Some notes on music
First, there are a couple songs I'd like to recommend, which I know through fennel.
The Long Run, by Plastic Operator, is the best song I know for dealing with stress. I listened to it on the day when I was supposed to turn in my thesis, but I thought I just wasn't going to make it. I said "screw it" and went for a run instead of writing any more, and as this song came on, I suddenly knew it would be okay. I didn't know if I'd get my thesis turned in that day (though in the end, I did), but I knew that even if I didn't, my life would not be dramatically affected by that failure. Things would probably be okay. That really took the pressure off and let me do what needed doing without spending time worrying about it -- and the same song has had a similar effect on me a number of times.
I think the reason it works is partly that the song doesn't make any big promises, so I don't find what it says unconvincing, even during the worst panic.
It should be all right in the long run
It should be alright if I'm holding on
It takes a while to get up when things let you down
True, but I've got time.
Hey, you know what? You're right. Even when everything is moving much to fast -- "tomorrow has caught me by surprise / is it me or did the day just pass me by?" -- or I'm feeling very aware of various past failures, large and small -- "I am aware of the things I should have said / I am aware of the laughter I didn't get" -- it should be all right in the long run. I can hold on and make it through this. I can breathe and stop worrying so much.
With David Bowie, by Veruca Salt, I love for completely different reasons. This song fills me with such joy and makes me grin giddily at passersby and sing along, every time. This song is the essence of what it is to fall in love with music. Especially as a teenager, but no, even now. This song has been my favorite happy song for the better part of a year now, which is a ridiculously long time for me. Yay!
Also, I've been thinking about what kind of music I like to listen to for running, and how I'd ideally like to listen to it. My exercise/running playlist is a strange mix:
My ideal music playing device for running would include a tempo control that you could adjust up and down, just like the volume, and it would skip ahead to the next song in that tempo range. You could adjust the size of the tempo window, also, so that you could, e.g., just be looking for 122 BPM songs, or for 120-125 BPM or a wider range. OMG, do I want this. As it is, if I want something like this, I have to make playlists of songs that are the same (or similar) BPM myself (which first involves figuring out the BPM for my songs and figuring out a fixed range of BPMs), and then switch between playlists as needed. It's a pain.
I also want to be able to tag all my songs with multiple tags, and then make a playlist on the fly using Boolean operators (based on my tags, genre, artist, etc.). E.g., I want to be able to listen to ("joyful" or "angry") and (not ("folk" or "Lady Gaga")).
I know I'm not the only runner with that tempo desire, at least. Why don't music players do these things? The closest I've found for the tempo issue is this, and I'd actually rather control it than have it decide for me, I think.
What would your ideal music player do? If you listen to music while running/exercising, what do you usually listen to?
The Long Run, by Plastic Operator, is the best song I know for dealing with stress. I listened to it on the day when I was supposed to turn in my thesis, but I thought I just wasn't going to make it. I said "screw it" and went for a run instead of writing any more, and as this song came on, I suddenly knew it would be okay. I didn't know if I'd get my thesis turned in that day (though in the end, I did), but I knew that even if I didn't, my life would not be dramatically affected by that failure. Things would probably be okay. That really took the pressure off and let me do what needed doing without spending time worrying about it -- and the same song has had a similar effect on me a number of times.
I think the reason it works is partly that the song doesn't make any big promises, so I don't find what it says unconvincing, even during the worst panic.
It should be all right in the long run
It should be alright if I'm holding on
It takes a while to get up when things let you down
True, but I've got time.
Hey, you know what? You're right. Even when everything is moving much to fast -- "tomorrow has caught me by surprise / is it me or did the day just pass me by?" -- or I'm feeling very aware of various past failures, large and small -- "I am aware of the things I should have said / I am aware of the laughter I didn't get" -- it should be all right in the long run. I can hold on and make it through this. I can breathe and stop worrying so much.
With David Bowie, by Veruca Salt, I love for completely different reasons. This song fills me with such joy and makes me grin giddily at passersby and sing along, every time. This song is the essence of what it is to fall in love with music. Especially as a teenager, but no, even now. This song has been my favorite happy song for the better part of a year now, which is a ridiculously long time for me. Yay!
Also, I've been thinking about what kind of music I like to listen to for running, and how I'd ideally like to listen to it. My exercise/running playlist is a strange mix:
- dance music (lots of Lady Gaga, mostly) -- this is great sometimes, but it turns out the tempo is too slow for some of the time that I'm running
- silly songs with a good beat (lots of TMBG, a few by Jonathan Coulton) -- sometimes these are perfect, but I'm most likely to skip past this category due to not being in the mood for it, with only a few songs as exceptions.
- songs full of righteous anger and/or triumph -- e.g., "Young James Dean" (Girlyman), "I Want You To Know" (Charlotte Hatherley), "As Cool As I Am" (Dar Williams), etc. When these work out tempo-wise, these are the BEST THING EVER for keeping me going while running. I feel like I am SHOWING SOMEONE SOMETHING DAMMIT and STICKING IT TO THEM by running. It's ridiculous, but great.
- fiercely joyful songs -- "With David Bowie" (Veruca Salt), "Joyful Sign" (Girlyman -- half belongs in previous category), "Solsbury Hill" (Peter Gabriel -- ditto), etc. This is the second most motivating group of songs for me.
- general pop, rock, folk, prog, and other random stuff that I really like and which has a good tempo. I keep narrowing this set down due to the mood not being quite right or it not being inspiring enough. I'm still trying to identify my rules here, if there are any.
My ideal music playing device for running would include a tempo control that you could adjust up and down, just like the volume, and it would skip ahead to the next song in that tempo range. You could adjust the size of the tempo window, also, so that you could, e.g., just be looking for 122 BPM songs, or for 120-125 BPM or a wider range. OMG, do I want this. As it is, if I want something like this, I have to make playlists of songs that are the same (or similar) BPM myself (which first involves figuring out the BPM for my songs and figuring out a fixed range of BPMs), and then switch between playlists as needed. It's a pain.
I also want to be able to tag all my songs with multiple tags, and then make a playlist on the fly using Boolean operators (based on my tags, genre, artist, etc.). E.g., I want to be able to listen to ("joyful" or "angry") and (not ("folk" or "Lady Gaga")).
I know I'm not the only runner with that tempo desire, at least. Why don't music players do these things? The closest I've found for the tempo issue is this, and I'd actually rather control it than have it decide for me, I think.
What would your ideal music player do? If you listen to music while running/exercising, what do you usually listen to?