23 October 2012 (Tuesday)

Last week I was working at a conference so I couldn't do the Language Of Music class. Mike from FIUTS led the class in my place.

So far this quarter the number of students coming each week has been relatively small (~5) compared to previous quarters.  But today 13 students showed up, 7 of whom were there for for the first time. We had a good conversation!

I began by introducing myself and the class for the new students.  

I then gave a very brief overview of the history of Halloween. But you can get a full explanation on Wikipedia.

Next, to show how the class works and to get the conversation around music to start, I asked one of the regular students to choose a song. She chose "Fine, Thank You, and You?" (video with lyrics) by 10cm (info).  When I asked why she chose this song she said the song is inspired by The Beatles and it is easy to follow the guitar parts.  But she doesn't sing at the same time she is playing the song on guitar. I also asked why they sing the words "Fine, thank you, and you?" in English and she said that phrase is the first English phrase people learn in Korea, so everyone understands that line.

The next song chosen was "Yellow" (video, lyrics, song info) by Coldplay (info).  The student chose this song because it is a love song and she likes the images of light and sun.  

She said she first heard "Yellow" on a Taiwanese TV talent show sung by a group called Soler.  I asked her which version of the song she prefers and she said he likes the Soler version better! So we had to watch it: "Yellow" by Soler. 

The student said she likes how the two singers in Soler harmonize on the song, as opposed to the single voice on the Coldplay version. This made me think of one of best harmonizing singing duos ever: Simon & Garfunkel (info). To show how good they sound together I played the song "The Sound Of Silence" (video, lyrics, song info).

Next I asked one of the new students to chose a song. The choice was completely different from the Beatles-like and harmonizing vocals we had heard so far: "Evil Walks" (video, lyrics, song info) by AC/DC (info). This song gives him energy and makes him happy. Interestingly to my ears, he said this is the only AC/DC song he likes. That is strange to me because *all* AC/DC songs sound the same! If you like one, you probably like them all! ;-) Personally I like the songs/albums AC/DC did with their first singer (he died in 1980) but a lot of people like the "new" singer (well, he's been in the band for 30 years now!) just as much.

The next song chosen was "Butterfly" (video with lyrics) by (?? I'm not sure which band sings this song!). The student who chose it says he likes to sing it in karaoke.  He said it cheers him up.

Speaking of butterfly's, I saw a review in the Seattle times of a new 3D movie about butterflys. The review said is it "A must-see 3D movie".  The film is showing at the Pacific Science Center (where the Space Needle is). Here's more information about the movie.

As we listened to the song "Butterfly" one of the other students said she plays keyboards in a band in Japan and they play that song. I asked her for another example of a song her band plays. She said they also play "Layla" by Eric Clapton (info). So we listened to "Layla (Unplugged)" (video, lyrics, song info). 

But the original version of "Layla" is very famous for having a great guitar solo at the end (original version of Layla). I also told the class about the story behind the lyrics of the song, how Eric Clapton fell in love with George Harrison's wife (Pattie Boyd), then when George and Pattie split Eric married her, then eventually Eric and she split, too... Love is a messy thing, but it makes great rock songs!

A side note: before the video for Layla started, as usual there was an advertisement on YouTube. It was a really dumb advertisement about "pumping gas confidently"; I'm sure it is meant to be funny, a sexual double-entendre, but I think it's just dumb. It inspired me to go around the class to ask everyone if they like American TV commercials. Most of the class finds American commercials to be creative and good. But they say there are too many of them interrupting the TV shows! I agree!

I can't remember exactly how I came to the subject (maybe I was talking about Halloween? Or were we talking about anime? I don't remember...) but I played a little bit of Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street. Here he teaches Grover how to sing. He also plays one of his songs ("Superstition" video, lyrics, song info) live with the young kids all around. I love this song, so funky!

I asked another new student to chose a song. He likes The Eagles (info) and his favorite song by them is "Hotel California" (video with lyrics in the description, song info).  He especially likes the singer's voice on "Hotel California".

I mentioned that the singer of that song is actually the *drummer* in the group, Don Henley (info).  Henley has had a successful solo career outside of The Eagles. One of his songs, "The Boys Of Summer" (video, lyrics, song info) is one of my favorite songs, partly because I like the melancholic feel of the song, but mostly because of the lyric "A little voice inside my head said don't look back, you can never look back" -- I often think about that line when I am trying to figure out where to go next in my life.

By the way, "The Boys Of Summer" was recently covered by an indie-rock band, The Ataris (info). If you want to see a hard-rock version of the song, here it is (video).
  

Speaking of Halloween, for those of you in Seattle this Saturday (10/27), I highly recommend going to the JUICE 5th Annual FIUTS Halloween Bash dance party. The Facebook page for the event.

The music is modern dance music from around the world; it's one of the best dance parties in Seattle! There will be lots of people from FIUTS and the UW there. You must be 21+ and bring your passport or Washington ID to prove your age. The doors open at 9pm but the atmosphere really gets good around 11pm. I recommend getting there around 10pm or 10:30pm.

It is at the Lo-Fi club (429 Eastlake Ave, Seattle 98109). Most of the 70 busses from the U-District go there. Or get a cab with your friends!

I am not sure if I will go to the party, but if I do, I hope to see some of you there!

For next week's class -- the day before Halloween -- think of your favorite scary songs or movies to share with the class. 

 

11 October 2012 (Thursday)

!! First of all a bit of housekeeping: Starting next week, for the rest of Fall Quarter the Language Of Music conversation group will change from Thursdays to TUESDAYS. Time will still be 4:30pm. Location will be HUB 337. But for this quarter we have to move to Tuesdays. !!


Now to the notes from last week's class: 6 students came, one of whom was new.  

Somehow I was talking about my apartment and how I can see the ships going in and out of the Seattle harbor.  And I mentioned that every day I look at the real-time map of ships passing through Puget Sound. It's at www.marinetraffic.com. I then showed how you can zoom out on the map, then scroll over to Asia and see -- in real time! -- the ships going in and out of ports in Asia, for example Tianjin in China.  Or in the strait between Taiwan and mainland China.  It is *crazy* to see how many boats are on the water out there! With the online map one can see the shipping all around the world -- in real-time! Most of my friends think I'm geeky for liking this website so much, but I think it's cool.

Since we were looking at maps I then asked some of the students to show where their apartments are in their hometowns on Google Maps. They told me about what the neighborhoods are like around their homes and we even looked at their homes from the street view of Google Maps.

Finally we started listening to some music.  One of the students had been in New York City during the break and he had gone to a few Broadway shows.  His favorite one was "The Lion King" (info), so we watched the clip "Hakuna Matata" (video, lyrics, song info).

The next song chosen was "Sing Together" (video, lyrics, song info) by Train (info). The student who chose it said the song makes her feel good and she likes the idea of people singing *together*.

 
I can't remember exactly how we got to this subject, but I told the class about the online music service Pandora (info, website) and Spotify (info, website).

Pandora is a great way to discover new music because you tell it a band you like, then it suggests other songs that are similar to that band. You can say "I like this song" or you can say "I don't like this song" and it will refine the songs it suggests to you based on your taste.

Spotify is simply an online music service with almost every song you might want to hear.

I should also mention again the mobile phone app Shazam (info, website) which lets you use your mobile phone to listen to a song (for example in a store or in a bar) and then it will tell you which song is playing.

The next song chosen was "Turning Tables (live)" (video, lyrics, song info) by Adele (info) which the boyfriend of the student who chose it had sent to her because she loves violin and guitar.  And Adele's amazing voice!  

I told the class that a Seattle singer, Vicci Martinez (info) had covered the Adele song "Rolling In The Deep" (video) as her audition for the TV talent show The Voice (info). 

One of the students said she had seen a 13-year old French girl do "Rolling In The Deep" (video) on a French talent show.

Then we watched a 15-year old Korean girl do "Rolling In The Deep" (video) on a Korean talent show!

Here's Adele's original version of "Rolling In The Deep" (video, lyrics, song info).

So we ended up watching and comparing all these different covers of the Adele song.  It was fun to see how the different singers do that song. I think the Korean girl did the best job of putting her own style into the song.

With that we had to leave the classroom.  We talked more about the students' hometowns than music today, but it was a fun conversation.

Don't forget, from now on TUESDAYS!! (4:30pm, HUB 337)

4 October 2012 (Thursday)

Today was the first class of the Fall Quarter, after a number of weeks break after Summer Quarter. I had no idea how many people would show up for this first class, on a new day in a new location.  

In the end 5 students came: 2 students from last quarter, 2 new students, and 1 American who is learning Chinese.

There was some general conversation as students arrived. I asked the returning students about their travels during the break. I must say, the international students see more of the United States than even I, an American, have seen!

I mentioned that there is a new band from Seattle with some famous people from other bands called Walking Papers (Facebook site) and they are playing a show Friday night to celebrate their new (1st) cd.  As an example of their music I showed part of a live concert they played this summer.  I have seen them twice and like them a lot.  They are hard-rock, so you have to like that kind of music. Unfortunately I can't go to the show on Friday night because I will be in a seminar all weekend long.

Now we got to know a bit more about what kind of music the students in the class like.  First up was "Afterglow, featuring Soundmouse" (video, lyrics) by Phaeleh (Facebook page). The student who chose this said he likes how atmospheric this song is, how it puts him in a different state of mind. We talked about how music can color the day's atmosphere, beyond just the weather (ex. sunny, cloudy, rainy).

 
I asked one of the new students for an example of what kind of music she likes.  She plays piano herself so likes piano music, but said for pop music she likes *all* of Bruno Mars's songs.

As an example of a Bruno Mars song she chose Marry You. I asked if she had ever seen the famous video where the guy in Portland, OR, asks his girlfriend to marry him by getting all his friends to dance to this song (video, lyrics, song info). She hadn't seen that video before, so I showed it to the class. It's a classic.

Inspired by the guy putting so much effort into asking his girlfriend to ask him to marry him I asked the women in the class if men are romantic. Overall they said "No, men are not romantic". Come on guys, step it up! One thing all the women agreed on is that they like chocolate, so there's a first step for you!

One of the other new students likes to play guitar himself.  I mentioned that there is a hot new guitar player from Seattle named Ayron Jones (website), who is playing Friday and Saturday nights this weekend.  As an example of Ayron's music I played a live clip (video).

Next I asked the two returning students who had travelled during the break what their theme songs from their trips were. 

They had both been to New York City and it turns out that for both of them their "theme songs" for their trip had to do with New York:

"Empire State Of Mind" (video, lyrics, song info) by Jay-Z (info).

And "Somewhere In Brooklyn" (video, lyrics, song info) by Bruno Mars (info).


At this point we had to end class because they were closing the room. It was a fun conversation today!

LOM resumes 4 October (Thursday!) at 4:30pm in the new HUB

After a break for the past few weeks, the Language Of Music conversation group at the University of Washington will resume its regular meetings this Thursday, 4 October at 4:30pm.

Note, this quarter we will meet on Thursdays (*not* Wednesday as last year)!  Starting time is the same as before: 4:30pm.

The location has also changed: We will now be in the new HUB building (first week will be in room 340).

I hope to see some familiar faces from previous classes and I look forward to meeting new students, too!

The Language Of Music is on a break until October 2012

The Language Of Music conversation group is on a break until start of the Fall Quarter at the University of Washington. Classes will resume in October 2012.  I will post information about the weekly time + date and the new location when I have it.

Economist article about K-Pop

One of my favorite things about hosting the Language Of Music class is hearing music and about bands/performers that I would never have heard of otherwise.  Until I started this class I was blissfully unaware of K-Pop and now I realize what a big thing it is across Asia!  For example, my class played me "Gangnam Style" (video) before the Western press suddenly filled with articles about the song.

Even this week's Economist magazine refers to Psy ("Gangnam Style" performer) and then goes on to talk about the music industry in Korea (article).  Very interesting to learn how the music industry works in Korea, from how much consumers pay to how performers make money.

PS. Why has my class never shown me a Super Junior video? You guys are slacking off in keeping me current with the K-Pop trends!

15 August 2012 (Wednesday)

Today was the last class of the Summer Quarter -- the Language Of Music conversation group will take a break until Fall Quarter starts in early October.  Nine students came today, but of those nine, five will be leaving in the next weeks :-( .

Because it was the last class of the quarter the themes for songs were:

* Songs about home

* Songs about Seattle

* Goodbye songs

The first song chosen had *nothing* to do with any of those topics!  It was a parody of "Call Me Maybe (Chatroulette Version)" (video). I guess its choice was inspired by a little pre-class conversation we were having as I set up the equipment about which Olympic sports have the best looking athletes (I asked the question to both guys and girls in the class).

With the next song we started in on the themes: "Goodbye America" (video with lyrics in notes) by Nautilus Pompilius (info).

Next our Austrian student chose "Vienna Calling" (video, lyrics) by Falco (info). 

The next song was "Never Say Goodbye" (video, lyrics, song info) by Bon Jovi (info).  This is an old Bon Jovi song so I asked how the student knows it: he said that when he was young he liked hard rock and listened to Bon Jovi at that time. Now he doesn't like hard music as much, however.

The next song was "A Passionate Goodbye (뜨거운 안녕)" (video) by Toy (info).

Next we listened to a song in Chinese which wishes the listener to "have a nice trip", but I unfortunately can't find the video on YouTube anymore. Sorry!

The next song was "Hey Jude (at the London Olympics)" (video, lyrics, song info) performed by Paul McCartney (info).  The student chose this because of the line "take a sad song and make it better".

The next song was "Farewell" (video) by Apocalyptica (info).

Then we listened to "Dear My Friend" (video) by W&Whale (info in Korean).

 

One of the students who couldn't attend class in person today sent me a few songs which she would have chosen to play if she were with us.

I played the first song on her list: "台灣的心跳聲 Heart beat of Taiwan" (Song of Taiwan Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai) (video).

Here were her other choices: 

* "Hello Seattle" (video, lyrics, song info) by Owl City (info)
* "Goodbye" (video, lyrics, song info) by Avril Lavigne (info)
* "International Love ft. Chris Brown" (video, lyrics, song info) by Pitbull (info)

The last song chosen was "The End" (video, lyrics, song info) by The Doors (info).  An appropriate title, but the lyrics of that song are pretty crazy!

As we gathered up the equipment I played a song which I thought is appropriate: "Wish You Were Here" (video, lyrics, song info) by Pink Floyd (info).

 

With that class was over for the day and for the quarter. I enjoyed sharing discussions with the students who came to the class this year. Those leaving I wish safe travels home. And for those staying in Seattle, I hope to see you around Seattle, at the latest for Language Of Music conversations group in October!

8 August 2012 (Wednesday)

9 students came today. 

I first started by telling the students that next Wednesday next week (15 August) there will be a free lunchtime concert downtown by a rising star from Seattle: Vicci Martinez (info), who was one of the finalists in the TV talent show "The Voice" (info). Here's an example of her singing on The Voice: her introduction to the judges: "Rolling In The Deep" (video) and "Come Along" (duet with CeeLo) (video). There was a bit of confusion in the class as I tried to find the information about where she is playing, but she is definitely playing (for free!) Wednesday, 15 August at Two Union Square Plaza (601 Union St [map]) from 12 - 1:30pm (info).  I highly recommend my students check her out, especially the students who attend classes downtown. I plan on going to the show, too.

I next asked the students if they had ever heard of a new movie from Taiwan called "Girlfriend Boyfriend" (movie trailer). Here's the description of the movie:

"GIRLFRIEND BOYFRIEND portrays the turbulent and rapid social change that has taken place during past 30 years in Taiwan through the perspectives of three intimate friends struggling with their own complex relationships." It was showing in Seattle and it would be very interesting to see this movie about society and relationships with some students from Taiwan so I can learn more about life there. I wanted to ask my students if anyone wanted to see the film with me, but now it looks like it isn't showing in Seattle anymore :-( .

Today Anthony, from Russia, brought his acoustic guitar to play some Russian songs for us! I don't have a recording of him playing + singing the songs, but here are links to the original versions of the songs he played:

The first song (ПИЛОТ - Шнурок):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5uMMjOCIHg

The second song (ДДТ-Дождь):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKTCfK5pPCI -- album version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1NNhkPPNYA -- official video.

The third song (Аквариум - Северный цвет):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIp0a8bTEcg -- album version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HW5PtnWDi0 -- concert version.

The next song chosen had some similar musical textures to it: "Zigeunerskat" (video, lyrics) by In Extremo (info).  The student who chose this song likes how the medieval sounds are incorporated into the song.  He likes both medieval and heavy metal music and In Extremo combine these two favorite styles of his.

The next song chosen was quite different: "Gangnam Style" (video, lyrics, song info) by PSY (info).  The student chose this song because it is humorous. In reading about it in the "song info" it is interesting for me to learn about why the different scenes are funny to Koreans. I forgot to ask the students if that "hopping around" style of dance became popular in Korea after this video came out.

Update: There was an article in the American news this week about this song! 

Update 2: Here's an article which explains the cultural background of why this video is so popular in Korea.

Speaking of funny songs, we next watched "Kabinenparty" (video, lyrics, song info in German) by Skero (info in German), which was a big hit in Austria last summer (it is sung in a strong accent local to the city of Linz).  

Now we were back on songs sung in German. We talked a little about whether German is a "melodic" language.  We listened to "Dalai Lama" (video with lyrics, song info) by German band Rammstein (info). After hearing this song I suggested the German language is more rhythmic than melodic.

The next song was "Fuck You" (video, lyrics, song info) by Lily Allen (info). The student said he likes the melody of the song.  Is that the only reason he suggested this song, I wonder?  Hahaha! :-)

At this point I asked the students to play me a song where the singer says "Fuck You" in their local language.  No one had a song like that to suggest, but they did suggest a song by the controversial rapper MC HotDog (info): "Wo Ai Tai Mei" (video, lyrics). 

The next song was "Stacy's Mom" (video, lyrics, song info) by Fountains Of Wayne (info).  The student who chose this song said he likes the pop melody. 

The theme of "Stacy's Mom" made me think of explaining an American term to the class.  I won't go into which term that was exactly in this blog, but it's used in this Tori Amos (info) song: "Big Wheel" (video, lyrics, song info).

On that note our meeting was over for the day. At the end of class today I realized we had only listened to three songs in English the whole day (two right at the end!) -- cool!

A note: the next class on 15 August will be the last one for Summer Quarter! The Language Of Music will resume for the Winter Quarter, starting again in October. Students are welcome to stay in touch with me during the break if they have any questions about music or cultural events in Seattle.  I will also keep students informed of my recommendations for musical/cultural things to do during the break -- I hope we will meet up!

Many of the students who have been attending class will go back home in the next weeks -- I will be sorry to not have you in my class in the Fall.  For this week, please think of songs about "going home", "goodbye" or any songs that you relate to your time in Seattle (ex. about Seattle, or you often listen(ed) here or that were popular in the past six months).

1 August 2012 (Wednesday)

Another nice, sunny day in Seattle!  The class during the summer quarter has been only lightly attended and today there were only 6 students -- 4 of whom were new.

I started by telling the students that if they heard loud noises and jet fighters in the air over Seattle this weekend not to be afraid: it's just the Blue Angels (info), highly specialized pilots from the US Navy in town to entertain for the annual Seafair Festival (info). In particular they do an amazing flying show over the hydroplane boat races (info) on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  Here's some video someone shot of the Blue Angels this year. The video is pretty cool, but I can say from personal experience that seeing (and hearing!) them in person is much more impressive. 

About the hydroplane races: those boats go fast! As with the Blue Angels, it's more impressive to watch in person than on video.  Many people go to the races hoping to see a boat go too fast and flip (video).

As I told the new students about cultural things in Seattle, the subject of Bumbershoot (info) came up again. This year's Bumbershoot lineup looks really interesting to me, though it is a little bit lacking in world music compared to other years.  The students asked me which bands I am most interested in seeing at Bumbershoot.  Here's a quick list by day of the bands I want to see:

Saturday

The Spittin' Cobras

Skerik's Bandalabra

Gotye

The Soul Rebels

THEE Satisfaction

The Heavy

Jane's Addiction (one of my favorite bands in the 90's!)

Sunday

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme

Barcelona (maybe)

The Dirtbombs

Mudhoney

* I might spend a good part of this day watching short films and looking at art.

Monday

Cascadia '10

Bombino (from Niger, West Africa; I've already seen him twice in the past 9 months!)

M83

Omar Souleyman

Fishbone

Low

Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs

Fujiya & Miyagi

Those are just the bands I know now that I am interested in seeing. I will inevitably come across something I had no idea about while I am there! Part of the fun of Bumbershoot is walking around and discovering new music! 

Now I wanted to find out what kind of music the new students like. One student said he likes Linkin Park (info).  His favorite song by them is "In The End" (video, lyrics, song info).

The next student chose "Payphone" (video, lyrics, song info) by Maroon 5 (info).  The student who chose it like that song because it's about long distance relationship and how romantic it can be when people keep a relationship going by their strong love despite the long distance.

The next student said he loves British Rock like The Beatles (info) and Oasis (info).  He even went on a musical pilgrimage to England to see the actual places where the Beatles were from. I asked him which Beatles song is his favorite -- a difficult question, I know!  After thinking about it a while he chose "Hey Jude" (video, lyrics, song info).

The next new student said he currently likes dubstep music (info), but he chose something completely different to show the class: "Signal To Noise" (video, lyrics, song info) by Peter Gabriel (info).

I am not really familiar with what dubstep music is so I asked him to chose a song as an example of dubstep. He chose "Playing The Villain" (video) by Son Of Kick. I mentioned that this sounds to me a lot like Skrillex (info), who is playing at Bumbershoot this year.

At this point the building facilities person came in to kick us out.  We had time for one more song.  Julius, from Vienna, is a fan of the Seattle band Abney Park (info) and the steampunk style (info).  I had never heard of Abney Park until Julius told me about them, yet they are apparently very known internationally!  Julius wrote a review of their new album for the University of Washington student newspaper. He suggested we listen to their song "Automaton", which is closer to dubstep than their usual steampunk. However, since it is one of the few songs in the world *not* on YouTube we listened to it through his iPod and I can't do a link to the song. Sorry!

With that we had to break for the day.

A note: The class on 15 August will be the last one for the Summer Quarter.  There will be a break until early October when Fall Quarter starts.  Nonetheless, during the break I will be in touch with students via email and I hope we can do some fun music/culture things together.