Jenny and the Mexicats

I suppose singing along with a song is basically 'shadowing' to music. Eventually it would be nice to be able to sing along and actually understand what you're singing. I do love this song. I found it on the Lyrics Training app.

They also have a YouTube channel. Jenny is Jenny Ball and she's from Great Britain, but holey cow, she sounds like a native and she plays the trumpet like 'all get out'! The drummer is from Spain and the strings are from Mexico. Their music is described as a mix of rockabilly, cumbia, jazz and flamenco. It makes me want to dance. It's so motivating to want to learn how to sing along!

The Mexicats - YouTube Channel

Quizás, Quizás, Quizás

Back home from a long weekend out of town to visit a friend in San Diego. He was kind enough to take us to Mexico for lunch and dinner yesterday. It was my first time and I was so excited to practice my Spanish. I have to admit I was a little disappointed that most people spoke English very well. But I was able to tell our friend how to search for a bakery or panadería and it was fun to read the menus and all the signage in the towns. And the food was outstanding! I didn't get to try the al Pastor version, but these tacos were darn tasty.

L to R: Steak, Octopus, Suckling Pig

I don't even really like octopus, but I had it twice yesterday and both times were delicious. I guess it's like anything, if it's prepared right.

Now we're back home and I'm catching up on my homework. Today we were back to Lyrics Training. This time I picked a song and I listened to it on karaoke mode several times, paying close attention to the pronunciation, the cadence and intonation. It's very different singing versus speaking. Many of the words blend together to fit the melody. The song I picked I heard for the first time in English  in the Australian movie Strictly Ballroom. 

Such a quirky film, but this scene with that song made it a favorite of mine.

Karaoke

Part of today's homework was to look for your favorite song in Spanish with lyrics (con la letra) on YouTube. Try to remember the lyrics and sing at least one verse of the song in Telegram. I have lots of songs that I love, but quickly found out the quicker songs were beyond my current abilities. So I decided on a somewhat slower song.

I admit that rather than remembering the lyrics it was more than enough of a challenge for me to sing karaoke. Thank goodness for the masking capabilities of a band with a horn section!🎵🎷🎺🎻🎹🎸🎷🎶🎤

The challenge for me was getting my mouth to move and make the correct sounds to the rhythm of the music. It's very different from reading aloud or conversing with another person. I had fun with it though.

On a side note, the song I chose is is also a great song to learn how to dance cumbia.

Lyrics Training

Today Ismar assigned Lyrics Training for part of our homework. I was already familiar with the site but had abandoned it when I couldn't even handle the beginner level of the game. However, today I learned two things:

1. There is a karaoke option where you can watch the video of the song and sing along with lyrics; and
2. There is a Children's Music genre - which is much easier to play the "fill in the blank" game with.

I was even happier to find an old friend in the Children's section, Grover, from Sesame Street. As a child, I used to watch Sesame Street every day. Who knew Grover was bilingual?

The song was called Arriba, Abajo, Alredador y A Través. It was great! and what's more I will never forget the meanings of those four words.

And for the kid in me, here's a clip of classic Grover - sorry, this one is in inglés.