (Feb 14) this coming week the theme for next class is love songs. Think of your favorite love songs or a song you will play for your boyfriend/girlfriend this Friday.

29 January 2014 (Wednesday)

Today 7 students came to talk music. The theme for the day was "Which song have you heard the most times in the past week?"

No one had had any musical adventures to tell about the previous week :-(

The first song chosen was "Anywhere Is" (video, lyrics, song info) by Enya (info). The student who chose it said she has been revisiting old music she used to like and came across this song. Previously she didn't listen to the lyrics, but now she does and like them.

The next song was "Same Direction" (video, lyrics, song info) by Hoobastank (info). Similarly to the previous choice, the student who chose this song had gone back to an album where he has always liked another song better and re-discovered "Same Direction".

My notes say we also watched "My Turn" (video, lyrics, song info) by Hoobastank but I can't remember why... was it that another student knew this song by the band?

Next I asked one of the new students to chose a song so we could learn a little about her taste in music. She likes classical music and chose "Canon In D" (video, song info).

The next song was "Landslide" (video, lyrics, song info) by Dixie Chicks (info). The student who chose it had heard it on Glee (info) the first time. She prefers this version of the song over the original by Fleetwood Mac (video).

After this a student chose "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (video, lyrics, song info) from the musical Rock Of Ages (info). The student said she likes this song because roses are beautiful but have thorns that can hurt you. She has been listening to this song lately because last week she thought of the Rock Of Ages musical and she likes this song from it.

The next song choice was inspired by the classical piano piece from a couple of selections ago: "Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness" (video, song info) by Smashing Pumpkins (info). 

The next choice was "Hitohira No Hanabira" (video, lyrics, song info) by Stereopony (info). I can't remember the explanation for why this song was chosen, sorry!

The next song was "Generate Generate" (video, lyrics, song info) by Johnny Marr (info) because, well, the student who chose it listens to Johnny Marr *all the time* these days!

The last song of the day was "Emotion" (video, lyrics, song info) by Destiny's Child (info). One of the students in the class correctly recognized this song as originally by the Bee Gees (video).


With that our time was over. I don't have a theme chosen for the next class -- let's see what songs the students choose to share!