11 July 2012 (Wednesday)

After a break for the 4th of July last week and sunny skies with temperatures in the 80's, I was curious to see how many people would show up today. In the end it was 9 students!  However, it was 8 guys and 1 woman: I warned her that the music selections today might be a bit more hard rocking than usual.

We started with me asking if any of the students had any stories from the 4th of July, especially what they thought of the fireworks. There were no great stories, thankfully no reports of firecrackers damaging fingers or eardrums, but no one seemed really impressed by the Seattle official fireworks. 

One student said that at a 4th of July party he heard about a Seattle band called Helms Alee (Facebook page). The student had never yet actually heard the band and I have never heard of them so we looked to see we could find on YouTube. The song with the most views is "8/16" (video) so we watched it to see what the band is like. Clearly the band is very creative, but the song didn't really seem to grab us: it's like a lot of songs all thrown together in a blender.  The video to this song is kind of funny as they do parodies of famous videos.

Another student recently heard Silversun Pickups (info) for the first time.  He had heard the song "Panic Switch" (video, lyrics, song info) so we listened to that. (Here's how they did this song on the Letterman late-night tv show.)

I have liked the Silversun Pickups for a few years now. I like how their music is progressing, but I have to admit that I like their earliest songs best, for example "Well Thought Out Twinkles" (video, lyrics, song info) and "Lazy Eye (live on tv)" (video, lyrics, song info). 

If you like what you've heard here, Silversun Pickups are playing an outdoor concert at Marymoor Park in Redmond on 6 September 2012 (info).

While I like the Silversun Pickups, the truth is that they are really just an updated version of the Smashing Pumpkins (info), with the mix of heavy-and-light parts to songs. And they even have a woman bass player! I really liked early Smashing Pumpkins songs in the early 90's, especially "I Am One" (video, lyrics, song info) and "Siva" (video, lyrics, song info). They had good songs, and bigger hits later -- and are even still active, though the only original member is the singer -- but the earlier songs had more musical bite for me.

At this point I asked one of the new students to pick a song. He chose "Rack City" (video, lyrics, song info) by Tyga (info). When I asked him why he likes this song he said he likes how rhythmically Tyga raps and he likes that he can understand the lyrics.

Speaking of speed of rapping, someone suggested we watch "Pale Kid Raps Fast" (video with lyrics) by George Watsky (info). 

I noticed on the video that the guy is touring and while it's entertaining to hear the guy rap fast with funny lyrics, but really, can he keep an audience entertained for more than an hour? If you want to find out, he is doing a concert at the Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle on 26 July (info).

I asked the class if they are familiar with Andy Warhols's "15-minutes of fame" statement. Watsky is clearly trying to make the most of his 15-minutes, maybe even stretch it to 16.  Better hurry up, Watsky, the clock is ticking!

The next song chosen was a big stylistic change: "Lucky" (video, lyrics, song info) by Jason Mraz (info). Why this is such a nice summer song is self-explanatory. 

BTW, Jason's part of this video was shot in one of my favorite cities in the world.

The next song chosen was "Risingson" (video, lyrics, song info) by Massive Attack (info).  The student who chose this song said he had listened to a it a lot over the past week when the weather was so bad.

The next song was "Sex On Fire" (video, lyrics, song info) by Kings Of Leon (info).  The student who chose this song said he become aware of Kings Of Leon when they played the Grammy Awards.

The next song was "Beautiful Girls" (video, lyrics, song info) by Sean Kingston (info). The student who chose this song said that he likes it because it's addictive and easy to sing along to.

I pointed out that the name "Sean" in English can be spelled three different ways, all of which sound the same: Sean, Shawn and Shaun.

The last variation reminds me of the movie "Shaun Of The Dead" (info), which is very funny.

The next song was "Call Me Maybe" (video, lyrics, song info) by Carly Rae Jepsen (info). Apparently I am the last person on the planet to hear this song. It's quite catchy! We could have started the whole "15-minutes of fame" discussion again about Ms. Jepsen's future, but I decided against bringing it up.

I went around the room asking all the guys if they would call Carly if she gave them her number. The answers will remain secrets to our class :-) .

Though I hadn't heard the song before I *had* seen news headlines about "Barack Obama, Call Me Maybe" but didn't know what it was about. So next we watched the with videos of Obama spliced together to make it sound like he's "singing" the song (video). Pretty funny!

The next song was "A Leap Into The Dark" (video, lyrics) by Aequitas (band website). What is special about this song is that it is a collaboration of people adding their parts via the internet.

The next song was "I Can Talk" (video, lyrics, song info) by Two Door Cinema Club (info). Apparently this song is very popular in France.

The last song of the day was "Nothing Else Matters" (video, lyrics, song info) by Metallica (info).  The student who chose this song said he feels that it is the best song for introducing people to heavy rock/heavy metal who have never heard it before.

With that our discussion time for the day was done. 

That evening I went to see a concert by a band who I had heard a lot about, but I actually didn't know their music: Novalima (info) from Peru.  It was a *great* concert!  Here's an example of what the concert was like: "Festejo" (video).

27 June 2012 (Wednesday)

Today was the first sunny day in what seemed like forever: I wondered how many students would come sit inside as opposed to hang out outside, soaking in sun.  I was very surprised that 15 students showed up, 5 of whom were new!

To start with I asked one of the new students for an example of what kind of music he likes. This student is European and I have to say that led me to not being surprised when he chose "Map Of The Problematique" (video with lyrics, song info) by Muse (info).

If I remember correctly the student who chose this song said he uses this song to wake up to in the morning.  I decided to ask around the room about the students' morning routines:

1/ What time does their alarm go off,

2/ How long after the alarm goes off do they actually get up!

It seems like most of the students are good about not over-using the snooze feature of their alarm clocks!

For the summer quarter I have a second European student in the class and I asked him what his favorite Muse song is.  It is "Super Massive Black Hole" (video with lyrics, song info).

I like the riff + melody of this second song more than "Map Of The Problematique".  But Muse lyrics are not about relaxing, are they?...

I mentioned to the class that Muse is one of those bands which are very popular in Europe, but not very well known in the US. I have found that most of my Asian students are not familiar with them, either. But there are some band who are stars in the US and totally unknown in Europe.  As an example I gave Dave Matthews (info) [who is originally from South Africa but actually lives in Seattle now] and played my personal favorite song of his (which was his first big hit many years ago) "Crash Into Me" (video, lyrics, song info).  

Dave Matthews plays for a weekend at the Gorge Amphitheater 2.5 hours away from Seattle at the end of the summer every year.  Attending one of his concerts there would be a really typical American experience, if any of the students has a chance to go over there for a day or even the whole weekend.

The next song chosen was "I Won't Give Up" (video with lyrics in the notes, song info) by Jana Kramer (info).

This song made me think that if someone like's Jana's music they would probably like local Seattle singer Brandi Carlile's (info) music, too. I know I have been telling my students about Brandi a lot lately, but really, she's one of the best musicians to come out of Seattle in recent years. As an example of her music I played the song "The Story" (video, lyrics, song info).

My students were pretty shy about choosing songs today so when I asked for another suggestion I just heard crickets (yes, there were crickets in the classroom).  One of the European students chose a song to reflect the summer day called "Himmelblau" (video, lyrics, song info) by the band Die Ärtze (info).  This band is a punk band from Germany so I had to ask if the positive message of the lyrics is meant honestly or if it is sarcastic (as punk lyrics often are).  The student who chose the song said he thinks that in this case the song has an honestly positive message.

Since the last song was sung in German, and because I wanted to avoid hearing the crickets again, I decided to show the class what "typical" German singing sounds like. Of course there is no "typical" because there is a lot of variations, so it was more of an excuse on my part to play a song by Rammstein (info), a band from Germany which is very popular across Europe and which is famous for all the fire in their live concerts.  As an example of Rammstein I chose the song "Du Hast (live)" (video, lyrics, song info), though I realized while playing the song that it didn't really show a lot of German language, just the title of the song repeated over and over. But I can tell you from personal experience that even non-German audience (ex. in Spain) love singing this song along with the band.

I guess the heavy music from today's class was starting to influence the song choices: next song was "Kryptonite" (video, lyrics, song info) by 3 Doors Down (info).  

I asked the class how many of them know what "Kryptonite" (info) is from the Superman comics.  Some recognized the name, but not all of them.

The next song choice slowed things down a little bit: "The Letter (김광진)" (video with lyrics) by Kim Kwang Jin (sorry, I can't find information about him in English). The lyrics of this song are a letter written by a guy whose girlfriend left him.  The lyrics are almost unchanged from the original text written by the heartbroken guy. Wow, that's powerful!

That theme made me think of the song "Dear Boy" (video, lyrics, song info) by Paul McCartney (info) where he wrote a song to the previous boyfriend of his wife; basically Paul was telling the guy "You didn't realize what a great woman you had, what great luck you had!"

The next song chosen was back to a hard rocker: "Walk" (video, lyrics, song info) by Foo Fighters (info).

Since this song features the chorus "I never wanna die!" I went around the class asking to which age the students want to live.  I was surprised to find some say "70 is enough" but most seem to want to get to 80 or 85.  To me that is still young -- I want to get to 100!  Well, as long as I am healthy and can live independently.  That seems to be the same opinion for the students, too.

Along the theme of wanting to live forever, the next song chosen was "What A Wonderful World" (video with lyrics, song info) by Louis Armstrong (info).

Continuing the theme of loving life was "I'm Alive" (video with lyrics in the notes, song info) by Celine Dion (info).


One of the students in the class speaks French as his native language so I asked him to explain to the class how French spoken in Canada sounds different from French spoken in Europe. 

For the next song the *opposite* of our "it's good to be alive" theme was chosen.  There is a song by Metallica called "Until It Sleeps" which is about someone with cancer, but the student chose the (instrumental) version of that song by Apocalyptica (info): "Until It Sleeps" (video, song info).  

I think the Apocalyptica concept of playing heavy metal music on cellos is very interesting. The student said he actually prefers the Apocalyptica version of this song to the original. Here is the original Metallica version of the song (video, lyrics, song info).

As an example of a song where the cover version of the song is much more mellow than the original I played Ryan Adams (info) covering "Wonderwall" (video with lyrics in notes, song info) which is one of Oasis's (info) most famous songs (original version of "Wonderwall" video, lyrics, song info). I love both versions of this song, though I find the Ryan Adams version more atmospheric.


We had time for one more song. A student chose "Marry You" by Bruno Mars (info). A couple of months ago a video on YouTube became very famous where a guy proposed marriage to his girlfriend by making a video of this song with his friends. (This actually was done in Portland, OR!) Some people in the class hadn't seen that video, so that's the version of the song we watched: "Marry You" video, lyrics, song info.


With that our time for this week was over.  Due to the 4th of July holiday next Wednesday the next class is July 11th.

20 June 2012 (Wednesday)

Today was the first class of the Summer Quarter.  I wasn't sure how many students would even show up... but it was a good group: 11 students, 5 of whom were there for the first time!

I knew that many of my students from the previous quarter had gone on road trips during the break between quarters.  So I started by asking what the music that accompanied their travels was.

The first song was "We Are Young" (video, lyrics, song info) by fun. (info). This song is currently a big hit in America plus the songs is about being young(!), so it's a natural choice for a Spring/Summer 2012 road trip.  I can imagine it playing in the car many times as the students drove around.

(In a previous class we compared this original version of the song with the one done on the Glee tv program.)

The next song was "Beez In The Trap" (video, lyrics, song info) by Nicky Minaj (info). Honestly, I couldn't follow the lyrics of what Ms. Minaj is trying to tell us about in the song.  The student who chose the song said she doesn't know what the song is about, either, she just heard it often on the radio.

Now I asked one of the new students to pick a song so we could hear what kinds of music the new students like.  The choice was "The Climb" (video, lyrics, song info) by Miley Cyrus (info).  The student who chose this song says he likes how the lyrics are about reaching for goals.

I have a personal favorite song on that theme: "Foot Of The Mountain" (video, lyrics, song info) by Paul Weller (info).  My favorite part of that song is the stanza "At the foot of the mountain / Such a long way to climb / How will I ever get up there? / But I know I must try."  When I am in difficult situations I often sing those lines to myself.

I told the class that Miley Cyrus is the daughter of a man, Billy Ray Cyrus (info) who had a huge hit in the 1980's: Achy Breaky Heart (video, lyrics, song info). This song and the linedance that goes with it (see the video) is one of the songs that belongs to the whole culture of the 80's in the US.

I didn't mention it in class, but for students who like good lyrics, a little bit of country music and a strong woman singer, there is a singer from Seattle, Brandi Carlile (info) who just released a new album, Bear Creek (video introduction to the album).  Brandi is gaining popularity in the US each year and I think she will become even bigger with this new album.  Watch out for her name this summer!

Next I asked another of the new students for a song.  He said he usually likes heavy metal, but that for this class he would chose "Devil's Dance Floor" (video with lyrics, song info) by Flogging Molly (info). 

[I reminded the class that we will listen to any music in this class, so don't be afraid to suggest heavy metal songs!] 

Now we went back to a song from the road trips.  Next song chosen was "What Makes You Beautiful" (video, lyrics, song info) by One Direction (info).  The student who chose this song heard it for the first time on the road trip; he was looking at the Billboard 100 chart and saw the song title and thought it looked interesting. Although the guys in the video look like California boys, I was surprised to earn that One Direction is actually a British boy band! Like the song "We Are Young", I think this song will be one of the most popular songs across America this summer.

The next song chosen was "Secrets" (video, lyrics, song info) by OneRepublic (info).  The student chose it because it is used in a movie she likes, The Sorcerer's Apprentice (info).  

Speaking of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, that short film is one of my favorite Disney animations (video).

Another song chosen by a new students was "Last Friday Night (TGIF)" (video, lyrics, song info) by Katy Perry (info).  The student who chose this song said that when she is sad this song picks her up.

One of the other students said she thinks that Katy Perry needs to improve her singing voice; in the studio they can use tricks like Autotune (info) but she had heard Katy sing live once and Katy's voice didn't sound very good. To test this we watched a live clip of Katy singing "Hot N Cold (on Letterman)" (video, lyrics, song info).

Since Ms. Perry obviously is not the best singer around we asked ourselves in the class how she got so famous.  My theory, from reading the info on her in Wikipedia, is that because she is from Nashville, one of the centers of the music industry in America, she was noticed by some music industry people who thought she is cute and that they could make her a pop star.  And now she is!  That's my theory.  Katy, you can write us at this blog if you want to offer a different explanation.

At this point I explained to the class that it is part of American culture to have "variety shows" on late-night tv.  Traditionally, at 11pm there is a 1/2 hour news broadcast, and at 11:30pm there are "late-night variety shows" which always follow this formula:


1/ The host tells some jokes
2/ The host interviews two celebrities
3/ At the end of the show a music band plays (this is where the Katy Perry clip comes from).

The two most famous late night shows are Jay Leno (show info, in Seattle on channel 5) and David Letterman (show info, in Seattle on channel 7).

I asked another new student to pick a song that he likes.  He chose "Faint" (video, lyrics, song info) by Linkin Park (info).  One of the other students said this song is very popular in Korea.  I would like to know why the song is called "faint" since I don't see the word used in the song nor do I see an obvious connection to one of its definitions. 

The last song of the day was "Another Sunny Day" (video, lyrics, song info) by Belle & Sebastian (info).  It was chosen for simply being a good summer song!




This was a good start to the summer quarter.  I am glad to see the familiar faces of my students from last quarter and I am glad to meet the new students.  See you all next Wednesday (27 June)!

30 May 2012 (Wednesday)

This week's class was bittersweet: 9 students came, but for 2 of them it will be their last class because they are returning to their home countries. The two guys who are leaving have been very active participants in the class and I will miss talking with them and having their contributions to the class. 

* Before I write the diary about what we talked about in class, first a housekeeping note:  We will *not* have class for the next two weeks because of the Quarter break.  Next class will be Wednesday, 20 June at 4:30pm in the usual room (Condon Hall 511E).

I started the class as usual asking if people had had any musical experiences in the past week.  One person had been to a modern classical music concert on campus.  It sounds like it was more like sounds made with different instruments and objects than a traditional orchestra.  She said it was very interesting to listen to.  Unfortunately I don't have a link to a video of what that concert was like, sorry!

I went to two concerts in the past week!

Thursday night I had seen Tim Rogers (info), lead singer for my favorite band to see live, You Am I (info) at a small bar in Ballard (The Sunset Tavern).  I love You Am I for their full-power rock concerts but I knew that Tim playing solo would be much more mellow: just him and a guitar.  Here's an example of what it was like: "Heavy Heart" (video, lyrics, song info), which is actually a You Am I song, but here done solo acoustic.

To give you a sense of what You Am I are like in full flight live, here "Rumble (live)" (video, lyrics, song info).

Tuesday night I saw a UK band called Little Barrie (info). They have released three albums, all to good reviews and I was happy to have the chance to see them play live.  They were playing in just a small bar (The Funhouse) and tickets were only $5!  They were GREAT!  But sadly, because it was a Tuesday night and the band doesn't have any music on the radio, the crowd was very, very small.  What a shame that more people didn't show up to see the band -- they were really good, but after that poor reception in Seattle I doubt they will come back :-( . At least I got to see them live once...

Here's a sample of what Little Barrie sound like: "Surf Hell" (video, lyrics).

The students in the class really like the Glee TV show a lot so I pointed out that one of the Glee cast members, Idina Menzel (info) was playing a concert on Saturday, 2 June at the Paramount.  However, I didn't get the sense that any of the students were going to go to the concert.

Since two students were leaving the class it was natural we would like to "goodbye" songs for most of the day...

First we heard "Bye Bye" (video, lyrics, song info) by Mariah Carey (info).

But then Marcus, one of the guys leaving, chose "Beautiful Girls" (video with lyrics, song info) by Sean Kingston (info) as a "goodbye" song.  The song is not really a "goodbye" song, he chose it because it's a relaxing song and makes him feel good. I think he wanted to think of positive, happy things rather than sad songs.

At this point I remembered that during the past week a video had become very popular on YouTube: A guy in Portland proposing marriage to his girlfriend (video, lyrics, song info). Some in the class had seen it, some had not, so we watched it.  Very creative of that guy to organize the whole filming and everything! 

The wedding proposal reminded me that a couple of years ago there was another YouTube video hit where the people entering the church danced all around to an R&B song.  The students hadn't seen that video, so we watched it.

I asked if anyone would ever do such a proposal or wedding entrance in Asia and the students said "No way!".  But I bet there are some love-rebels out there who would/will show their love in such creative ways! :-)

The next song we watched as "Missing Child" (video with lyrics, song info) by IU (info).

At this point one of the students joined the class late.  She had been practicing piano to play for friends at a party the next day.  The song she was practicing and will play is "Sweet Bye & Bye" (video).

Now we were back to goodbye songs: "Out Of Goodbyes" (video, lyrics, song info) by Maroon 5 (info) with Lady Antebellum (info).

A note: A lot of the goodbye songs we heard today were about relationships breaking up, but that's not exactly the case in our class: the students planned time in Seattle is simply coming to an end and they are going home. 

The next song chosen was not a goodbye song: "Calendar Girl" (video with lyrics, song info) by Stars (info).  The student who chose it said she likes the video, how the lyrics are presented visually, and the smooth melody of the song.

The last song of the day was "Goodbye" (video, lyrics, song info) by Air Supply (info).  This song is known in Korea as "Jessica's Song" because it was in the movie "The Promise" (info).  I wanted to see Jessica Lowndes's (info) version of the song (video) to see how it is different from the original by Air Supply.

Again, many of the songs we listened to today were about relationships breaking up, but that's not really the situation with the students leaving.  I hope they will at least read the blog and hopefully keep in touch from their home countries.

One song that was suggested as a "goodbye" song but that we didn't hear in class was "In My Life" (video with lyrics, song info) by The Beatles (info).  This really is a great song, such great lyrics!

When I got home I realized that I don't think my students know the band Pink Floyd (info) because they are such an old band from the '70's. But the song "Wish You Were Here" (video with lyrics, song info) is a good song about missing your friends.

Speaking of saying goodbye, but not in a relationship breakup way, I shared with the class something I had written for my grandmother, who died last week after a long illness.  Marcus liked it so much he asked me to put it on the blog, so here it is:

"I have memories of you from my earliest childhood, you were there from the beginning until now.

These memories of you weave the tapestry of my life.

I am because of you, and as long as I am alive, you will be with me."

I wish safe travels to the students going on roadtrips around the US during the break between quarters and to the students returning home.  Good luck!

I look forward to seeing the students who will be in Seattle through the summer on the 20th!