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!

25 January 2012 (Wednesday)

Last week's class was cancelled due to a rare Seattle snow storm. I was curious to see if the disruption to the scheduled classes would affect attendance... Only two students, both of them new to the class, showed up.  But we had a very good conversation!

Before talking about music we talked about living abroad and what a person learns about themselves and their own country/culture by being away from it. For example, some people once they live abroad want to always live abroad, while others want to have their life (ex. career, children) based in their home country.  We also talked about how a person when they travel is seen as a cultural ambassador for their home country, whether they want to be an ambassador or not.

The conversation was very interesting, but after a while I said, "Let's talk about what music you guys like!"

Hairi, from Malaysia, suggested listening to the song "Civilian" (video, lyrics) by Wye Oak (info).  I asked what he likes about this band, and what type of music he likes in general.  He said he likes indie (= "independent") music that has meaningful lyrics.  And he likes female singers.

I must admit, I have never heard of Wye Oak, but I liked their music.  Had I heard about them before, I would have gone to see their concert at The Crocodile last August (review).  Here's hoping they come through Seattle again -- I'd go see them!

Based on just that one song I asked Hairi if he knows about Feist (bio).  He said he knows her music.  I suggested that he might like the local singer Jesse Sykes (website) and played a bit of "Pleasuring The Divine" (video, lyrics) from her latest album, Marble Son. I haven't liked her previous releases as much as Marble Son, though she is quite popular in Seattle and among indie fans across the US.

Speaking of female singers, Hairi then said he really likes the cover version (= a song which a band that did not write it does a "copy" of) of "Come As You Are" by Malaysian singer Yuna (info).  He prefaced that suggestion for a song by saying "I know it might be blasphemy (definition) to like this version of this song since it's so different from the original (by Seattle band Nirvana (bio)), but I like it."  Here are links to the two versions to contrast them:

* "Come As You Are" by Nirvana (video, lyrics)
* "Come As You Are" by Yuna (video)

By the way, "Come As You Are" is one of my favorite Nirvana songs.  But I like Yuna's version a lot, too.  I turns out she was also in Seattle this past October but I had no idea about her at the time. Here some pictures of her in Seattle from her website (it says she contacted some local Malay students in Seattle via Twitter). I can't tell if she actually played a public concert while here, but here is a clip of her playing for some people in what looks like an office building.

Hairi said he particularly likes cover songs so I showed him one of my favorite cover versions, similar to the way Yuna made a rocking song delicate:

* "Wonderwall" (video, lyrics) by Oasis (info)
* "Wonderwall" (video) by Ryan Adams (info)

I asked Marcus, from Taiwan, what kind of music he likes.  He said he likes Taiwanese pop, but his host family in Seattle plays jazz in the house quite often and he has come to like that a lot. He said his taste in music has changed through the years, but as a teenager he really liked a band from Japan called L'Arc-en-Ciel" (info).  As an example of their music we watched the song "Stay Away" (video, lyrics).

Marcus said he still likes L'Arc-en-Ciel a lot from his teenage years.  And he likes the new music they release, too.  The band will release a new album in February 2012.


At this point time it was time to end this week's conversations. Here's looking forward to next week's meeting!

PS. Now that I am getting to know what kind of music the students like I will suggest some concerts or other music-related things to do.  One suggestion for those who like soul music and to dance is a soul music party the first Friday of every month called "Dug".  It takes place at the Lo-Fi bar (21+) and is not far from the University of Washington. Here is Dug's Facebook page. The next one is next Friday, 3 February!

No class 18 January!

Due to the expected snow storm this week, the UW is closed Wednesday so we will not have a meeting this week :-( .

 

I hope to see you all next Wednesday (25 January).

Steve Z 

11 January 2012 (Wednesday)

Today was the second meeting of the quarter.  One person from last week came back plus 3 new people!

I did a quick introduction of the class format for the new students and we dove in to learning about what kind of music they like.

I asked YaYa who her favorite band/musician from her native Taiwan is: Mayday (info).  She chose the song "And I Know" (video with lyrics translated into English).  I asked what she likes about this song and she said she like the simple poetry of the lyrics.  She said generally she likes songs that touch her heart and are easy to remember. She likes to sing karaoke with friends.

I asked what songs she has on her iPod. She said she doesn't have very many songs on her iPod -- she prefers to listen to the radio for the variety of songs.  She also likes to use Windows Media Player to listen to internet radio stations.

Speaking of online radio, the students are familiar with Pandora (website), which is a service I like because its feature of creating playlists of songs that sound similar allows me to discover new artists/songs that I wouldn't otherwise hear.  They hadn't heard about Spotify (website), which has been a really big hit in Europe and just launched in the US in late 2010.

I asked YaYa what her favorite non-Taiwanese band is and she said it is Guns N' Roses (info).  Her favorite song by them is "Sweet Child O' Mine" (video, lyrics).

Sung-Hyun, another student, likes Guns N Roses, too.  His favorite song by the band is "Don't Cry" (video, lyrics).  He said that the song makes his heart beat.  He likes the rhythm guitar and how the dynamic of how the song starts mellow and gets louder.  Similar to what YaYa said previously, he likes that the lyrics are repetitive and easy to understand -- he can sing along with it.

I told the students that the original bass player for GnR, Duff McKagan (bio), is from Seattle.  He moved from Seattle to Los Angeles after high school to make a career in music -- and he succeeded in getting all the way to the top!

I asked if the students have been to very many concerts.  YaYa saw Guns N' Roses in Taiwan.  As I get to know what kind of music the students like I will suggest a concert in Seattle for us to go see; it's always an interesting experience to see a concert in a foreign country!

Speaking of concerts, in the navigation on the right side of this blog are links to lists of concerts coming to Seattle.  If any of my students see a band is coming and they want to go, let me know!

Since it seems like the students this quarter like rock music, and since Seattle has a lot of "rock" bands, I tried a couple of songs by Seattle bands on them:

 

I started with Pearl Jam (info) "Alive" (video, lyrics).  This is a very famous song, but the students hadn't ever heard it. I also played a little bit of "Even Flow" (video, lyrics). They seemed to think the songs were ok, but neither song seemed to make an immediate impression.Next I tried something a bit heavier: "Them Bones" (video, lyrics) by Alice In Chains (info).  But I think that song was a bit too heavy for them...

Seattle has a long history of being the birth place of great rock bands. Jimi Hendrix (info) was originally from Seattle.  In the 1970's the band Heart (info) was one of the first bands to have women rocking as hard as men. 20 years ago, in the 1990's, it was "grunge" (info) (bands like Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden).  Currently there are melodic rock bands like Death Cab For Cutie (info) and Fleet Foxes (info) which are popular worldwide.  I am not such a big fan of these current bands, but I am proud of the quality music that continues to come from my hometown. I will try to find the time to make a page with links to Seattle bands from the past decades to share with the class.

Back to the favorite music of the current class. I asked one of the new students what his current favorite song is and he said it is "Teenage Dream" (video, lyrics) by Katy Perry (info).  He likes this song because it just makes him feel good. I asked when he listens to music: he said when he is studying, when he is on the bus or just relaxing.

I can't remember exactly how the conversation led watching the song "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (video, lyrics) by Katy Perry, but we watched that song, too.

Speaking of Katy Perry and Friday's, we ended today's session with the song "Friday" (video, lyrics) by Rebecca Black (info).  I had actually never heard this song before and I understand a lot of people have a love/hate feeling about it (they either love it or hate it), but a lot of people must like it since the video has been watch more than 186 million times!  It was the Number 1 video on YouTube in 2011.  How did I miss it?!? (As I was writing this blog I watched her interview on Jay Leno; again, how did I miss this whole phenomenon???)

At this point we had end class to give up the room for a different meeting.  I look forward to seeing how many people show up next week -- I hope the class continues to grow.

4 January 2012 (Wednesday)

First class of the new quarter.  Only two people showed up -- both of them new to the class -- but FIUTS hadn't yet gone around to English classes to promote the class so I hope the group will be larger next week.

Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed the discussion with the two students who came!

After quick introductions I asked Ted (from Japan) what kind of music he likes.  I was surprised when he answered "The Rolling Stones and Maroon 5".  I was surprised that he likes an "old" band like The Rolling Stones (bio) since many of my students don't like anything older than from 5 years ago.  And it was funny that he mentioned Maroon 5 because they have a hit in the charts right now called "Moves Like Jagger" which is an homage to Mick Jagger, singer for The Rolling Stones.

Naturally we started by watching "Moves Like Jagger" (video, lyrics) by Maroon 5 (bio).

[A side note about Maroon 5: I saw them play a tiny club in Cologne, Germany in 2004, touring for their first album when they had just gotten really popular in the US but hadn't exploded yet in Europe. They were clearly having fun being in a club again and it was a fun concert, a good memory for me. The concert was actually recorded by someone in the audience and it can be listened to/downloaded here.]

The "Moves Like Jagger" video has flashes of Mick Jagger dancing, but the cuts are so fast you can't really see his moves in full.  I looked for a video which has some longer shots of Jagger dancing.  I came up with "Dancing In The Street" with David Bowie (video, lyrics)

I asked Ted what his favorite Rolling Stones song is. "Paint It Black" (video, lyrics) was his answer.  Again I was surprised by this answer -- that is one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, too! (My favorite Rolling Stones song is "Gimme Shelter" (song w/o video, lyrics) -- one of the best guitar riffs ever! And those background vocals are spine tingling!) 

By the way, my favorite cover version of Paint It Black is by a band called Smack (bio) from Finland in the 1980's. Their version of Paint It Black (song w/o video).

Speaking of dancing, I played a clip of Elvis Presley (bio) doing "Hound Dog" (video, lyrics) which was very controversial at the time for how he moved his hips: the public at the time felt it was too sexual and in 1957 when he was on the Ed Sullivan show (info) he was filmed only from the waist up.

We got into a discussion about the origins of rock n roll.  Big thick books have been written about this subject so it's a bigger topic than we could cover in our conversation class.  Here's the Wikipedia article on the history of rock n roll.

I asked Vicky, from China, what kind of music she likes.  Her favorite singer is Faye Wong (info).  To show us Faye's singing style Vicky chose Faye's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (video, lyrics), which is a cover of the Queen (info) song (Queen's famous video, lyrics).

Ted and I said we wanted to hear Faye sing in Chinese, so we listened to "No Regrets" (video).

At this point I told them about my musician friend Geoffrey Castle who is an amazing violin player and is collaborating with a woman from the Beijing Opera, Lucy Wu, to put together a show of "Violin Meets Jinghu" (info about the jinghu).  They are playing some local Chinese New Year events and will have a full show at the Triple Door on 23 January. Here's a promo video about their collaboration.

Now I asked Ted what his favorite Japanese band is.  He said it is Ellegarden (bio).  He chose the song "Marry Me" (video, lyrics).  I asked if all their songs are in English and he said yes, they are -- in Japan is it cool to sing in English.  Ted says that Japanese rock music fans don't really listen to the lyrics, so it's ok that they are sung in English. He said the music itself just makes him happy.

Apparently Ellegarden have also played in the United States.  I did a little research and they played in a small club in Seattle, in 2006 on a tour called "Japan Nite" (info).

Ted mentioned that in addition to indie rock like Ellegarden, he also likes jazz.  He has a wide range of taste in music and I look forward to hearing about more of his favorites!  We didn't have time to go into jazz songs this class, but I did mention that I think the Miles Davis (bio) album "Kind Of Blue" (info) is an album *every* music lover in the world should own.  As the class ended I played "So What" (video).

With that time was up and we parted.  I had a great time talking with Vicky and Ted and I hope they return next Wednesday (and I hope some additional people show up, too!).

Meetings resume Wednesday, 4 Jan at 4:30pm

After taking a break for most of December, the Language Of Music conversation group will resume meeting on Wednesday, 4 January.

We will now be meeting every Wednesday from 4:30pm in Condon Hall room 511E.

This conversation group is open to all UW students so feel free to bring friends.  

I look forward to talking about your favorite music!  

Conversation classes taking a break until January

With finals coming up followed by the holiday break I expect attendance for the Language Of Music conversation class will be very low through the rest of December.  Class will take a break from now until the beginning of January 2012.  More information about date/time/location for class in January when I have it. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!

Steve Z

30 Nov 2011

Due to circumstances I have not been able to lead the conversation group the past few weeks.  Some UW assistants took my place and it sounds like there were some good sessions.

I will be back leading the group again as of this week -- Thursday 1 Dec.  I hope to see some students and have good conversations about music.  I look forward to it!

Steve Z

20 October 2011 (Thursday)

The first day of The Language Of Music at the University of Washington!  I had no idea how many participants would come this first time.  In the end 10 people showed up -- a good sized group. 

I started by introducing myself and how the class works.  We then went around the room with a quick introduction of each person: where they are from, what they are studying and what kind of music they like.

There is a lot of diversity of musical tastes in the group and people seem pretty talkative; we will have some good conversations over the next weeks.

To get a sense of how the class works I asked if anyone in the class had a song in mind. 

Mustafa, from Turkey, suggested a song about a city in Turkey called Bodrum (Bodrum video, Wikipedia). He said this songs reminds him of summer breaks from school when his family would go to Bodrum for holidays. 

This was a perfect example for how the conversations in the class work: students pick a song that they like and then explain what it means to them.  And hopefully the other students talk about the video or song or theme, too.

I asked the group if anyone else had a song in mind. "Waka Waka" (Waka Waka video, lyrics) by Shakira (bio) was requested.  This was another perfect example for the class because a previous class of mine had discussed the same video and in that previous class was a student from Cameroon who informed us that Shakira had stolen that song from a traditional Cameroonian army song. See the previous class post for all the details, including link to a video where Shakira blatantly lies about "writing" that song.

I used the word "cheeky" to describe Shakira's behavior in taking credit for a song she didn't write.  It turns out it's not that easy to define "cheeky".  Here's the dictionary definition: cheeky.

I asked the class if anyone knows Seattle bands. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (video, lyrics) by Nirvana (bio) was picked.  While I played the video I didn't put the lyrics on the screen because they just don't make sense and I knew it would be more confusing for the students to try and understand the non-sensical lyrics than to just not even show them.

It seems that most of the class is not familiar with the other big "grunge" (definition) bands from the same time as Nirvana (Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam).  Plus there are many other excellent non-grunge bands from Seattle, both in the past and in the present.  I am sure that over the course of our conversations we will talk about other Seattle bands.  And hopefully go to some concerts!

Someone mentioned that when people think of Seattle they think of the movie "Sleepless In Seattle".  I said that there's a romantic comedy movie called "Singles" (info) which was shot in Seattle in the early 90's and it's kind of like how Seattle was when I was in my early 20's.  It's certainly not *exactly* how things were back then, but it gives a sense.  Though it's not a great movie, it's fun to see scenes of Seattle -- it's worth watching one rainy evening!

Someone asked if there are any good songs *about* Seattle.  I had a song in mind, but just couldn't come up with the title in class.  Now I know what it is: "The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen Are In Seattle" (video, lyrics).

But that's an old song!  One of the students had a couple of much more contemporary examples by local Seattle hip hop artists. Both are excellent choices to represent Seattle music!!

"The Ave" (video, lyrics) by Blue Scholars (bio).

"The Town" (video, lyrics) by Macklemore (bio).  Macklemore played a concert in Red Square at the UW for Dog Days this year.

At this point another group had to use the room so we had to suddenly end our conversation.  From now on we will have the room until 6pm for sure.  I look forward to learning more about the students and the music they like over the course of this quarter!

Conversation group starts again Thursday, 20 October @ 4:30pm

The Language Of Music English conversation group will start again after the summer break on Thursday, 20 October at 4:30pm.  

We have a new meeting place: Condon Hall at the University of Washington.

I look forward to meeting the new students and having interesting conversations about music!

No meetings during summer vacation

The Language Of Music conversation group is taking a break over summer.  We will start again for Fall Quarter.  I look forward to it!

Steve Z

21 April 2011 (Thursday)

The start for classes this quarter was a bit later than usual because I had a work meeting on the Thursday we were to re-start. 

I was curious to see how many students from last quarter would continue this quarter.  In the event, I had 5 students, all new!  After my usual introduction of the class it was time to get as sense of what kind of music my students like. 

The first song was "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" (video, lyrics in comments) by Andy Williams (bio).

As I write this I can't remember how I made the leap from that song to "Uprising" (video, lyrics) by Muse (bio), but for some reason I played it next. 

The group didn't seem to be very into this song so I asked a student for another suggestion.  The song chosen was "Dancing Queen" (video, lyrics) by Abba (bio).  The student told me he chose this song because the song just makes him happy when he hears it and he loves the musical Mama Mia (info).

At this point I was very surprised at the choices of "old" music -- usually my students are into the latest songs and it is through them that I learn what is current.

The next song chosen was "Long Distance Call" (video, lyrics) by French band Phoenix (bio).  I had never heard of this band before, though according to their biography they have won a Grammy! 

That song reminded me of another band that is very popular these days, MGMT (bio).  I played the song "Kids" (video, lyrics). Again, my students seemed unimpressed.  I was not doing well in predicting my students' musical taste!

The next song chosen was "Need You Now" (video, lyrics) by Lady Antebellum (bio).

Next up was "Just The Way You Are" (video, lyrics) by Bruno Mars (bio).  I like that in this video they use the cassette tape for drawing the pictures.  Most of my students are young and probably never even owned a cassette -- it's become a cool "retro" item.

In our introductions, one of the students said his favorite band is The Beatles (bio).  He chose the song "Revolution" (video, lyrics).  One reason he likes Beatles songs is because the lyrics are easy to understand. He said his favorite Beatles song is actually "Let It Be" (video, lyrics).

This Beatles theme reminded me of a video a student played last quarter by the Korean band Dynamic Duo (bio) where the band pretends to be like the Beatles.  The song is "Let's Go" (video).  However, the student who like The Beatles didn't like this song: it's too loud.

The last song of the say was "The End Of The World" (video, lyrics) by Skeeter Davis (bio).


With that time was gone and we parted.  This group of students have a very different taste of music from my usual groups -- this will be an interesting quarter!