1 February 2012 (Wednesday)

Attendance was great today -- 12 students!  Six were returning students, six were new.  It was really nice to have such a big group with so many different viewpoints and tastes in music.

As the new students introduced themselves one of them mentioned that he had a number of American cities he could chose from to do his studies, but he chose Seattle because he like the Seattle "grunge" bands so much (info about "grunge" music).  I was impressed that he knows the names of those bands from when the Seattle music scene was popular 20 years ago -- most of my students are young and are not familiar with "old" bands like that.

Speaking of local music, I wanted to let the students know about some good music events happening in the city in case they wanted to get into the Seattle music scene.

The student's interest in grunge reminded me that one of the early semi-grunge bands, Satchel (info) was playing a concert Thursday evening at the Crocodile (website), a legendary Seattle music club down in Belltown.  Satchel has some heavy grungy songs, like "Taste It" but also has one of the prettiest songs ever sung by a Seattle band, "Suffering" (video, lyrics).  I couldn't find a good recording of "Taste It" on YouTube to show the class the "heavy" side of Satchel, but they did seem to like "Suffering."

I had intended to go see the Satchel concert at the Croc on Thursday, but I didn't make it in the end.

I wanted to give the class some ideas for where good dance music was playing on the weekend, if that sounded fun to them.

The first Friday of every month there is a soul music dance party called DUG (Facebook page) that takes place at the Lo-Fi Gallery (website), not far from the UW. If you like 60's and 70's soul music, it's a great dance party.

Friday a local funk band called Eldridge Gravy and the Supreme Court (website) were scheduled to play at the Nectar Lounge (website) in Fremont, also not far from the UW. As an example of their music and show I played a bit of the song "Can't Help It" (video).

However no one in the class seemed very interested in Eldrige Gravy.  One comment was that the music is not very dynamic, that it is rather monotonous. I said it does not have much "texture" (definition) in the figurative sense.  Nonetheless, in a club with a lot of people and rhythmic music, funk/party bands like Eldridge Gravy are fun to watch.

Since the class wasn't into my suggestions of music to listen to on the weekend, I asked someone to suggest what they would listen to on a Friday night.

The first person to answer said "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (video, lyrics) by Katy Perry (info).  (This was a new student, who wasn't there three weeks ago when we listened to this song.)

The next song chosen wasn't exactly a "Friday" song: "No Ha Parado de Llover" (video, lyrics) by Mexican band Maná (info).

This song sung in Spanish made me think of one of my favorite "Friday" bands: Manu Chao (info).  I like how the songs have a happy feeling to them and how they are sung in a mix of Spanish, English and French, often within one sentence.  Manu Chao (info) is a huge star in Europe but most of the students from Asia had never heard of him.  To give a taste of his music I played "Me Gustas Tu" (video, lyrics) and "Bongo Bong/Je Ne T'Aime Plus" (video, lyrics).

However, the class seemed unmoved by this music.  The comment that it is lacking in "texture" was made.  I was not picking good songs which match the class's taste today!

So I turned song selection back to the class, asking for another "Friday night" selection.  A student suggested "First of the Year (Equinox)" (video) by Skrillex (info).  Naturally, a short discussion about "texture" in music ensued after listening to this song ;-) .

The next song chosen was "I Have A Lover" (video, lyrics) by Lee Eun Mi (website). The song is about a woman longing to be with a man she loves, but who is not available for her to have a relationship with.  We talked a little about that kind of situation, if a person should even let their feelings develop for someone who is not available.

On a similar theme there is a song by a Seattle band called Death Cab For Cutie (info) called "I Will Possess Your Heart" (video, lyrics).  I really like the lyrics about a guy who wants to convince the girl how great it will/would be for them to be together.  But as a person who has travelled a lot, many times alone, I really like the video, too.  I bet many in the class can relate to the travelling aspect of the video, too, if they watch the whole video.

On the theme of melancholic songs and longing the next song was suggested, but it was by a singer who I had never heard of: Jackie Evancho (info) singing "Angel" (video, lyrics).  Wow, what a great singer at such an early age!  But is that little 12-year old really so sad that she is feeling the lyrics about sadness that she is singing?  I hope not -- youth should not be a sad time!

Not wanting to bring the spirit of the class down I asked for another Friday song. "Pop Goes My Heart" (video, lyrics) from the movie "Music & Lyrics" (info) was chosen.

The last song of the day was "We Dance On" (video, lyrics) by N-Dubz (info).


With that we ran out of time for this week.  Next week's theme for songs: The students' favorite love songs in honor of Valentine's Day!