Run-way+++ Would listen again.
Right now me and G are fighting over the last two thin-mint cookies, part of our strict health regimen. I don’t feel too guilty about stuffing my face with these little minty pillows of delight because just a few days ago I acted on the suggestions from this post, and did this run:
While listening to the Bang on a Can rendition of In C, by Terry Riley:
This was my first attempt at hanging up minimalist wallpaper while exercising. We’re still collecting the results, tallying up the votes and rejecting the hanging chads — but it seems pretty effective at enhancing the running trancing. I managed to do a 5 mile run after having done only one 3 mile one in the last few months, and noticed myself drifting off in that awesome “forget that you’re running” way a bunch of times. WE LIKE IT!
It was also a fantastic bonus that the house came trotting into view just 45 seconds before the end of the piece, totally unplanned!
Nossa alma gémea em português
The only word I know in Portugese is “housefly”, so praise be the lord of the internet for Google translate. The magic lets me understand the following post on this website:
Hoje nas minhas deambulações internéticas da hora de almoço, bem dos 5 minutos que me restam depois de comer e antes de ser confrontado com os males do mundo dos negócios descobri o blog Get Into Classical que bem poderia ser a nossa alma gémea em Inglês.
Gostei particularmente da ideia dos 7 passos … Fica como “teaser” para a vossa visita ao referido blog, divirtam-se :-)
Which becomes:
Today in my wanderings website of the lunch hour and the 5 minutes that I have left after eating and before being confronted with the evils of the business world discovered the blog Get Into Classical could well be our soulmate in English.
I especially liked the idea of the 7 steps … Set as “teaser” for your visit to the blog, have fun :-)
THANKS PORTUGAL, we love you :)
Run-way 2
Complain and ye shall receive. In response to my doubt that classical music is appropriate for exercising, I received multiple suggestions for pieces which would work. I think they roughly fall into two different camps:
Faux-pop – i.e., classical pieces with pop stylings: short, peppy, and relatively consistent volume. Suggestions in this vein include:
- Bolero (which also has steady rhythm, another plus)
- Short Ride in a Fast Machine
- Brahms’ Hungarian Dances
- Smetana’s Three Dances from the Bartered Bride (which I had to look up)
- Toccata Marziale (Vaughn Williams)
- Prokofiev Op. 99
- Gazebo Dances (Corigliano)
- Beethoven 9, 2nd movement
Minimalism – This goes in completely the opposite direction to my demand for variation, but I totally think this might work. Running is repetitive, but with a constantly changing modulation due to the shifting scenery and terrain. Doesn’t that sound just like the physical analog of minimalist music? When I realized this the first thing I imagined was tackling a big hill with this as the soundtrack:
(and then I got distracted watching the video for ten minutes)
This could DEFINITELY work. I like both of the group of suggestions, but I’m most excited to try out the latter one.
Thanks to all the super commenters on the last post for these ideas!
Run-way
Classical music really sucks to exercise to. I know that, I knew that and I keep trying anyway.
Like today, stepping outside into the six-pm sunshine for an after-work/before-dinner run, basking in Sunday’s inserted hour. DST is glorious on the Tuesday, when you’ve had a couple days practice at the earlier mornings, and can focus on the later evenings instead. And today it was even better, because not only do we have an extra hour of light, but that light is coming from a big old bona-fide glowing ball of sun in the sky. Despite having had one of the biggest snowstorms in recent memory just two weeks ago we are now in serious +50F territory, and the only ground cover is a few bruised autumn leaves, not ice.
So anyway, enticed by the warmth I strapped on my new running shoes, scooped up the MP3 player and trotted enthusiastically out to the road. It’s (and it always goes like this) only when I actually start running that I realize the only music I have on the thing is classical.
There are several reasons why classical music is really poorly suited for running:
- Tempo changes – i.e. too bloody many of them. The further you go back the less this happens within a single movement, but at best you’re still going to have your awesome fast Baroque movement followed by a slow one.
- Dynamics – It’s really, really hard to hear what’s going on when the orchestra gets quiet. That’s because running introduces all kinds of extra noises into your ears (such as your own heavy breathing). You can compensate for this by jacking the volume all the way up, but that backfires when everybody suddenly starts playing and your left eardrum pops out of your right ear.
- Length – You can easily get through a half-hour run having listened to only 2 movements of a medium to long work. This sucks because 1) you heard a weird fraction of the complete work and 2) you only heard two different (and maybe not that different) pieces your whole trip. Variation is way better. It picks up your feet at the start of each new song.
In summary, I NEED TO REMEMBER TO UPDATE MY MP3 PLAYER.
What do you think, do you exercise to classical? Have you found any pieces which work?