Just EAT It!

Weird Al is just so good at this twisting of lyrics that it never fails to leave me so tickled watching him!

Here's MJ's original BEAT IT video:


Now compare it to EAT IT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyfcOriVKBM&feature=fvst

"EAT IT" Lyrics just for kicks:
How come you're always such a fussy young man?
Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran
Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan
So eat it, just eat it

Don't wanna argue, I don't wanna debate
Don't want to hear about what kind of food you hate
You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate
So eat it, don't you tell me you're full

Just eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken, have some more pie
It doesn't matter if it's broiled or fried
Just eat it, just eat it
Just eat it, just eat it

Your table manners are a cryin' shame
You're playin' with your food like it's some kind of game
Now, if you starve to death, you'll just have yourself to blame
So eat it, just eat it (burp)

You better listen, better do what you're told
You haven't even touched your tuna casserole
You better chow down or it's gonna get cold
So eat it, I don't care if you're full

Just eat it, eat it
Open up your mouth and feed it
Have some more yogurt, have some more spam
It doesn't matter if it's fresh or canned
Just eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

Eat it, eat it
If it's gettin' cold, reheat it
Have a big dinner, have a light snack
If you don't like it you can't send it back

Just eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken,(woohoo) have some more pie (woohoo)
It doesn't matter if it's broiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it (oh no)
Have a banana,(woohoo) have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

You must have been listening to Blues (or was it Jazz or Rock N Roll?)

After learning all about jazz, the blues and rock & roll, I'd like to share with you some of my personal favourites.

I absolutely love George Michael's "Kissing A Fool". Yes I know Michael Buble has done a cover of this song and there are other great jazz crooners like Norah Jones but this song is my idea of a perfect blues/jazz piece - airy, velvety smooth and relaxing. I can almost see the stars in the night sky whenever I hear this song:



Never really got interested in blues - as the name suggests it refers to the feelings of melancholy and sadness. But for all those blues fans out there, one of the most famous of them all is B.B. King, who incidentally celebrates his 84th birthday TODAY! :) Here's to one of the greatest Blues musician of all times:



You'd notice the blues has a definitive beat that is slow but goes on throughout the song. Rock & roll on the other hand has a fast and upbeat tempo and is a favourite to dance to :):



Rock Around The Clock
Orignal Singer: Bill Haley

One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock,
Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, rock,
Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, rock,
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight.

Put your glad rags on and join me, hon,
We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one,
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.
We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When the clock strikes two, three and four,
If the band slows down we'll yell for more,
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.
We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When the chimes ring five, six and seven,
We'll be right in seventh heaven.
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.
We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When it's eight, nine, ten, eleven too,
I'll be goin' strong and so will you.
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.
We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When the clock strikes twelve, we'll cool off then,
Start a rockin' round the clock again.
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.
We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

A Little Oor-Afrikaanse Musiek (A Little About African Music)

Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions.

North Africa is the seat of the Mediterranean culture that built Egypt and Carthage before being ruled successively by Greeks, Romans and Goths and then becoming the Maghreb of the Arab world. Like the musical genres of the Nile Valley and the Horn of Africa, its music has close ties with Middle Eastern music.

East Africa and the offshore islands in the Indian Ocean have been slightly influenced by Arabic music and also by the music of India, Indonesia and Polynesia. However, the region's musical traditions are primarily close to that of the sub-Saharan Niger Congo-speaking peoples.

Southern, Central and West Africa are similarly in the broad sub-Saharan musical tradition, but draw their influences from Western Europe and North America.

The music and dance forms of the African diaspora, including African American music and many Caribbean and Latin American music genres like rumba and salsa, were founded to varying degrees on the music of African slaves, which has in turn influenced African popular music.

African popular music, is also vast and varied. Many genres of pop music like blues, jazz, salsa and rumba derive themselves from African musical traditions. These styles have all borrowed from African rhythms and sounds, brought over the Atlantic ocean by slaves. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been adapted by newer genres like rock, rhythm and blues.

Likewise, African popular music has adopted elements, particularly the musical instruments and recording studio techniques of western music. African music is often determined by the region that it is practiced in.

As the rise of rock'n'roll music is often credited as having begun with 1940s blues music, and with so many genres having branched off from rock - the myriad subgenres of heavy metal, punk rock, pop music and many more - it can said that African music has been at the root of a very significant portion of all contemporary music.

Here is a lively and cheerful pop song by a South African band, Dr. Victor and the Rasta Rebels, "Kalimba" (which is the name of an African instrument with metal keys attached to the top to produce different notes. It is also known as the African thumb piano). Note the repeated melodic lines throughout the song:



Some of your parents may know this other catchy song by British singer Eddy Grant "Gimme Hope Jo'anna", which adopted the African musical style. It also has repeating melodies and actually camouflages a political situation back then in Africa; I'll leave you to listen and find out:

Music for yo' Videos

Dear all,

Since most of the groups have finished taking the videos, it's time to select the songs for your videos created. **As the 10th year anniversary project has been terminated, I'm converting it to a project that will be used to compile your Music grades. Do remember that you are to work on your projects during Music lessons ONLY.**

Glad to know that each group has their own song choices :) Here are some more you may wish to consider:







After you've selected your song, I'll need you to answer some questions regarding the song choice.

Group Leaders: Pls post your team's responses as comments of this post.
For your convenience, you can copy and paste the below format when commenting:

- Title of song selected:

- Form of song selected: Binary/ Ternary

- Why it is considered a Binary/ Ternary song: (one or two good reasons is enough! I don’t need a whole composition about it J )

- Why did your team choose this song: (Is it the mood/ style/ singer/ lyrics/ tune that makes it the best choice?)

Take care and study (and listen) hard!

All roads lead to Rome, all Variations from one Theme

There are many ways of doing a thing, and there are many ways that you can improve/ innovate on an existing thing. The computer which was born to simply compute things now serve us with word processing/ communication/ data transfer etc etc etc functions! You name it, it can do it.

I think all these new ways of using an existing thing are similar to how composers create new tunes (variations) based on an existing melody (theme).

The famous Canon in D written by Pachelbel, is a classic example of variations on a theme. The song starts with a simple tune, which maps out into an intricate web of fuller melody.

Check out Jerry C's version on an electric guitar:




Not sure if this is Jerry C himself but the above video provides the best sound clarity among all the videos I checked out. The song starts and ends with the theme, sandwiching the variations in between.

For those who want to know what it originally sounds like, here's a version played by classical violins:


Piano version in a different key (C major), featured in the Korean movie "My Sassy Girlfriend":


So guess what, there can be variations not just in melody, but also in style, instruments used, genre and even mood! :)

What's with Rondos?

In Rondo forms of songs, there is one main theme (tune) that constantly comes around again and again. The main tune is called A, and the others B, C, D, etc.

The plan of a rondo is A B A C A D A and so on. It can be as short or as long as you like, provided that the A or main theme keeps on coming back.

Remember "Uptown Girl"? Yeah, come to think of it, it's a short Rondo actually and can be re-written as A-B-A-C-A:

A:
Uptown girl, she's been living in her uptown world
I bet she never had a back street guy
I bet her mama never told her why
I'm gonna try for an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am

B:
And when she knows what she wants from her time
And when she wakes up, and makes up her mind
She'll see I'm not so tough
Just because I'm in love with an

A:
Uptown girl, you know I've seen her in her uptown world
She's getting tired of her high class toys
And all her presents from her uptown boys
She's got a choice

Uptown girl, you know I can't afford to buy her pearls
But maybe someday when my ship comes in
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been
And then I'll win

C:
And when she's walking, she's looking so fine
And when she's talking, she'll say that she's mine
She'll say I'm not so tough
Just because I'm in love wth an

A:
Uptown girl, she's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
Uptown girl, she's my uptown girl
You know I'm in love with an
Uptown girl, my uptown girl
You know I'm in love with an Uptown girl...

Here are two songs, sort-of in the Rondo form:

This is "Eyes on Me" sung by Faye Wong for the Playstation game, Final Fantasy 8:


One of my personal fav rock band from yester-years, Def Leppard. Still sounding good, but the recording doesn't do justice to the band! Listen out for the A-B-A-C-A formats:

Two or Three?

Time for a little theory :P

Two common musical forms found in Music are the Binary and Ternary forms.

Binary Form

A very simple explanation is a piece made up of two different sections. This form can be represented by the letters A-B. (This music form was actually used for all the dance movements of the 17th and 18th century!)

This is Queen's "We Will Rock You" (YES I know it's cheesy but it's a very OLD video, so bear with it - you can google for the latest versions yourself):



A:
Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place

B:
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

A:
Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on your face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your banner all over the place

B:
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

A:
Buddy you're an old man poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day
You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

B:
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

So that makes "We Will Rock You" a song in binary form. :)


Ternary Form

This form is one of the most commonly used forms. It is represented by the letters A-B-A. Like this:

A:
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

B:
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky

A:
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

Here's a cover version of an old song by Billy Joel, sung by Westlife:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i6YkXRj4G0&feature=related

A:
Uptown girl, she's been living in her uptown world
I bet she never had a back street guy
I bet her mama never told her why
I'm gonna try for an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am

B:
And when she knows what she wants from her time
And when she wakes up, and makes up her mind
She'll see I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love with an

A:
Uptown girl, you know I've seen her in her uptown world
She's getting tired of her high class toys
And all her presents from her uptown boys
She's got a choice

Uptown girl, you know I can't afford to buy her pearls
But maybe someday when my ship comes in
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been
And then I'll win

B:
And when she's walking, she's looking so fine
And when she's talking, she'll say that she's mine
She'll say I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love wth an

A:
Uptown girl, she's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
Uptown girl, she's my uptown girl
You know I'm in love with an
Uptown girl, my uptown girl
You know I'm in love with an
Uptown girl...

This is (kind-of) a ternary form song - only thing is it's repeated so it looks something like A-B-A-B-A. But I think you get my drift.


So is it gonna be two or three?

SOUND and its EFFECTS

Ahh, the unseen 'musicians' behind the scenes, videos and whatever visually stimulating interface you can think of.

I remember when sound effects meant waving and banging on tin sheets to create loud thunders, literally sloshing water around to get the sounds of water et al. Those were the days :) when all we had were physical objects to work with.

Nowadays, any sound can be created using computer technology and all sorts of digital softwares and equipment - I mean, look at Lord of the Rings and Star Wars!

Speaking of which, let me show you a little of the 'good ol' days' kind of sound effects, which can be quite fun to do; check it out here:

(Note: For optimal quality, use your little white ipod earphones or any others you've been blasting your ears with :) )

Silence is golden, but my eyes still see

Music is an amazing thing.

It cannot be seen nor touched, but yet somehow it never fails to affect us in ways that are so powerful.


The National Anthem that will remain ingrained in your brains long after you leave school (some of my friends STILL remember how to sing it!), those sappy Korean dramas with theme songs that keep playing every time something 'drama' is happening, the explosive rock concerts with screechingly liberating electric guitars that makes fans go wild and of course, our own special song that means something to us.

What is it about these tunes and words that brings out our emotions, connects friends and bring the world together? Let's do a little exercise and see if you can get your answer to that.

Here's a video - I have absolutely no IDEA what the song is about as it's KOREAN :P
1. Turn off the sound on your computer/ laptop.
2. Play the video and watch the whole thing.

How did you feel? Got restless? Doing other stuff? Sleeping? Already on your psp/ds before finishing it?

Now turn the sound back on and watch the vid again. How's that?

Personally, I find that when the sound's on, I want to keep watching to find out what happens, compared to when I didn't hear anything.

So music really helps us to link up what we see with our brain activities, and makes it more interesting. :)

Catch y'all later and keep listening.