Music 201 - 1/19/06 - Period 7 - Class #3

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

Bernadette, Pip
Blank, Martin
Callisto
Carlyle, Boone
Chase, Angela
Chiana
Carson, Bridge (TA's assistant) - bridge_carson
Crichton, John (TA) - whitedeathpod
Evans, Lily - 2 absences
Ford, James
Gavin, Jake Jr
Hopeless-Savage, Skank Zero
Kisaragi, Yuffie
McDonald, Lindsey
Mitchell, Cameron
O'Neill, Jack
Potter, Harry
Solo, Han
Stevens, Isobel
Sullivan, Chloe
Tate, Jessica


[OOC: Change to attendance policy. Both classes are open until Monday 6pm EST for commenting/participation.]

The music room was set up as it usually was, with food on the round table and Ted sitting at the front near the board. The food of the day was an assortment of tacos, burritos and other Mexican foods that are difficult to pronounce from Krazy Taco. [OOC: Bonus points if you know where that fictional store is from] There are, of course, Twinkies and cans of soda available too.

Once the students trickled in, Ted stood up and began to talk.



"Afternoon, dudes! Today we're totally gonna get started on the music of the multiverse. Because, like, that's what we're here for. And the Twinkies. But the music too. This week we're gonna learn about Earth music. Today will be music from right here in the United States. Tomorrow will be music from places that are not the United States." He turned to the board and wrote something.

U.S.A.

"U.S.A. That stands for the United States of America." He was quite proud that he remembered that. He pulled down a cord and a map of the United States was revealed with several stars on it. "Today we're gonna cover four places in the US of A and the music that people think of when they think of that place."

He pointed to #1 on the map. "Louisiana. Now, Louisiana is in the south. That's down the bottom, dudes. There's a lot of blues and jazz and stuff. The most important thing about music from Louisiana is that it always tells a story. For example, you've got the most excellent song Johnny B. Goode that starts with 'Deep down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans...' Johnny B. Goode is the most epic tale of a boy who never ever learned to read or write so well, but he could play a guitar just like a ringin' a bell. It's a song I can totally identify with." Ted took a moment to play a short excerpt of a recording of the song on the tape player.

"Another epic song from Louisiana is Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da." He played a recording of that song too. "I should warn you dudes that singing that song in public *might* make cartoon birds come and sit on your shoulder. But anyway, even if there's no lyrics, music from Louisiana always tells a story. Telling stories through music is most triumphant, student dudes."

He shifted aside and pointed to #2. "This is New York. New York has big buildings, a big park and big hot dogs. Everything there is totally big, and so's its music scene. In the 1970s, disco music was huge. The music in New York was more about getting people to dance to make their story known instead of the songs giving the story. There were a lot of guys who had big hair and white flares that danced to disco music, like this song - Stayin' Alive." He played a short section of the song. "The moral of New York disco music was that life is totally awesome and that you should use your body to show it."

Ted moved on to #3. "This is Kansas. Uh, I think. I'm not good at geography. This is *supposed* to be Kansas. In Kansas, they sing a lot about, like, tornados and rainbows and wanting to get out of Kansas. Then, when they're gone, they sing a lot about wanting to get back into Kansas, as if there's no place like home or something. Most known music from Kansas is ad-libbed. That means it's made up just as the people are walking around. No one really knows how music just starts playing in mid-air when they start singing, but that's what happens." He nodded sagely.

He finally pointed to #4. "And finally dudes, we've got something local. This is Washington DC, which isn't far from here. Washington DC is like the place where the President and all those political dudes come from. They make decisions, and talk like Abe Lincoln - who's totally a good friend of mine - and do important stuff for the country. So, like, they need important music to get them pumped and make them look important. Music can make anyone look important dudes. Keep that in mind. Music in Washington DC has a lot of drums and bugles and violins in it. They want that music to make you feel special, like part of their secret club, so they make it all big and grand and stuff. You can use music to get what you want, dudes. That's what those Washington dudes and babes in suits know that most people don't. Now you know. Use that information wisely."

Ted shrugged. "I'd talk about California music, which is where I'm from - SAN DIMAS RULES! - but I need a whole semester to do that."

He cleared his throat and pointed to the box in the bottom corner of the map. "There's also music in Alaska, especially in places like Cicily. It usually has harmonicas and kazoos and mooses, but we usually don't talk about it."

Discussion: "Pick one of the types of music we talked about today and talk to the class about what you think non-US type student dudes here at Fandom High would think about it. What would someone who's never heard this stuff before think of it? How would they react?"

Homework: None.

Comments

Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

You were meant to find out about some kind of 20th or 21st century Earth music . Now tell the class some stuff about it.

Re: Homework From Last Week

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"For homework, I went and studied the composer, John Williams. For those not from Earth, John William was the awesome composer behind the Star Wars trilogy. From the goosebump inducing theme song that, to the sense of eerie dread that Vader's theme induced to the romping, almost Vegas style sound the Cantina Band. John William also composed the ever famous, ever chilling Jaws theme that is still hummed during ominous moments to this day."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

Re: Homework From Last Week

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"For homework, I went and studied the composer, John Billings. For those not from Earth, John William was the awesome composer behind the War of the Stars trilogy. From the goosebump inducing theme song that, to the sense of eerie dread that Helmet's theme induced to the romping, almost Vegas style sound the Contino Band. John Billings also composed the ever famous, ever chilling Big Teeth theme that is still hummed during ominous moments to this day."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron's homework was hastily written yesterday, which might explain its theme.

"Lullabies are soothing children songs that have been around ever since man needed to sleep. Through centuries new and old lullabies have been sung to little children and even in the 20th and 21th century, they have not lost its use. This becomes clear when we look at one of the more famous lullabies, Hush Little Baby which was written by Bo Diddley (born 1928). Only recently did rapper Eminem make his own adaptation of the lullaby called Mockingbird. Lullabies have always been popular and will continue to be as long as we need to sleep. Sleep is good, yay."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"Dude. I totally hadn't thought of lullabies. Rock on."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"I studied the works of composer Michael Mitch Giacchino (http://www.michaelgiacchino.com/credits.html). Examples of his work can be heard on Misguided and AKA. He is unusual from many modern television composers in that he writes for an actual orchestra, instead of relying digital or electronic instruments."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"Those shows are confusing, dudette. The island and the spies and SpyPapa! He reminds me of someone. But, uh, music. Good music."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

"My neighbor, River Tam, who disappeared midway through the semester, used to play or sing this song (http://www.southeastusa.net/firefly/Firefly_Themesong.html) all the time. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I think it's some kind of protest song. Oh, and she was totally from another planet."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"She must have been from The Rim then dude. We're gonna be doing a lesson on music from there, so you've got a head start. Excellent!"

Re: Homework From Last Week

[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

"For my homework, I decided to go somewhere a little out of the ordinary. A lot of Japanese composers are most well known for composing for various anime or video games. I chose Yasushi Ishii, who composed and performed all the music for the anime "Hadessong", a personal favorite of mine. His music carries heavy jazzy elements along with creepy gothic overtones and the occasional hard rock blend. Totally rocking stuff."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"Good work, dude. I don't know much Japanese music, but I'll bet they're totally rocking like you say."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[courier-gavin.livejournal.com]

"For my homework assignment, I listened to a variety of French music, such as Sexy Boy (http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0SHAL4XWVCJ6R0R9FTVLX3YRTS) by Air (which also was played in one of the episodes of the TV-Show Gay as Blazes), La valse d'Amelie (http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0S6QRTX4FKXJC2911JWGP84UZA) by Yann Tiersen and La Mer (http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=15BYVXK26DXIO3D8BPAMQ57ULG) performed by the singer Maggie Graceful. They were all kinda pretty and wistful."

ooc: links are ysi

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"Very dreamy, dude."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[chasingangela]

Angela totally forgot to pick up the homework assignment, but she can fake it.

"I listened to the soundtrack for this movie called Valley Girl Hills Chick, which is kind of Roman and Julia only set in California in the 1980s and with a happy ending. It has all of these really cool new wave songs that really help you picture the era, y'know? My favorite song on it is called "I Melt With You" and is by some random band called Modern English that I know nothing else about."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

"Cali! Rock on!"

Re: Homework From Last Week

[swerval_zero]

Well, first I studied my parents, but then I realized you wanted us to do actual work...

For my homework, I studied the musical stylings of Elvis Presley, who some would argue is a musical genre unto himself. He's not really my taste, but he is considered the "King of Rock & Roll." His music includes influences of blues, gospel, and of course rock but no punk, because he predates us. During Elvis's career, many condemned his music as 'devil' music, but he's still the best-selling artist ever, so there you go.

((See how I tied into our wee blue destructive guest there? *is perhaps not as clever as she'd like to be*))

Re: Homework From Last Week

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

"For the homework, I listened to a bunch of songs by the group Mystik Spiral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystik_Spiral). There apparently what's called a grunge rock band, which I think is probably a human term for "really bad music," but I'm not entirely sure about that. I think they're from someplace called Lawn Dale. But some of their songs talked about aliens (http://www.angelfire.com/ut/Daria/ff.html), so that's pretty drad, I guess."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[12parseckessel.livejournal.com]

"I went for Underground Folk, with an emphasis on Skinny White Chick (http://skinnywhitechick.com/). Like Mike Rickard (http://mikerickard.com/) and Jan Smith (http://www.jansmith.com/), Miss Tucker is considered and emerging artist.

"These are artists that are just starting their careers. They have no record label, no airplay and hence are not constrained by airplay standards. This leaves them freer to experiment with themes other more commercial artists can't touch for lack of support or interest

"Babylonian mythology for instance, in the song Crystal Cave (http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0HRTQ8ZG2KQBW10Y4667S7KBMK)."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[mrs-tate.livejournal.com]

Jessica smiled wide and sat up straight in her chair, excited to report her musical findings.

"Well...when I sat down to do this homework assignment I decided to turn on the radio and maybe it would give me some ideas. However, as I listened I realized that not a single song sounded familiar to me. Why I had never heard them back in 1979 Connecticut...I have no idea.

First I heard a song called ‘Unwell’ by 20 Matchboxes. Why on EARTH they think they’ll need so many matches is beyond me I’m afraid. If they planned on going camping...sure, I could see that, but, anyway...‘Unwell’ made me hope that one of the band member’s close friends would offer to drive them to the hospital soon. I give them credit for going on with the performance, even though they were under the weather.

Next a song by Miss Lavigne came on. I can’t quite recall the title of the song...but poor Miss Lavigne has some issues with anger that need to be resolved before she thinks she can write another song I feel...

Then I heard a song by Miss Duff. Although she was happy, upbeat and energetic, and although I do dislike putting anyone down...it is still my belief that this young lady should at least wait until she hits puberty before she goes about singing songs about love and heartache.

Finally was a song by a group I think was called something like Abraham Lincoln’s Park. I never thought that an ex US president could inspire a band. Regardless, their song 'My December' made me want to give each and every member of that group a big hug. It sounded like they could certainly use a hug or two..."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[ex-izziebell894.livejournal.com]

Izzie glances at the paper in her hand.

"Well, I looked into the grunge rock movement of the early 1990s. It has roots in the Seattle area. I listened to a lot of Pearl Jam for this assignment. They are considered to be a good example of this type of music."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[2ls-in-oneill.livejournal.com]

"Last week I listened to 'The Lone Rangers.' They were surprisingly good. They were nineties... grunge/rock and there first hit was entitled Degenerated and it came off their album Live in Prison which went triple platinum."


[Right place this time.]

Re: Homework From Last Week

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Okay, so like, I was looking through the Internet for some music, and I came across this name I TOTALLY recognised from my history classes at my old school. Kira Ford, the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger. And then I remembered! Dude! She was totally, like, this up-and-coming singer during this time. So I found three of her songs (http://thekimera.net/music), "Freak You Out", "Patiently", and "Just Words". The genre of music could probably best be described as 'pop'. For this era, in any case."

[ooc: and for those of you who actually look at the mp3s, emma lahana = the actress who played kira ford. those are her songs, which she also performed on the show in-character]

Re: Homework From Last Week

[wannabelawyer.livejournal.com]

Because country music would have been so easy it would have been like cheating, Lindsey had to work to convince himself not to talk about that.

"I listened to some glam rock over the weekend, since it's not what I normally listen to. It was a movement during the 70s, mostly in England and in a few US cities like New York. David Bowie was a good example of a glam rocker, when he was doing the Ziggy Stardust thing."

Re: Homework From Last Week

[mycanonhatesme]

Chloe looks over her homework, sounding only slightly bitter. "After spending far, far more time looking than I should have had to, I finally found music from Beth Custer, who's one of the only women composing music for films these days. Not that there have been that many women doing it in the past, of course, but she's pretty revolutionary, and the music she writes is beautiful."