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Runners’ music

My husband* and I have just begun training for a marathon that is set this fall. Since I’ve been running outdoors, and with Thomas, I haven’t had any kind of music with me at any time. When I’ve exercised indoors, I’ll have my headphones on, but I hardly ever listen to music. Music feels too intense for me to have with me while I’m running. I’m almost afraid that I’ll become too engrossed in the music that I won’t pay attention to my body, and that I’ll break my ankle and won’t even notice. (Doubtful.)

In many races, runners aren’t allowed to run with headphones. I imagine this has something to do with safety and runners’ awareness of their surroundings. Apparently, those athletes who do train with music in their headphones are looked down upon by elite runners. They’re not considered “purist.”

Well, maybe not. I am fully aware of the effects music has on me, and can remember how certain kinds of music would do a lot for my warm-up routines for the various sports I played when I was younger. So, I suppose those elite runners are right; music definitely adds something to a run.

I enjoyed an article from active.com quite a bit. I love learning about research on the effects of music, especially when it addresses a very different population of people. In this case, athletes.

Go ahead and read Can Music Make You a Better Runner? and let me know your thoughts.

*I’ve gotten to write “my husband” only a few times yet.

Thanks to The Husband for sending the article on to me!

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Would you want music at your bedside?

*Whoa. How does a person get anything else done when they’re planning a wedding? Truly, does anyone have advice?

I really liked this article. The piece reminds me of a time I’d heard one of my music therapy instructors tell the class that when she had to undergo some treatment in a hospital, she denied any visits from the hospital’s music therapist and refused any music at all.

How does this article sit with you?

Life, Interrupted: The Beat Goes On

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The bells will be ringing

I have missed blogging with my regularity this past week, however I am in need of any extra time I can find; I’m getting married next month and I have ohsomuch planning yet to do. So, with this upcoming, life-changing event (a wonderful one), I am going to post to this site only once a week in this month of May. I’ll see how life treats me in June…

This being said, I have to say I was heartbroken when I heard this news story, and I want to share it. (Not because I want you to be heartbroken, too, but because I find it a notable story.)

Oops! Stradivarius cello broken in accident…

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Georgia, Georgia

I’ve just read that the Georgia Senate has passed a state licensure bill for music therapy. More and more states, including Minnesota, are pushing for state licensure and a few already have it.

What I find troublesome about this news is that apparently the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is opposed to a music therapy state licensure in Georgia and has issued a call to action against it.

I hope this issue is cleared up quickly. I know I, and any music therapist I know, respect the profession of speech-language pathology, and those speech-language pathologists with whom I have any work-related relationship seem to find value in music therapy.

Honestly, I am just now learning of this, but I did find the ASHA’s call to action.

Here is where I first learned of this news. I find Daniel Tague, MME, MT-BC’s blog Music Makes Sense to be full of interesting music and music therapy news and information.

 

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Enhanced karaoke

I’m not too interested in karaoke (I think I sing and play other people’s music enough as it is), but one Ray Evangelista certainly is. A story was broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio tonight — apparently there are people who have gone to see him for ten years straight. He calls his version of karaoke “enhanced.”

Find the whole story here. 

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Now, if only I had access to a CAT scanner

When I was growing up, I played Suzuki Method violin with about a dozen other kids. Three of those kids — who happen to be siblings — were (are) very, very talented musicians. As an eight-year-old, one of them locked herself in a bathroom with her violin and didn’t come out until she had taught herself the entire Book 8 (the Suzuki books start with Book 1, being the easiest, and go to Book 10). Another sibling traveled the world as a performer. Though I don’t know the details, I recall hearing that she had a bow (just the bow) that was thousands of dollars.

I came across an article by way of Bob Collins’s News Cut that described the use of CAT scanners in replicating instruments. Specifically, a 307-year-old Stradivarius violin.

The short story is that a radiologist by the name of Steven Sirr left his violin, which he practiced in his quiet time at the hospital, on a table near a scanner while he attended to a patient on his way to surgery. When Sirr returned, he thought he’d scan his violin. (Out of boredom? Who paid for that? Anyway.)

Stradivarius and its replica, picture from BBC News

The data was used to build very near exact copies of the antique Stradivarius.

Read the whole article here.

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Vikings Stadium probably won’t get money from arts & culture

I heard on the local news tonight that Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment has been audited, and that there are “inconsistencies in the structures and procedures used to oversee the Legacy Amendment funds” (Source, MPR). Hence, the controversy over using half of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund money to pay toward a new Minnesota Vikings Stadium. I wrote about that here, and am happy to know that using the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund for this purpose no longer seems likely.

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NewsPod and standards

I just listened to Friday’s podcast “NewsPod” from the BBC, and the last story describes how Yorkshire’s anthem, “Ilkla Moor Baht’At,” is dying out. A music teacher uses the tune to teach intervals, and has noticed that in the past three years, fewer and fewer of his students know the song.

(Should you like to hear only this portion of “NewsPod,” skip to 29:04 in the podcast.)

Over the months I have worked at my care center, I have learned many “standards” from the 1930s, 1940s, and on. However, many of those songs I hadn’t known before I worked there. Once I learned them, though, I have been able to use them in a variety of situations.

A surprising number of family members have come up to me and asked what music I predict will be provided for me and my generation when I’m elderly. And I always answer that I don’t know.

There isn’t “standard” music for my age group, which is definitely not to say that each person I serve shares the same taste in what we call “old standards.” With the rise of availability and access to music from all around the globe, there will be simply no way to predict what any one group of people will enjoy. Music therapy is very concerned with patients’ and clients’ musical preference. I wonder just what that will be in a few decades.