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!