folks are throwing shoes and rice
Sep. 18th, 2020 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laconiaso back in the day when I was studying computer engineering, I had student loans that I could keep in deferral only if I was enrolled half-time (6 units per semester) and there was no way I could have managed two solid classes a semester. At least, not while working ~20 hours a week and maintaining the required C grade average. My solution was, of course, to enroll in a 3-credit elective course--social dance, otherwise known as ballroom dancing.
I started with two left feet and eventually learned how to foxtrot, waltz, Lindy Swing, cha cha, rhumba, and salsa with acceptable grace. There is nothing quite so exhilarating as a fast Viennese waltz, and Lindy Swing is a lot of fun, but like Benny Moré says, Me Gusta Más el Son. (What can I say, I'm a sucker for Afro-Cuban percussion.)
We always started class with a foxtrot--usually Frank Sinatra singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" or Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." At first I thought it was annoying, but it became a kind of relaxing ritual. After awhile I learned to appreciate the foxtrot's remarkable ability to be danced with everything from Hank Williams Sr. to bebop (if the beat cooperates); and I finally appreciated Sinatra's singing enough to explore his repertoire.
I've got five of his albums in a playlist in permanent rotation. It's really good background music for work. For one thing, Sinatra's range is quite good; his phrasing is unparalleled; and his expressiveness is up to the task of the many moods in the "great American songbook." Just catching a few lines of "The Coffee Song" or "How About You" cheers me up to a ridiculous degree; even the sad songs like "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" are soothing.
But dear lord, some of the songs he covered are terrible. I'm not talking about dumb lyrics--that happens, and if the chord progression and setting are good enough they can save a song with bad lyrics. I'm talking about misogyny, sexism, and all that delightful baggage you'd expect from American popular culture in mid-20th century. Never mind obvious, godawful stuff like "Wives and Lovers" (nope, not linking to it; here's a post about the song that sums it up nicely, though) and "Put Your Dreams Away" (here's Frank singing it on TV, and I think the delivery perfectly sums up what a bad bargain this arrangement would be); I'm talking about the mindset revealed by such classics as "The Tender Trap" and "Witchcraft".
Sometimes I'm perfectly capable of enjoying the music without experiencing a deep, feminist rage but today is not one of those days. I'mma switch over to the Clash now.
I really miss Joe Strummer.
I started with two left feet and eventually learned how to foxtrot, waltz, Lindy Swing, cha cha, rhumba, and salsa with acceptable grace. There is nothing quite so exhilarating as a fast Viennese waltz, and Lindy Swing is a lot of fun, but like Benny Moré says, Me Gusta Más el Son. (What can I say, I'm a sucker for Afro-Cuban percussion.)
We always started class with a foxtrot--usually Frank Sinatra singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" or Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." At first I thought it was annoying, but it became a kind of relaxing ritual. After awhile I learned to appreciate the foxtrot's remarkable ability to be danced with everything from Hank Williams Sr. to bebop (if the beat cooperates); and I finally appreciated Sinatra's singing enough to explore his repertoire.
I've got five of his albums in a playlist in permanent rotation. It's really good background music for work. For one thing, Sinatra's range is quite good; his phrasing is unparalleled; and his expressiveness is up to the task of the many moods in the "great American songbook." Just catching a few lines of "The Coffee Song" or "How About You" cheers me up to a ridiculous degree; even the sad songs like "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" are soothing.
But dear lord, some of the songs he covered are terrible. I'm not talking about dumb lyrics--that happens, and if the chord progression and setting are good enough they can save a song with bad lyrics. I'm talking about misogyny, sexism, and all that delightful baggage you'd expect from American popular culture in mid-20th century. Never mind obvious, godawful stuff like "Wives and Lovers" (nope, not linking to it; here's a post about the song that sums it up nicely, though) and "Put Your Dreams Away" (here's Frank singing it on TV, and I think the delivery perfectly sums up what a bad bargain this arrangement would be); I'm talking about the mindset revealed by such classics as "The Tender Trap" and "Witchcraft".
Sometimes I'm perfectly capable of enjoying the music without experiencing a deep, feminist rage but today is not one of those days. I'mma switch over to the Clash now.
I really miss Joe Strummer.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-18 09:08 pm (UTC)Mike has taught ballroom dance for decades now. (Despite his current faculty job he still teaches one couple who he's been working with for over 10 years.) He started teaching because he enjoyed the ballroom dance elective he took in college :)
no subject
Date: 2020-09-19 12:58 am (UTC)She seems to do Broadway type stuff? which I'm ... really not into. I like trad. jazz, the girl groups of the 1960s, early music, the blues, ska, some punk/new wave bands, some hip-hop, zydeco, and world music*. But I have limited tolerance for Broadway, bluegrass, rap, modern country music (except for the Chicks), heavy metal, and opera. I have absolutely no tolerance for pan flute, anything by Bob Seger, and drum 'n' bass.
How wonderful to enjoy something so much that one begins teaching it!
*by which I mean Ofra Haza; Tinariwen; the Gloaming; Sigur Ros; Natalia Lafourcade; Juan Luis Guerra; Driss el Maloumi; 3MA; Mahwash; Warda; etc.