Today 10 students showed up. It was a lively group and one of the best discussions I have ever had in the class!
First an update to last week's class: The music used in the Goong soap opera from South Korea can be heard as the background music to this ice skating routine.
Some people in the class asked that I start each week's session with a song suggestion of my own. Perhaps I have gained their confidence that I have good taste in music? ;-) .
I started this week's class by playing a song by a group that I listen to a lot these days, especially as I drive around. The music is particularly well suited to driving around in the rain. The band is Zero 7 (bio). I played a video for the song "Somersault" (video, lyrics) knowing that the little dance-step at the end of the song is a crowd-pleaser. (Actually, I played this song in the class last quarter, too, but that was only for two students -- now I had a larger audience!).
I pointed out how sweet the lyrics are, about how she is saying all these nice things about this guy, like how he *encourages* eating ice cream rather than saying "you shouldn't do that". I explained what it means to "feed parking meters" and asked who knows what jelly beans are.
Today I was actually more in the mood to hear Zero 7's song "Futures" (video, lyrics), but opted to show the class Somersault instead because it has more visual appeal.
Kanako, remembered Modest Mouse (bio) from last week's class and asked to hear another song by them. I hesitated because the class didn't like the song last week. But I relented, playing their previous big song "Float On" (video, lyrics). I asked Kanako if she likes this song. "Yes!" was her answer. I asked why. "Because I want to be more of a Seattleite!" was her answer. I commend that attitude -- she is here now and wants to integrate into what it means to be a Seattleite! That gave me the idea to ask the class for the next session to tell me which songs they associate with Seattle.
However, only half of the class actually likes this song, so I think we've given Modest Mouse all the exposure in this group that we will do...
Casspina asked what the difference between R&B and Hip-Hop is. That's a tough question! It depends a lot on personal definition. On the spot I described the difference as saying that R&B is primarily about soul music while Hip-Hop combines soul music with rap and also includes a lot of fashion in it, too.
Here are the Wikipedia definitions of R&B and Hip-Hop Music.
As an example of a song that has both R&B and Hip-Hop in it I showed "Doo Wop (That Thing)" (video, lyrics) by Lauryn Hill (bio). This video shows old-school soul (R&B) on the left of the screen and modern hip-hop on the right. Lauryn Hill is an *awesome* singer and her album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is one of my favorites!! Another song I like a lot from that record is "Lost Ones" (Sorry, I don't find any good video clips of that song).
At this point I told the class the origin of the term "rock n' roll": before it described music it was a term for "having sex". In the 50's people started making music which made people want to have sex" rock n' roll music. Here's the Wikipedia history of rock n roll.
Someone asked what the difference between Rap and Hip-Hop is. I said that in my view rap has less emphasis on singing, rather it started as a way for non-singers in the inner-cities of America to do social commentary over music. See the Wikipedia history of rapping. But I think rap has become something else now. It seems to be more braggadocio (word definition) about money, materialism and women as sex-objects. As an example we listened to 50 Cent's (bio) "Just a Lil' Bit" (video, lyrics).
We only made it through half of that song before the class said they want to hear some rap with quality. Someone asked what I think of Eminem (bio) and I said that I respect him as lyricist. One of the students asked to see his video "Mockingbird" (video, lyrics). I didn't know this song, but it's a good representation of what Eminem is about.
What my students didn't know is that Eminem is interpolating the traditional children's lullaby "Hush Little Baby" (video, lyrics) into this song. It's rather chilling how he mixes the sweet lullaby with lyrics of anguish. The class talked for a long time about whether Eminem is a good father for telling his daughter how much he hates her mother. The class said he is expressing his love for his daughter, but what about the vitriol (word definition) contained within those proclomations of love?
We lightened the mood of the class by listening to "Friday Night" (video with lyrics written in SMS form!) by Lily Allen (bio). (Here's a rough video of her
singing this song in Seattle a few weeks ago.)
The conversation in the class swung to the club scene in Seattle and abroad and we talked about that for a while.
We played a bit of a Taiwanese hip-hop artist, Jay Chou (bio). We played the song "Ting Ma Ma De Hua" (video). My students told me that his message is positive and that he is a good role model.
For the last song of the day one student asked to hear a song she had heard in an Abercrombie & Fitch store: "And She Said" (video, lyrics) by Lucas Prata (bio).
As I mentioned above, for this coming Wednesday I am going to ask the students to tell me which songs they relate to Seattle.
Wow, 15 students today, what a great turnout! Last week's students were there again plus Izumi from last quarter.
When I asked for a song suggestion Kerry piped up wanting to see Justin Timberlake's "My Love", just like we saw last week. As with last week -- and it is a recurring theme -- one of the students mentioned that she likes the songs because the lyrics are easy to understand.
Next up Stephanie from Hong Kong chose "It Ends Tonight" (video, lyrics) by The All American Rejects (bio). She likes how this song starts calmly then gets progressively more powerful. It makes her feel strong when she listens to it.
Kerry suggested that if Stephanie likes that last song, then she should hear "Lips Of An Angel" (video, lyrics) by Hinder (bio). I thought that Kerry was right on with that suggestion, that Hinder is quite similar to The All American Rejects, but Stephanie didn't agree and didn't like the Hinder song.
Listening to these two "alternative" bands made me think of Modest Mouse (bio), the Seattle band who recently had the #1 album in the US with "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" (on Amazon). I asked if anyone in the class has heard of Modest Mouse. No one had, so I played the video for the first single, Dashboard (lyrics).
The class definitely did not like this song so it got taken off after about 30 seconds.
I asked if anyone knew of other Seattle bands. Someone mentioned Jimi Hendrix (bio), a statue of whom is on the street corner just outside our classroom. Most people in the class didn't know who Jimi Hendrix is. The statue was actually commissioned by the first company I worked for out of university, AEI Music Network.
I asked if anyone knew any of the Seattle grunge bands: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains. Blank stares and lightly shaken heads. The glorious music of my youth isn't even on their radar screens.
Someone did say they know the local band Death Cab For Cutie (bio). So we put on the video for "Soul Meets Body" (video, lyrics)
So far all the music today had been guitar-oriented and pretty rockin'. At this point the people in the class who like calmer music were getting a bit restless.
I asked one of the guys in the class to pick a song: "Never Had A Dream Come True" (video, lyrics) by S Club 7 (bio) was his choice. I remarked that it seems like the *guys* in the class are more romantic than the women, hahaha! Again, the reason for liking this song is the now common refrain "The lyrics are easy to understand."
I asked one of the guys who likes classical music to pick a song. He chose a song by Richard Clayderman (bio), but now I can't remember which song it was!
At this point the YouTube website went down and we couldn't access videos anymore -- a disaster for this class!
Izumi had brought a CD single of a song she recently bought: "Smile" (video, lyrics) by Lily Allen (bio) so we played the song with just the lyrics on the screen but not the video. The song was popular in the class. I mentioned that Lily Allen recently played a sold-out concert in Seattle (Seattle Times review, Seattle PI review).
It was now 5pm, the scheduled hour was up. I said that I would stay and keep talking about music for anyone who wanted to stay. A few people left, but about 8 people stayed.
Since YouTube was down we now switched to playing songs off of the students' mp3 players.
Someone asked if we can play non-English songs. Sure!, I replied. Titus played "To You" (video) by a Hong Kong singer, Leslie Cheung (bio).
Next we heard two New Age instrumental songs from a Korean artist. I can't remember the artists name, but the Hong Kong students recognized the songs -- and *love* the songs! -- from a Korean soap opera called "Goong" (info). Apparently South Korean soap operas are beloved throughout Asia. Many people download them from the internet and watch them with subtitles.
For the last song of the day we listened to "Hollaback Girl" (video, lyrics) by Gwen Stefani (bio). On the screen I saw the lyrics "This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S" so I explained that the world "bananas" is old slang for "crazy".
After a 5-week break, today was the first class of the new quarter. In the hour before the class I went around to a few English classes in session to promote my conversation group in person, but when 4pm rolled around my classroom was empty. Was it that I hadn't sold the idea well? Was it the sunny weather outside that enticed potential students to sit on the grass rather than in a room?
Suddenly my first student showed up: Titus, from Hong Kong. Shortly after him Yumi, from Japan, came in.
As the three of us were introducing ourselves I saw someone out in the hall looking over at us curiously. I beckoned her to join us. Enter Vanny from Vietnam!
We kept the introductions short and went straight for music. Vanny picked the first song, "My Love" (video, lyrics) by Justin Timberlake (bio). She likes the rhythm of this song. And the dancing. When she listens to the song she thinks of the video: the song and visual are linked.
Next Yumi picked a song by Utada Hikaru (bio). There were a number of songs out there, so she picked "Passion" (video , lyrics and song information).
This inspired Vanny to start taking about a song called "Bonjour Vietnam" (video, lyrics) which is sung by a French-Vietnamese woman name Pham Quynh Anh (her website, in French). Vanny said that this song is extremely popular in Vietnam. Even though the singer has never been to Vietnam -- she was born to immigrants in France -- the Vietnamese like her sentiment of staying close to her family roots. Here is a story about the song.
At this point Vanny's sister, Kerry, showed up and the conversation became even more animated!
I wanted everyone in the class to have a chance to pick a song and talk about it so asked Titus to pick one. He choose Westlife (bio) "My Love" (video, lyrics). When I asked him why he likes this song his answer was one I have often heard: I can easily understand the lyrics.
We talked about the visual element of bands, how listening to music a person also imagines what the band or video looks like. And how a good-looking band can have a bad song, but a person sometimes still likes the song because the band is so good looking! I asked if any of my students *used to* think an artists was hot looking, but doesn't like him/her anymore. Kerry's example was 50 Cent (bio) "Just A Little Bit" (video, lyrics).
I was thinking of the inverse, of an artist who isn't very good looking but has a great song. My example was James Blunt (bio) "You're Beautiful" (video, lyrics). I can't remember from all the "I love this song!" cooing that was going on between my students if they think he's good looking or not...
With that our hour was up. It was a good group and I hope to have a few more participants next week. Will Izumi return from last quarter?
This was the last class for this session. Classes will continue again on April 11th. We will be in a new location in the South Annex (room SA 302) of Seattle Central Community College. As last week we only had Nara and Izumi but it was a very fun session!
At the beginning of class Izumi mentioned that she likes classical music best and is classically trained on piano. I told her that the Seattle Symphony has a program specially for people in their 20's and 30's called Wolfgang.
Nara talked about a song that drove people to kill themselves. She wasn't sure which song it was but did a bunch of searching and found out it was "Gloomy Sunday". There is a whole Wikipedia entry about the song which explains it and some urban myths around it. Here are the lyrics and a fan-created video set to the version sung by Billie Holiday (bio).
We talked about how music has such an strong emotional effect on people. Nara and Izumi agreed that music is a universal language, that it evokes emotions in people regardless of their language or culture. For example, a sad classical piece will make a person of any culture or mother tongue feel melancholic. Izumi said music expresses more than words.
Izumi also noted that Beethoven had a sad life story and that his music is sorrowful. Yet when she plays the music she feels happy. She says that "inside" the music is pretty. Nara agreed that when she plays music she feels happy.
Nara wondered how someone could be so affected by music that the actually commit suicide! Izumi mentioned that music audiences in her home town of Nagoya have the reputation of being very passionate, that they often go onto the stage when performers are playing.
Nara said that she finds kabuki much easier to follow when watching it live than western opera. The main reason for this is that kabuki uses make-up, masks and physical movements to tell the story more clearly than western opera, which relies heavily on the words.
Since this is the last class for 5 weeks I suggested to Izumi and Nara that we go see the regular Tuesday night flamenco show at the Capitol Club next week. They are interested in seeing it. It brought up the question of what is "latin" music versus "flamenco". I referred to an earlier one of my classes where we discussed "flamenco" versus "salsa".
5 students today, three of whom were new.
Class started with discussion about the Chinese New Year (which was this past weekend), which is apparently celebrated throughout Asia except Japan. I asked if anyone has been to a concert in Seattle yet and only one, Jin, has. He saw local heroes the Presidents Of The United States Of America (PUSA) over the weekend at the Showbox. The Presidents played three nights in a row and the Showbox is my favorite place to see music (only the Paradiso in Amsterdam comes close): I'm sure it was a great show and an excellent Seattle-cultural experience. One of the local Seattle newspapers gave the concert a rave review:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/304190_presidents19q.html
And this blogger liked it, too:
http://librarian-chroniclesof.blogspot.com/2007/02/presidents.html
Speaking of good music coming to Seattle, there are many excellent shows coming up. Lots of British bands. Here's a whole list of concerts in Seattle. I am for sure going to see Kaiser Chiefs at the Showbox on April 25 (I read a rave review of their new album). One of my favorite live bands, You Am I from Australia, are playing the Crocodile Cafe on March 28. Their live show is like watching The Who back in the 70's.
For those willing to invest a whole weekend, in early May there is the Sasquatch Festival (what the word "Sasquatch" means, info about the festival) at the Gorge, 2.5 hours away from Seattle. This year's lineup of bands is great and the venue, set above the Columbia River is in an amazing setting. I have never gone over for the festival as I don't like dealing with such big crowds, but the quality of bands is so high that I think I will go this year.
Speaking of Jin, it turns out he played in a band back home in South Korea. So we started by listening to his band: "locking on Heaven's Door". Heavy music! Jin plays bass on it. I asked what the lyrics are about. He said it is about society not being open to all people, that the chorus says "open it up to all!".
For the next song one of the students wanted to continue in a rock music vein. But he likes rock music that is a little more even in its beat: not too fast but not too slow. He picked "Behind Blue Eyes" (video, lyrics) by Limp Bizkit (bio, website).
Nara didn't like the song because she said it's too sad. She doesn't like sad music because it affects her mood too strongly.
The class did not know that this song was originally written/performed by The Who. So I played some of the Who's version. Nara felt this version has much more energy and isn't as sad. It's true that the Limp Bizkit version doesn't have the energetic middle section. And of course Fred Durst can't sing like Roger Daltrey!
The next student wanted to hear "Cry On My Shoulder". I don't know a song by that name so I wasn't sure which song he meant. We searched on that name on YouTube and found this animation, which he says has the song he was thinking of as the background music. I still don't know who does the song. And I was a bit confused by the animation, as it seems to tell one story with the subtitles which don't match to the song. But the class enjoyed watching the animation.
Next up Izumi chose "Carnival" (video, lyrics) by the Cardigans (bio, website). I asked her why she chose this song and she said the style of the song reminds her of traditional Japanese songs.
As the class was coming to an end one of the students asked to hear a Sarah McLachlan (bio, website) song. I am not very familiar with her songs and had a devil of a time spelling her name so wasn't able to find many choices on YouTube. We ended up watching a video for "In The Arms Of Angels" (video, lyrics) but I think it's a video a fan put over the song.
After class was over I stopped by the library for something else and noticed a Sarah McLachlan dvd there. I picked it up and will bring it to class next week.
After a break of a few months class began again today; it is now once per week for 90 minutes at Seattle Central Community College.
For this first class I had 9 people, from Vietnam, Kuwait, Japan and Thailand. We moved desks around into a semi-circle so that everyone can see each other. The people are outgoing and I think excellent discussions will be had. But I need to have everyone write down their names on a piece of paper so I have a visual aid to help remember names...
I began the session by introducing myself, then going around the room and asking everyone to say their name, where they are from and what kind of music they like. "Pop" music is the most common type of music and that was proven by the songs selected.
When going around the group about what kind of music they like one of the guys mentioned he likes romantic music. Since it is Valentines Day and I wanted to jump straight into listening to songs and talking, I asked him which song he would like to play.
He chose "So Sick" (video, lyrics) by Ne Yo (bio, his MySpace). That was a funny choice for a person who likes romantic songs to suggest... And a funny way to start our first class, on Valentine's Day ;-) . But actually, I *like* doing things that aren't expected. So it was a good start!
The next choice was Sarah Connor (bio, website)"Just One Last Dance." (video, lyrics).
Again, an odd choice for Valentine's Day ;-) . Hmmm, I like how this group doesn't go for the obvious!
I mentioned that Ms. Connor is actually German, though her whole video is shot to look like she's a classic Middle American girl. The video opens with a shot moving over a big yard to a big old house, like I would expect to see in Ohio or something. There's even an American football game cut into the video.
Yet to my knowledge Sarah Connor is practically unknown in the US. So she's a German playing like an American to appeal to European and Asian audiences. What a funny twist.
I was unaware of it, but my class told me that Sarah is married to one of her video's co-stars, Marc Terenzi (bio, website). So next we listened to "Love To Be Loved By You" (video, lyrics). The video includes many shots of their wedding (the real thing or re-made?). I remarked that Sarah's talking about their last dance and he's dedicating his heart to her. Will this relationship last? No one in the class would try to predict the future of these two lovebirds.
Over the course of these first few songs the students said a few times that one of the main reasons they like these songs is because the lyrics were so easy to understand.
Thankfully the next student felt a need to pick a little more upbeat song and chose "Feel" (aka "Real Love") (video, lyrics) by Robbie Williams (bio, website). Again, a European who is unknown in the States whose video is an idealized fantasy of American life for the benefit of international audiences.
Next up was "Overprotected" (video, lyrics) by Britney Spears (bio, website). I asked the student who chose the song what she likes about it and she said it is mostly the beat. The lyrics are of secondary importance in this song for her. (Side note: This song was also talked about in one of my previous classes.)
I asked the students if they know that Britney Spears' reputation is very low in the US media these days. They knew about that. I explained that the media now has given her ex-husband, Kevin Federline (bio), the nickname "Fedex". I had to write out on the blackboard how that nickname was created ("Federline" + "ex-husband") and they thought it was a humorous anecdote.
Speaking of Kevin Federline, I went on to try and explain that he was featured in a commercial during the Super Bowl. I tried to explain that although the Super Bowl is the championship game for American football, it is the commercials played during the game that get the most attention. I don't think they understood; if the game is the championship, why would people pay more attention to the commercials? Well, it's an American cultural thing... Here's a link to a bunch of the Super Bowl commericals.
I explained that Federline is actually a cultural nobody and that he is only famous for being married to Britney Spears. I showed them the Super Bowl commercial with Fedex (video) in it and explained that I give him credit for being able to make fun of himself.
Next song chosen was "To Love You More" (video, lyrics) by Celine Dion (bio, website). We decided to watch the live version of the song to hear Ms. Dion's voice in all its unadorned glory. As soon as the video started the Japanese student exclaimed "That voilin player is a famous Japanese musician!"
Next up I asked the Kuwaiti students to choose a romantic song from their country. They choose this video (I don't know the name of the song nor the artist...) They said it is a song about a little girl's birthday.
To wrap things up told the class I will let them know about concerts in Seattle that they might enjoy. One of the things I like to promote is the flamenco shows put on by my friends from the band Children Of The Revolution (website) at the Capitol Club every Tuesday evening. To show them how professional the band is I showed one of their songs "Isla Margarita" (video), which features salsa dancing.
With that the class ended. I look forward to next week and hope all 9 will return -- perhaps bringing a few more friends!
Today was the last class for this session and also the last class before Grace and Pei Hsuan return home to Taiwan. It turns out that only Grace had time for the class today -- the other students had too much end-of-session work to take care of.
So Grace and I just chatted a bit in general. At some point she said she would like to hear some songs that are not in English so I played some songs by Manu Chao (bio, website) for her. I played:
* "Clandestino" (video)
* "Me Gustas Tu" (video)
* "Bongo Bong/Je ne t'aime plus" (video)
Grace was impressed how he switches languages randomly in the middle of songs.
She asked me to play her a song in German and the only thing I could think of was to search for a video by a band I know by name in Germany, but who's music I don't really like: Sportfreunde Stiller. I played the song "Ein Kompliment" (video) just because the description says it is their biggest hit.
With that, class was over for the day and for the session. I am planning on changing things up a bit for next session, making the class only once per week instead of twice, but then make it 90 minutes (possibly even 2 hours) rather than just one hour. And since I had so few students from ACE, I want to open the class to international students from Seattle Pacific University, too.
In any case, there will now be a break of a couple weeks before the next session starts, in whichever form it takes.
Only two students again, Grace and Noriko.
We started by looking at Grace's blog, "To Find Where I Belong" again. She had recently posted the lyrics to the song "Irresistible" (lyrics, video) by Jessica Simpson (bio). Grace is not really a fan of Jessica Simpson, Grace had just seen an interview with Jessica on TV and was curious about her and found the lyrics to this song.
Grace asked if I like the song and I said, "Truthfully, not really: it's too generic. There's nothing special about the song."
However, I noted that sometimes a song can be a favorite because it reminds a person of a time or a memory. So an otherwise uninteresting song can have a positive connection to a person if it reminds them of something they enjoyed.
To illustrate this idea I showed Grace the video to the song "Word Up" (video) by Cameo (bio) which is not really a great song, but every time I hear it I think about the student parties at the University of Mainz when I was studying there in 1986/87.
I asked Noriko which song reminds her most of her previous stay in Seattle, when she was here for 11 months. She says it is "Beautiful" (video, lyrics) by Christina Aguilera (bio) because it was so popular at that time.
Another song Noriko identifies with her previous US trip is "Sakura" (video with subtitles) by Naotaro Moriyama (bio, website). It is traditionally a song sung for graduation from school (which happens in March in Japan), but somehow it became the soundtrack to her roadtrip from California to Las Vegas with her friend. So it also reminds her of the American landscape and scenery down in the desert.
Another pick for Grace of a song which is rooted in a time is "Only Time" (video, lyrics) by Enya (bio): it reminds Grace of the air conditioner in her classroom when she was a kid and the English teacher explaining the lyrics to the song. The teacher is/was from Seattle (he still teaches in Taipei).
With that, class ended.
Later in the evening I went to see the Children of the Revolution flamenco show at the Capitol Club; it was a special show and very full because it was the last performance before the two main players go to Spain for 6 weeks to study flamenco more. Pei Hsuan liked it so much last week that she came to this show again, her last chance before she leaves back to Taiwan on Sunday.
Only two students again today, Grace and Pei Hsuan :-( . I taught those two the word "slacker".
But we were dealt a poor hand of cards today: the computer in the room we were in didn't have speakers attached! So we couldn't use the classroom computer. But my laptop, which *does* have speakers, doesn't connect to the Seattle Pacific University network, so I couldn't use their internet access on my laptop. Fortunately I have about 47GB of music on my laptop, so we had a pretty good choice of music to listen to...
We started with listening to a couple of songs by a Seattle singer named Carrie Akre (bio, website). I had been listening to one of her albums the previous evenings so it was loaded up in my mp3 player on my computer. The songs we listened to were "The River" (lyrics) and "Humdrum" (lyrics). Sorry, I can only find links to some samples of her songs on Amazon.
I mentioned that I like the melodies of these songs a lot, but the subjects are very sad. This is typical Seattle, in my view. I can't think of a single light-hearted Seattle band; they do aggression and depression best.
We moved on to a random list of mp3's on my hard drive. One is "Wash" (lyrics), which is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs and one I had talked previously in the last session.
But I don't think the style of this song appealed to my students much, as they prefer much mellower songs. So I looked for something mellower in my collection and came up with "Andromeda & The Milky Way" (lyrics) by Me'Shell Ndegeocello (bio, website). This is one of my favorite songs, such passion!
Today's class only had 2 students.
I asked if either of them had been to the Bumbershoot festival on the weekend. Yumi went with her host family to see Steve Miller and the Pacific Northwest Ballet performances. She rated Steve Miller as a little bit of an oldie and I concur completely.
Last week I had suggested that I take the class to the weekly Children of the Revolution flamenco concert at the Capitol Club tonight. All students were non-commital about going and we planned to check in with each other in the evening to see if they could break away from their homework.
At this point Grace asked "What is the difference between flamenco and salsa?" (first we worked through mispronunciation of "flamenco" versus "flamingo"). An excellent question! The basic difference that I can discern is that flamenco is a very structured dance which requires extensive training, even from the beginning whereas salsa is more of "general public" dance, i.e. it has steps, but the form of the dance is more free and can be learned and put into practice more quickly. I found this article about flamenco versus "Latin music" and while it's tone sounds more like an explanation for why flamenco is cooler and superior to other forms of dance, reading between the lines gives insight to the differences.
Here are the Wikipedia entries about the two types of dances: Flamenco | Salsa
I illustrated the differences between the two types of dance using the Children of the Revolution concert at Seattle City Hall from August 22nd since the band features both types of dancing in their show. Unfortunately I can't bookmark straight to the parts of the concert where the dancing takes place, but you can forward to them yourself: flamenco starts at about 25 minutes and 46 minutes; salsa starts at around 1hour, 2minutes.
If that is too much work, naturally YouTube has lots of videos of flamenco and salsa dancing. Knock yourself out!
The only "song" we talked about today was "Hips Don't Lie" (video) by Shakira. Grace said that she likes how Shakira sings. I mentioned that we have talked about Shakira previously in the class, too. Seems she is the most popular artist among my students so far.
In the evening I did go to the flamenco show and it was excellent!! Only one student came with me and she was enamored with it. She and I agreed that the other students really missed out on a great show. Well, there will be more chances for them from November on (the musicians are going to Spain for 6 weeks to study flamenco).
A note to my students: Next week, Tuesday the 5th and Thursday the 7th class will be in Bertona 4. Also, don't forget about the option to come with me to see the flamenco show at the Capitol Club Tuesday evening!
Today I had three students. Kumi was gone, but in her place Maggie, from Taiwan, attended.
As custom, I brought the current week's editions of The Stranger and The Seattle Weekly. Noriko had somehow never seen them before so I gave her a quick introduction to the newspapers.
As we leafed through the concert listings I saw that British band Starsailor (bio, website)will play the tiny Crocodile Cafe (website) on September 25th.
Starsailor have had quite a bit of success in Europe and I am surprised they are playing such a small club in Seattle -- on a Monday no less! I muttered that this would be a good show for "girls to go see" and Noriko asked "Why?" In a muddled fashion I said it's a bunch of cute boys who sing about feelings and that I know a few women who like them. I pulled up the video to "Silence Is Easy" and let it play. But none of my students seemed impressed. Nonetheless I imagine the show will sell out since it's in such a small, intimate venue. I saw the band on their first tour in Paris in a similarly tiny place and while I enjoyed the show, that one time is enough for me...
We moved on to learn more about Grace's taste in music. Grace has her own blog "To Find Where I Belong" where she posts lyrics to her favorite songs. So this was a natural place to talk about the music she likes.
We started at the top, where she had posted the lyrics to the Muse (bio, website) song "Unintended" (video). She likes this song for its melody, but had never really analyzed the lyrics. We analyzed them are came up with the interpretation that the singer has had his heart broken but has just met a new girl who "could be" the one he will always love. But before he can fall in love with the new girl he has to heal his broken heart.
The next song on Grace's blog is "Overprotected" (video, lyrics) by Britney Spears (bio). Grace particularly likes the lyrics and identifies with them because she is young and is going out on her own, making her own decisions about which direction to go in life.
As for the music, even though it is kind of abrupt and nervous, everything will be ok in the end.
Noriko also likes Britney Spears because of the uptempo music, though she doesn't listen closely to the lyrics. Maggie is ambivalent towards Ms. Spears.
The last song we had time for was "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada. Both Grace and Maggie love this song! It is taken from the Final Fantasy 2 video game. It seems that a lot of YouTubers have created their own videos for this song, though the real video is here.
It is quite marketing savvy to place a song in a video game to attract young people and, further, to inspire people to make their own videos to the music!
I started this week's class by playing a song by a group that I listen to a lot these days, especially as I drive around. The music is particularly well suited to driving around in the rain. The band is Zero 7 (bio). I played a video for the song "Somersault" (video, lyrics) knowing that the little dance-step at the end of the song is a crowd-pleaser. (Actually, I played this song in the class last quarter, too, but that was only for two students -- now I had a larger audience!).
Kanako, remembered Modest Mouse (bio) from last week's class and asked to hear another song by them. I hesitated because the class didn't like the song last week. But I relented, playing their previous big song "Float On" (video, lyrics). I asked Kanako if she likes this song. "Yes!" was her answer. I asked why. "Because I want to be more of a Seattleite!" was her answer. I commend that attitude -- she is here now and wants to integrate into what it means to be a Seattleite! That gave me the idea to ask the class for the next session to tell me which songs they associate with Seattle.
As an example of a song that has both R&B and Hip-Hop in it I showed "Doo Wop (That Thing)" (video, lyrics) by Lauryn Hill (bio). This video shows old-school soul (R&B) on the left of the screen and modern hip-hop on the right. Lauryn Hill is an *awesome* singer and her album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is one of my favorites!! Another song I like a lot from that record is "Lost Ones" (Sorry, I don't find any good video clips of that song).
We only made it through half of that song before the class said they want to hear some rap with quality. Someone asked what I think of Eminem (bio) and I said that I respect him as lyricist. One of the students asked to see his video "Mockingbird" (video, lyrics). I didn't know this song, but it's a good representation of what Eminem is about.
We lightened the mood of the class by listening to "Friday Night" (video with lyrics written in SMS form!) by Lily Allen (bio). (Here's a rough video of her
We played a bit of a Taiwanese hip-hop artist, Jay Chou (bio). We played the song "Ting Ma Ma De Hua" (video). My students told me that his message is positive and that he is a good role model.
For the last song of the day one student asked to hear a song she had heard in an Abercrombie & Fitch store: "And She Said" (video, lyrics) by Lucas Prata (bio).
