This page will be updated with new links to Music posts.
Do you listen to music to improve your English?
Research shows that it is difficult to learn when you feel stressed, and listening to music is a great way to relax. Music is also a great way to learn about cultures and history. We learn more when the subjects are important to us. Is music as important to you, as it is to me? Yes? Then you must write about it, and share your love of music with us!
Do you know good music you want to share?
Make a new post with the song, some background information, and the lyrics, and I will add your post to this list! I learn a lot every time I make a new post about music. I read about the musicians and learn about music styles. And I enjoy trying to describe music, and what I like about a particular song.
Don't know how to post? Click here.
You can also make suggestions in the comments. Don't know how to comment? Click here.
PERFORMANCES!!!
I am proud and humbled to present: The first collaborations between Bejaia and New York City, performing You Are My Sunshine!
Level 4 totally transforms this song. Two guitar players. Soloists. Dancing. With Hakim conducting. It's fantastic!
What can I say? We had so much fun preparing this video!
Hakim and the Level 2 class create a beautiful, conceptual collaboration. The students virtually perform with the NYC students! They also share performances of Love of My Life, and Everywhere I Go (a special gift to Madjid!).
Sing Along
These songs are easy to sing to. They have a clear rhyming pattern, rhythm, and melody. These songs are great for listening and practicing the sounds of English. The content and vocabulary is less important.
1. Song: How Are You Doing? by The Living Sisters
Genre/Styles: Folk, Pop
Difficulty: Easy
2. Song: Cuckoo, by Benjamin Britten
Genre/Styles: Choral Music, Classical, Children's Music
Difficulty: Easy
3. Song: 1,2,3,4, by Feist
Genre/Styles: Pop, Indie Rock
Difficulty: Low-Intermediate
4. Song: You Are My Sunshine, performances by Norman Blake, Johnny Cash
Genre/Styles: American Folk, American Roots Music
Difficulty: Intermediate
This song is SO much fun to sing in class!
5. Song: This Land is Your Land, by Woody Guthrie
Genre/Styles: American Folk, acoustic
Difficulty: Intermediate
Stories in Music
These songs may be more challenging to sing to. These songs may tell a story, discuss a theme, or express an opinion.
1. Song: Sleep, by Eric Whitacre and the Virtual Choir
Genre/Styles: Classical, Choral music
Difficulty: High-Intermediate to Advanced
2. Song: No Regrets, by Aesop Rock
Genre/Styles: Rap, Hip-Hop, Underground
Reading Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced
Listening Difficulty: Advanced
4. Song: The Weight, by The Band; also performed by Aretha Franklin featuring Duane Allman
Genre/Styles: Blues, Rock, Folk, Country, Soul
Reading Difficulty: Advanced-the lyrics are more abstract than direct, making the reading more difficult than the vocabulary alone.
5. Song: Tears in Heaven, by Eric Clapton
Genre/Styles: Blues, acoustic
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Hector, Level 4 NYC
This is our first Music post from a student! Thanks for sharing Hector!
6. Song: La Isla Bonita, by Madonna
Genre/Styles: Pop, dance
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Rosa, Level 4 NYC
7. Song: The One that You Love, by Air Supply
Genre/Styles: Pop, ballads, love songs
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Davila, Level 4 NYC
8. Song: Hotel California, by The Eagles
Genre/Styles: Rock
Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced
Shared by: Julia, Level 4 NYC
9. Songs: My Ummah (My Mother), Mualem (Prophet Teacher), by Sami Yusuf.
Genre/Styles: ballads, Pop, Islamic
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Hiba, Level 4 NYC
9. Song: Love of My Life, by Queen
Genre/Styles: ballads, Pop, Rock
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Hakim
You can see Love of My Life performed by the students of Level 2 Bejaia! Their singing is so lovely and passionate!
10. Song: Everywhere I Go, by Chris de Burgh
Genre/Styles: Rock, Pop
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Hakim
You can see Everywhere I Go performed by the students of Level 2 Bejaia! This was a special gift for Madjid. Madjid was a classmate with many of the students in the Bejaia classes before moving to New York City.
11. Song: Imagine, by John Lennon
Genre/Styles: Rock, Pop
Difficulty: Intermediate
Shared by: Miguel, Level 4 NYC
12. Song: Peter and the Wolf, composed by Sergei Prokofiev, narrated by David Bowie
Genre/Styles: Classical, Spoken word
Difficulty: Intermediate
Just for Fun and Dancing
Hakim (our teacher in Bejaia, Algeria) has frequently posted and commented about the importance of having fun while learning a language. He begins each class with a song, and students sing and dance to relax and make friends in the classroom.
What are these songs about? It may be difficult to say exactly. But these songs are a lot of fun.
1. Song: Take Me to the River, by Al Green, also performed by The Talking Heads
Genre/Styles: Soul, Funk, Pop
Difficulty: Intermediate
Hakim loved the song. You can see him dancing to The Talking Heads!
2. Song: Who, by David Byrne & St. Vincent
Genre/Styles: Rock, Funk, Indie Rock
Difficulty: Advanced- The vocabulary is not difficult, but the message is abstract.
3. Song: San Tropez, by Pink Floyd
Genre/Styles: Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Bossanova (?)
Difficulty: Intermediate- This song is excellent for introducing literary devices like rhyme and alliteration.
4. Song: Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), by Shakira
Genre/Styles: Pop, Dance, Afro-fusion (?)
Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
Shared by: Hakim.
Instrumental Music
These songs may be helpful to study to. There are no words or lyrics. So why is this music on an ESOL blog? This music may help you focus, or help you relax, to write, read, and study.
1. Water Music, by George Frederich Handel
Genre/Styles: Baroque Classical
55 minutes
2. Kyema (from Trilogie de la Mort), by Eliane Radigue
Genre/Styles: Minimalism, electronic, drone
61 minutes
Non-English Music
We have a wonderful opportunity here to share and learn about other cultures. Music is fundamental to nearly every culture, so why should we share only music in English? Let's share our favorite music. If they song has lyrics, paste the original words, and a translation into English. Translating poetry and songs is a wonderful way to learn new vocabulary.
1. Cler Achel, by Tinariwen
Kabyle Music
Many of the students from Bejaia are Kabyle, a Berber culture of Northern Africa. Hakim has shared some links with suggested Kabyle music. Enjoy!
From Hakim:
Check the following links on Youtube to learn about some of our Kabyle singers. There are so many of them. Listen to our music to have an idea how it sounds.
Takfarinas, Mohamed Allaoua, Idir and Ait Menguellet are among so many Kabyle singers here in Algeria.
1. Song: Zaama Zaama by Takfarinas
2. Song: Fellam by Mohamed Allaoua
3. Song: Zwit Rwit by Idir
4. Ait Menguellet.
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-Eric, NYC