22 February 2012 (Wednesday)

Another great turnout today -- 14 students, 4 of whom were new.  One of the new students is an American who is studying Chinese.

For today's class I had suggested "winter" songs or any other songs the students like and wanted to share.

The first song chosen was "The Final Distance" (video, lyrics, song info) by Utada Hikaru (info).

The next song chosen was inspired by last week's choice of a song by the animated characer Hatsune Miku (info) (who we saw a video of last week, too).  The song he chose this week was "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku" (video with lyrics). I have no idea how someone can understand those lyrics, but I suppose there are songs in English where the vocals are not clear but I can still understand them.  The next question is, "How many minutes of that voice can a person listen to before turning it off or going crazy?!"

Update 11 March 2012: Here's an article about Hatune's "last"(?) concerts in Japan.

Next was "The Wind Is Blowing" (video, lyrics) by Lee So Ra (website).  What a great singer and what a pretty song!

The next song we listened to was "Just One Last Dance" (video, lyrics, song info) by Sarah Connor (info).

Referring to the lyrics to this song, I asked the class if they think that when two people are breaking up, if the two people should try and have one more romantic time together again, "like the first time" or whether they should just let each other go.  Opinion in the room was mixed on this subject.

The next song chosen was "Here It Goes Again" (video, lyrics, song info) by OK Go (info).  This song is very famous for it video with the treadmill.  I asked the student who chose the song if she likes the song without the video, or only together with the video.  She said she likes the song by itself, too.

The way the band moved around on the treadmills in the previous song made me think of the video for the song "Virtual Insanity" (video, lyrics, song info) by Jamiroquai (info).

The next song chosen was "Life Is Beautiful" (video with lyrics, song info) by Vega4 (info).

This song has a typical "European" rock feel to me.  It made me think of the UK band Muse (info).  They are massively popular in Europe, but not that well known in the US.  My students from Asia were not familiar with their name nor this video "Uprising" (video, lyrics, song info).

Speaking of bands which are really popular in Europe, but not well known in the US, there's a UK band called Kasabian (info) playing in my favorite club, the Showbox (website) in Seattle on 10 April. I'm not a really big fan of the band, but I think it would be fun to see a band which are used to playing in big halls in Europe in a more intimate setting.  My favorite song by Kasabian is "Where Did All The Love Go" (video, lyrics, song info). 

Their current single is "Days Are Forgotten" (video, lyrics).

I think it will be a good rock concert. Does anyone want to go to this concert with me?

Back to the songs we listened to in class: one student suggested the song "Ripped Pants" (video, lyrics) by Spongbob Squarepants (info).

I had two questions for the student who chose this song:

1/ How does he know this song?

Answer: He used to watch Spongebob when he was a kid.

2/ Why did he chose this song?

Answer: The Muse song "Uprising" we listened to earlier reminded him of this song.  I'm not sure I see the connection myself... but that's the beauty of music: you make associations according to your own life and imagination :-) .

The next song was by Sodagreen (info).  The song is called "Chasing, Chasing, Chasing (追追追)" (video).  It is apparently an old song, updated to a modern feel. 

The song is sung in Taiwanese, as opposed to Mandarin.  We talked a little about the differences of Taiwanese and Mandarin.  Here is more information about Taiwanese language.

The next song chosen was "I Wanna Go To Marz" (video, lyrics) by John Grant (info).  When I asked the student why he chose this song he said he was just searching the web for new sounds and he found it.  We noted that he likes the fact that the lyrics are open to interpretation; they make not make "logical" sense in telling a story, but it is artistic to put concepts out there for the listener to interpret according to his own personal experience.  I liked that explanation!

As I wrote this blog entry I realized that this album, "Queen Of Denmark" is one I have had on my "listen to one day" list.  Now I've heard one song -- and I like it!

At this point someone suggested we listen to a song in tribute of Whitney Houston (bio).  Good idea!! Of course, the song to play is her signature song, "I Will Always Love You" (video, lyrics, song info).  I chose a live version of the song to show her amazing voice.

We then listened to a cover of this song (video) by Lin Yu Chun (info), which he sang on a Taiwanese talent show. That boy has a *high* voice!

Most of the students did not know that this song was actually written by a different singer, Dolly Parton (info).  Here's Dolly singing her own song.  But I think the students prefer Whitney's version. I think most of the *world* prefers Whitney's version!  Although, with music being such a personal thing, I am sure there are some people who prefer Dolly's version of the song.

I can't remember how we came up with the next choice,but it was Adele's (info) cover of a song by The Cure (info), "Lovesong" (video, lyrics, song info).  Here's the original version by The Cure.  This song is different for it's contrast: often bands put sad lyrics over happy music; in this case happy lyrics are put over sad music.

The next song was chosen according to today's musical theme: it has the word "winter" in it: "The Sound Of Winter" (video, lyrics, song info) by British band Bush (info).

Someone had asked *me* to choose a song.  That Bush song made me think of a Bush song I had had in my head this week: "Letting The Cables Sleep (remix)" (video, lyrics, song info). I like the feel of this song, even though it deals with the helplessness leading up to a breakup ("Silence is not the way, we need to talk about it.").  The video for the original version of this song illustrates the feeling of the song well (video), but I like the remix music better.

I told the class that the singer for Bush is married to Gwen Stefani (info), probably most famous for her song "Don't Speak" (video, lyrics, song info) with her band No Doubt (info) or her solo song "Hollaback Girl" (video, lyrics, song info). ("Don't Speak" would have been an excellent choice for the post-Valentine's Day class!)

The next song chosen was a continuation of the "winter" theme: "White Winter Hymnal" (video, lyrics, song info) by Seattle band Fleet Foxes (info).

The next song chosen was "Piano Man" (video, lyrics, song info) by Billy Joel (info).

One of my favorite albums when I was a young boy was Billy Joel's "52nd Street" (info).  I played that album over and over!!

Speaking of playing records over and over, I told the class that the first musician I ever loved was John Denver (info).  As an example of one of his songs I played "Leaving On A Jet Plane" (video, lyrics, song info).  Maybe listening to this song as a boy influenced me to travel so much as an adult!

I then told the class that the first song I ever remember liking in my life was "Baby Elefant Walk" (video) by Henry Mancini (info).  I was astonished to hear that the young students in my class are familiar with this song!  Apparently it is still used regularly in commercials or something. Or once you hear it you remember it forever!

The next song chosen was "Burning" (video, lyrics, song info) by Maria Arredondo (info).

The last song of the day was "A Little Less Conversation" (video, lyrics, song info) by Elvis Presley (info).  Well, the song is really by DJ JXL (info), but it's Elvis's voice.  Here's the original Elvis version.

I asked the student why he chose this song and he said he knows it from a Nike soccer shoes commercial.  I asked him if he wears Nike's when he plays soccer and he said, "No, Adidas".  So the commercial made him like the song, but didn't convince him to buy the shoes!

With that this week's session was over.  Again, it was GREAT fun and I look forward to next Wednesday's class.

A note about class on the 29th: I have to leave at 5:30pm to go to another event, so this week we will only have one hour of conversation.  But I would like to discuss with the class some ideas for going to see a concert or something in addition to our normal Language Of Music meeting.