17 March 2011 (Thursday) (St. Patrick's Day!)

5 students showed up for the last day of class for the quarter.  And which was coincidentally also St. Patrick's Day (info).

Seattle Central Community College will be *closed* for the break between quarters.  The next class will be 21 April.

I tried starting the class with some Irish music, choosing The Corrs (bio) "Dreams" (video, lyrics) since it's the most mainstream and popular song by an Irish band I could think of. However, the class seemed unimpressed so I just went on to ask what they want to hear.

First choice was "Nobody's Perfect" (video, lyrics) by Hannah Montana (bio).  Everyone knows Hannah/Miley, but my students didn't know that her father, Billy Ray Cyrus (bio) had a massive hit in America back in the 90's called "Achy Breaky Heart" (video, lyrics). 

I wanted to show the class the video "I Will Possess Your Heart" (video, lyrics) by a Seattle band, Death Cab For Cutie (bio) which shows a woman traveling around the world so we could identify the places she travels, but the class didn't seem to like the song so I cut it short.

Indeed, the next song chosen was *very* different from Death Cab For Cutie: "Fire" (video) by 2NE1 (bio).  This is a South Korean girl group which is very popular in Korea not only because they are pretty, but because they train hard at their craft, too.

In the 2NE1 video had a bit where there was one standing there with the others' hands behind her and it reminded me a fantastic video I found out about a couple of years ago.  It's a Chinese group of women who make amazing patterns with their hands.  What adds to the amazement is the fact that the women are all deaf!

Now for more dancing, but African: Battoh (video) by Petit Pays (bio). Sabine chose this song because he is singing in her mother's native language.  In Cameroon they have 300 dialects!

I asked the students what they are doing over spring break.  No one has any big plans.  I taught them the word "spontaneous" (definition).

I mentioned there is a concert coming up in Seattle that they might be interested in, so I showed a video: "Sugarfoot" (video, lyrics) by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears (bio).  Again, it appears my musical taste differs from my students.  But I'll try to convince them again -- this will be a great show and a great cultural experience for them, I am sure.

I think the retro-feeling of that last video inspired Owen to show a Korean band, Dynamic Duo (bio) doing a parody of the Beatles: "Let's Go" (video). Cool song and video!

The Dynamic Duo guys have been friends since childhood for some reason that reminded me of the Beastie Boys (bio) so I played my favorite song/video of theirs: "Shake Your Rump" (video, lyrics).

Next was "Si tu vois me go" (video) by Koppo. Sabine chose this song because it is sung in the "Franglais" style of mixing English and French which is very popular in Cameroon. This Franglais is useful for two reasons: people from different areas of the country who do not share a language can use it to communicate with each other.  And older people can't understand what the younger people are saying!

I could see Mohanned was a bit tired so asked him to play a song which would wake him up.  He chose "Let It Rock" (video, lyrics) by Kevin Rudolf (bio) features Little Wayne (bio).

Next song chosen was "Hollywood" (song with lyrics) by JoJo (bio).

That song, including its theme about Hollywood abandoning a person heartlessly, reminded me of the song Hollywood (video, lyrics) by Thin Lizzy (bio) -- an Irish band, so it fit with St. Patrick's Day! -- and especially a performance they did with a grandmother playing keyboards with the rock band. 

I think all the laughing about the grandmother playing with a rock band made me think of this old school humorous rap song I've been listening to in my car lately: "Humpty Dance" (video, lyrics) by The Digital Underground (bio).

The next song chosen was "Who's That Girl" (video, lyrics) by Eve (bio).

The last song of the day was "Remember The Name" (video, lyrics) by Fort Minor (bio).  Owen chose this song because it was the theme song of the NBA championships and therefore reminds him of basketball.  And he likes the lyrics which talk about how success is a combination of work, skill and luck.

With that our time was done for the day and the quarter -- I hope to see everyone again at the start of Spring quarter on 7 April.

10 March 2011 (Thursday)

This week we again had 5 students.

As we waited for students to arrive we watched "How Do You Do" (video, lyrics) by beFour (bio).

I mentioned to the class that this weekend I would go see a concert by Khaira Arby (Seattle Times article about her).  I showed a video and asked if anyone would like to join me.  No one was interested; this is not the kind of music the class likes, I guess. (Note after the concert: it was FANTASTIC and I loved the concert!!)

Next we listened to a song called "Go Hard" (video with lyrics) by Thai, Nump Trump & Dew Deezy.  This song was chosen because one of the rappers in the crew is Vietnamese.

After this song we talked a while about why some videos rely on showing extreme materialism and emphasize sex so much.  One student mentioned that when a woman watches a video like that, she's looking at the clothes she would like, while the guy is looking at the beautiful girls he fantasizes about having.  That's a good observation!  Another student said that the visuals are meant to distract from the lack of talent in the song; that when a song is good, it doesn't need all those extreme visuals.  Another good explanation.

Along that theme, that it's more about the song than the visual, I played Susan Boyle's (bio) "I Dreamed A Dream" (video, lyrics) performance from Britain's Got Talent to show how a visual can make one impression (how people reacted when she came out on stage) but the actual performance can change that perception (and many people we ashamed at their reaction to her visual presence once they heard her voice).

Speaking of talent, I showed a video of KT Tunstall (bio) and how she, as one person, could build a song up from many parts, by herself, using taping + loops. "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree" (video, lyrics) live on French television.

The next song was "African Queen" (video, lyrics) by 2Face Idibia (bio).  I noted that in this song he compared a woman's beauty to the moon; I find this a very romantic comparison.  One of the students from Vietnam said that it is also common there to compare a woman's beauty to the moon.

Next was a clip from the Arab's Got Talent show, which has just started.  We watched the Salama Crew (video). It is very interesting to see how these kinds of shows are done in different countries/cultures!

Next was another Arabic video, "Aa Bali Habibi" (video with English translation) by Elissa (bio).  Mohanned, who chose this song, finds the lyrics to be so extremely overdramatic that it is hard for him to listen to them.  He showed another example from her with "Bitmoun" (English: "I owe you") (video).  Sabine, who lived in Tunesia, loves this song!

I can't remember how the next song was chosen, but it was "A Time For Us" (video with lyrics) by Andy Williams (bio).  The question arose why the play Romeo & Juliet is considered the greatest love story ever.  That was a great question and I am not sure how it got elevated to that status!  I did find this discussion on the topic.

Someone wanted to hear "Hallelujah" (video, lyrics) by Alexandra Burke (bio).  I asked the student why she chose that song and she said it's because the emotion is so strong.  She had heard it in the movie Shrek.

"Hallelujah" is a classic song from the 1960's, originally by Leonard Cohen (bio).  I showed how he originally did it.

Next song was "Isnebo" (video) by Faadah Kawtal.

Our time for this week was coming to an end and the last song chosen was "Irreplaceable" (video, lyrics) by Beyonce (bio). The theme of that song is telling a guy to not get so sure of himself to think that he cannot be replaced.

That inspired me to show my favorite song on that topic: "Tyrone" (video, lyrics) by Erykah Badu (bio).

And with that, class for the week was over.  Very fun!!

3 March 2011 (Thursday)

5 students today.  It is starting to be the same students each week, which is nice since we get to know each other and the conversations flow more easily between the students themselves.

We watched lots of videos today!!  Starting with "Love... what is it?" (video ; note you can click the "cc" button to see an English translation of the song).  After this song we discussed the philosophy of whether it is better to "have loved and lost or never to have loved at all."  The class has mixed opinions/feelings on this subject.

The next video was definitely less philosophical: "Check It Out" (video, lyrics) by will.i.am (bio) featuring Nicki Minaj (bio).  If I remember correctly, the student chose this song because the guy at the beginning of the video is Korean and there are Korean words in the background of the video.

To my surprise most of the students didn't know the will.i.am song is based on the song "Video Killed The Radio Star" (video, lyrics, song info) by The Buggles (bio).  The Buggles song is significant because it was the very first song ever shown on MTV when it went on the air on 1 August 1981.

Now we were on the topic of songs which sample older songs.  Next song was "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (video, lyrics, song info) by the Black Eyed Peas (bio). 

That song is based on "Time Of My Life" (video, lyrics) from the movie "Dirty Dancing" (info).  I told my students that this movie is a classic in American culture: every American who grew up in the 80's watched this movie.

One student said he is not familiar with the band Black Eyed Peas.  I cannot imagine *anyone* on the planet right now is not familiar with at least this song by them: "I Gotta Feeling" (video, lyrics).  Indeed, as soon as it started he said "Oh yeah, I know that song!".

We talked a bit about how simplistic the lyrics for Black Eyed Peas songs are.  But most of the students said often the lyrics don't matter, they just want a beat to dance to.

Next up was Shakira (bio) "Waka Waka" (video, lyrics, song information), the official song for the 2010 World Cup.  This song has lots of dancing and, in keeping with our theme for the day, it turns out it is not her original song -- it is originally a Cameroonian song (video)!  It is a song soldiers sing to stay happy.  In that sense it is like a Black Eyed Peas song: it's not deep, just creates a good mood.

Here's a video interview where Shakira takes full credit for writing the song, but if you listen to the original version above, she just took over an existing song! Apparently Shakira didn't have to pay anything to the original composers of the song because they didn't copyright it. Apparenly Shakira's not the first to steal the song: here's another Latin American version of it.

Now we moved off of songs which have their basis in other songs.  One of the Korean students chose "Rocketeer" (video, lyrics) by Far East Movement (bio) featuring Ryan Tedder (bio).

Today there was a new student in the class and I asked her to choose a song.  She chose "I have a dream" (video, lyrics) by Westlife (bio).

After this song another student chose "When You Say Nothing At All" (video, lyrics) by Ronan Keating (bio).  The student who chose this one said it is the song he heard when he met his girlfriend at a cafe in Ho Chi Minh city.

Another student has a similar song: "No One Like You" (video, lyrics) by P Square (bio); she was listening to this song when she met her boyfriend (I think that's the right version of the story...).  I pointed out that in the lyrics there are some African dialect phrases and words inserted, which are not used in American English.

By now we had watched lots of videos and had great conversations but it was time to go end this week's class.  The last song of the day was "Separate Ways" (video, lyrics) by Journey (bio).  I asked the student why he chose this old song and he said it was his father's favorite song and his father used to play it at home all the time.

24 February 2011 (Thursday)

The weather today was very cold with the threat of snow.  Only four students showed up.

As we waited to see if more people would come we watched the video for the Beyonce (bio) song Halo (video, lyrics).  I explained what a halo is and how to pronounce the world.  I asked the student who chose the song why she likes it. She said she likes it because it's about love.

One of the students asked me to remind her where the dance lessons in the area are.  They are 1/2 block from where we do the conversation class, at the Century Ballroom (website, map)!  We looked at the schedule of dance classes offered and watched some videos of the types of dances: Lindy Hop, Samba. 

I then showed the salsa dancing part of the song Isla Margarita (video) by my friends Children Of The Revolution (website).

Now we moved from talking about dancing back to music. The song was Uncle Kracker (bio) "Oh You Make Me Smile" (video, lyrics, song info).  The video we watched for this song is not the official video, but the student it because she likes horses and the video is all about riding.

Somehow we got onto the subject of the Muslim tradition of the Hajj (info), but I can't remember anymore how we go onto that topic.  But I enjoy discussions about other cultures and traditions.

By now we had talked a lot in the class but hadn't watched very many videos.  The last video of the day was "Erdene" (video) by Bold, featuring Oyun.  The song means "I love you" in Mongolian.

17 February 2011 (Thursday)

8 students today, two of whom were new!

As I chatted with the new students at the beginning of class I asked if they have very many interactions with Americans.  Basically they do not: they live with friends from their home country, or alone, and are among the other international students all day at Seattle Central.  It's a shame that they are here in America, but have so little contact with Americans!

I know from my own experience living abroad how hard it can be to integrate with local people.  In the past I have tried to give my Language Of Music students a taste of local culture and I will do the same with this group.  I like the personalities I have in the class and I am sure I will find some fun things for the group to do.

One student wants to learn to dance Salsa.  In the building attached to where our class is The Century Ballroom (website), which has dance classes of all types throughout the week.

The theme for today's discussion was "love songs" in honor of Valentine's Day earlier in the week.  But before we started with love songs I asked the two new students to pick a song from their home country.

Sabine, from Cameroon started and chose Ca La (video) by Lady Ponce.  The style of music is "Bikutsi" (info) which is the most popular musical style in Cameroon.  Lady Ponce is a new singer on the scene and a rising star.

I asked what the song is about.  Sabine said it's Lady Ponce beckoning a man to be with her.  I asked Sabine if the men in Cameroon are good and she replied only about 20% of them are good.  So I guess Lady Ponce has to do a lot of beckoning ;-) .

Next Mohanned, from Saudi Arabia, chose a song.  Fortunately it was also in the theme of "love": "The Wedding" (video) by Qusai and Jeddah Legend (info) which is a Saudi rap song about getting married. It is interesting to hear the mix of English and Arabic and the mix of rap and traditional in the song and video.

At this point I asked the class how long wedding celebrations typically last in their home countries.  It was interesting to hear about the traditions.  Some places celebrate just for one day, other places for three days.

While we were talking about weddings I thought to ask the class if men are "romantic" in their culture.  I was asked to define "romantic";  I said "giving flowers to a woman" is gave an example of a man being romantic.  

We talked about in which ways men are romantic in different cultures for a while and then I asked everyone to say "I love you" in their own language so we could hear it.  Then we talked about whether a person says "I love you" to his/her husband/wife or to his/her parents in their cultures.

I found the whole conversation fascinating, but we weren't actually watching any music videos.  But that was fine: the point of the class is to practice speaking English and everyone was talking :-) .

Now I suggested we listen to a song.  Togtuun, one of the students from Mongolia, wanted to hear the song "Patient" (video, lyrics) by a rapper named Tulgat.  The interesting thing is that this rapper is from Mongolia but moved to the States -- to Seattle! -- as a teenager.  He has quite a story and is a good rapper -- listen to the song!

Haili, the other student from Mongolia, had brought with her a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument, a "morin khuur" (info).  She played two songs for us.  It was great!  How kind of her to bring the instrument and play for us!!  These kinds of experiences are why I love hosting this class!  Here is an example of a morin khuur being played.

I asked if there are any examples of songs where the morin khuur is combined with modern music.  Haili showed us the song "Mongolz" (video) by Jonon.  Very cool mix of traditional and modern!  I am intrigued to learn more about Mongolian music and culture!

This reminded me of when I learned about the Yoshida Brothers (吉田兄弟) (info) from one of my Japanese students when I first started leading this class almost 5 years ago; she had wanted to show me how a traditional Japanese instrument, the shamisen, was being played in a modern context.  I quickly showed the class two Yoshida Brothers videos: "Kodo" (video) and "Rising" (video) (which has a full rock band behind the brothers!). 

I would have never discovered the Yoshida Brothers if not for this class.  And I had the good fortune to see them in a small club in Seattle with my student when they came on tour in the US.  This was a special treat for her, as the Yoshida Brothers normally only play big halls in Japan.

By now we had been talking for more than 90 minutes and I hadn't been able to hear many picks of love songs.  It was time to close the class for this week, but we will continue with the theme of love songs next week.

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.