The Hills are Alive

“At this time, the driver began to state: “Why did you stop me?” I explained to the driver that he was stopped because he was drag racing with the other Lamborgini.”

- Miami Beach Police Report for Justin Drew Bieber

Music is a pretty global thing. It’s been interesting to see what music is popular here in Thailand. While Thai music predominantly dominates the music charts, some American pop music manages to wrestle its way up the top. Pitbull is everywhere. Thank god.

American songs are very popular in karaoke as well (or as Thais like to say, “Sing a song”). The big hits are:

1.      Country Roads- John Denver

2.      Hotel California- The Eagles

3.      Zombie- The Cranberries

4.      I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

5.      Anything by Michael Jackson

As you can see, anything before ’94 seems to be gold.

I went to a jazz bar the other weekend to see a band play. While they were a jazz band, it didn’t stop them from covering The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their rendition of “Sweet home Alabama” was a beautiful thing. The singing, for the most part, was spot on. Since singing is so focused on the unique sound of the words, it’s easier to mimic than pronouncing the words normally. That’s probably why some of my students have trouble with certain words but can sing them perfectly.

This was pretty evident in one of my classes the other day. I was teaching past tense and wanted to play some music to get them interested. The voice of a generation, Miley Cyrus, was the perfect for this. “Wrecking Ball” is incredibly popular here. Luckily, almost the whole song is in past tense. I did a couple activities with the song that had them identify words in the past tense. Most students could sing the words very well. Yet when it came to speaking them in a conversational setting, they struggled because the inflection is different. Interesting stuff I’ll be keeping in mind for the future.

I also did the “Cha-Cha Slide” with another class to teach them directions. I always knew my Oakton Elementary School education would come in handy 15 years later. My “HANDS ON YA KNEES, HANDS ON YA KNEES!” wasn’t as nearly dynamic as Mr. Boykin’s was but I thought I did a pretty good job. 

This weekend is Chinese New Year so I’m looking to do something cool. Stay posted.

Mark

P.S. I’ve concluded that it’s a myth that my brother attends Cambridge (likewise, him writing on this blog). He has set up shop in Thailand and is running the hotel biz on Sukhumvit Road.