After a break of 5+ years while I lived in Europe, today was the return of the Language Of Music! (At FIUTS, at the University of Washington, it is called "Music Conversation Group".)
The big difference between now and previously is that, because of COVID-19, the group is meeting online, not in person. I was curious to see how many people would come to the group, and it would work to have conversation online rather than in person.
The bad news is that only one student came to the conversation group this first day. Nonetheless, I hope this first time gets the ball rolling, and more people will join us in the coming weeks.
The good news is that we (me, the FIUTS facilitator and the student) had a very fun conversation!
Today's theme was "Favorite songs (of all time, or recently)" as a way to get to know about each others' tastes.
As we talked the FIUTS facilitator said she likes "all kinds of music". I have often told my classes that people claiming to like "all kinds of music" actually mean, "everything except opera and country music," hahaha.
Our student guest is from China and isn't familar with what "country" music sounds like. It is worth noting that "country" music in the US is different from "folk music". The term "country music" sounds like it refers to traditional music from the countryside, and perhaps that is how it started, but nowadays it is a style of modern music, like "rock" or "pop" or "soul" are styles, and has very little to do with traditional music from a century ago. I would say that "folk" music has closer roots to traditional music than any other modern musical style.
As an example of what "country" music sounds like, we listened to "Friends In Low Places" (video, lyrics, song info) by Garth Brooks (info). This song is to my ears a great example of country music:
- The vocal melodies go up and down
- The lyrics tell the story about having bad luck, having a truck, hanging out with friends, and drinking beer.
- The title is a "play on words" by referring how his friends are "in low places" rather than "friends in high places" (which is often referred to when someone gets a good job or receives favors in life).
Of course, there are many country songs which deal with other subjects -- especially love songs -- but this is an excellent example of a typical "country" song.
I have often said that most people don't like country music, but that is not true, and it shows a bias on my part: in fact, country music is extremely popular in the United States, especially in the center of the country (and Texas!) and in rural areas. Country music is not very popular in the big cities like where I have lived most of my life, so that is why I say people don't like it, but that is really not a true statement. It is very popular and very big business in the United States. Nashville, TN (map, info) is considered the home of country music in the US.
Now it was time to get an example of the type of music our student likes. She choose the Japanese singer Maki Asakawa (info). We couldn't quickly find exactly the song the student wanted to hear, but we listed to the start of the album Blue Spirit Blues (video). The student said this is representative of Maki's music that she likes.
The student said she likes Maki's voice, which is emotional and powerful. She likes that the melody is sad, but she does not find it depressing.
I told her that in English we often say this feeling is "reflective", which means to look inside oneself, like in a mirror. We often say a person is in a "reflective mood", or a person "reflects on the past." This is good music for those times :-)
It is not very often that my young students like such "old" music, but this student said she likes a lot of music from Japan from the 70's & 80's.
I had never heard of Maki Asakawa before, but I am intrigued by what I heard: I will check out more of her music!
I realized that there is a song by my favorite singer in the world, Oumou Sangaré (info) which musically fits well to the Maki Asakawa song we had just heard: Magoya (video). Musically this song is similar and it showcases Oumou's amazing voice.
At this point our FIUTS facilitator had to leave the group, but the student and I continued talking for a while.
The student said she likes the use of the colors in the lyrics. She also likes the second singer's voice.
I noted that Lana's music sounds sad, like the Maki Asakawa song the student had chosen before. She said that she often likes songs in minor keys, that it creates an atmosphere of mysteriousness.
That second voice is Stevie Nicks (info), an icon of American music. Stevie was/is in Fleetwood Mac, whose album "Rumours" (info) is one of the biggest selling albums of all time in America. It is the perfect soundtrack for romantic relationships breaking up, hahaha.
The student said she likes when a new singer does a duet with an older singer.
She asked me if Oumou had done a duet with Beyonce. It turns out, Oumou's voice was used in the background of a Beyonce remix, but that wasn't a proper duet.
On the topic of Beyonce, I said that I appreciate how Beyonce makes strong statements in support of women and social justice for black people in the US. As an example of that, I showed the video of Beyonce's performance at the halftime of the Superbowl* in 2016 (video). We talked about the messages that the visuals in that performance, as well as the lyrics of the song, send to different people in different parts of American society. *The Superbowl is the championship game of American Football at the end of each season. The Superbowl is the biggest television event of the year in America, each year watched by about 100 million people.
Lastly, on the topic of duets, I played a duet of Alicia Keys (info), one of America's top soul singers, with Oumou Sangare. They did a live duet of Alicia's first big hit, "Fallin'" (live duet, original version, lyrics, song info). Because I like this song so much, I was excited to see this duet. But, as the student commented, it seems like they are singing two different songs simultaneously: Alicia is very controlled, while Oumou sings very freely.
Today I met new people, had an enjoyable conversation and discovered a new singer -- what a great re-start to the Language Of Music! :-)
Next Thursday's topic: Songs for a rainy day, or songs about rain. Or, as always, any song you want to share and talk about!
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