This may come as a surprise...

Depending upon how well you know me, you may or may not know how passionate I am about music. Music has been part of my life since I was a baby. I grew up listening to the Beatles. I can remember the first time my mom played John Mayer right after his first album came out and from then on I was hooked (new album on May 22 – hooray!). My first concert was Michelle Branch at NIU. I spent a weekend volunteering at Lollapalooza, a music festival in Chicago, in 2007, and I fell even more in love with some of my favorite artists that I was lucky enough to see. I played the violin from age four until I was eighteen. I now own a ukulele (and am starting up lessons again on Friday!). Music is not something I like. Music is something I love.

Spending five days out of the week with Samoan teenagers is already an adventure, but we all have one major thing in common. We love music. Music is a big part of most cultures throughout the world, but in the Samoan culture, I would say that it dominates. I arrive at school at 7:30. Within minutes of opening my classroom door, students are swarming to get a chance to get on my school computer. Why? Because I’ve got all the tunes. Throughout the year, I’ve collected so much music. I have Samoan oldies. I have Samoan newbies. I have Glee. I have Miley Cyrus. I have Tupac. I have Backstreet Boys. I have the top hits. I have the 90’s. I have 2 country songs (seriously – thank goodness Samoans share my disapproval of country.) I am the music girl. Students come to my room to “scan” (aka look at all the music.) They come to put music on flashdrives (which they then plug into their speakers and blast as they walk around), “blanks” (CDs), and iPods.

Students turn their music on during my lectures (this is so annoying). Students blast their speakers while they walk by my classroom (this is also annoying). They keep one earphone in while I teach (yes, they take them out after I tell them too.) They literally cannot stand silence. They ask me to play music while they take tests because it helps them concentrate (uh huh.) THEY LOVE MUSIC and I think that’s pretty cool.

Once upon a time, in my pre-Samoan years, I hated rap and r&b. Ohh, I hated it. A few months ago, I never would have admitted this, but now, I am telling you – my faithful and loyal blog readers – I LOVE IT. Sure, some songs are ridiculous and awful, but for the most part, I dig it. The other day, I was singing along to a song without even realizing it. I know all the words! What the? I find it amusing, a little bit ridiculous, and well, whatever! I owe it all to my little rascals.

Sometimes they serenade me. Sometimes they play me songs on their ukuleles (one played me “Blue Moon” today!) Sometimes they melt my heart when I watch them listen to music – they get so into it! Thanks to them, I now appreciate more kinds of music that I ever thought I would!

One day, a sophomore told me that this was the first song that he heard in English. How precious!

This is the one country song they like. Okay fine, I like it too. ...

This “MTV” (what they call music videos) is the HUGE hit in my classroom right now. They almost died with laughter when I watched it for the first time – apparently my reaction was priceless. I bet your reaction will be priceless too! (Sorry in advance)...

This is a song that we all love. It's just so darn catchy! ...

And last, here is a song that I am  currently playing on repeat. I'm not even going to bother introducing it to Samoans. I can hear it now. "TULE MISS, can you change the song?"