# Classical Music, Jogging-Running, and Earworms



## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

I have always been interested in the intersection of music, language, mathematics, and the mind. (Among my favorite writers are Oliver Sacks and Steven Pinker, who also like to research at those nexuses.) I have brilliant friends who have synesthesia, color-related perfect pitch, Asperger's, and brilliant friends who are mathematicians, lawyers, artists, and linguists, among many others, and nearly all of them are musicians.

In my own case, I find that my mind is always, from waking until sleeping (and even dreaming), occupied by numbers and music. I automatically factor license plate numbers and house-address numbers, phone numbers, whenever I see them (this is a faculty I have had since childhood). As a singer and active listener, if I work on a song or listen to a piece of orchestral music, (as long as I like it) it often develops into an earworm that plays in my head over and over ... sometimes pleasantly so, and sometimes unpleasantly, to the point that I have to sing "Ode to Joy" or some other powerful tune to banish the other, unwelcome guest.

I have been lately exercising more as I have been easing further into retirement. I have been jogging more and more ... and I've noticed a curious phenomenon: I cannot run if I have a tune running through my head in triple (e.g. 3/4) time. I have to find a tune in duple meter (e.g. 2/4 or 4/4). My running pace automatically synchronizes with the meter of the tune. I guess my left foot is dominant (I'm left-handed), so I feel the constant *1*-2-*1*-2-*1*-2 of the music as the blocks and miles drift by.

But. I had a discussion with a friend of mine who is a voice teacher, and he tells me he has to run to tunes in a triple meter. Interesting! So his pace is a *1*-2-3-2-2-3-*1*-2-3-2-2-3. (He has to do it this way to keep one foot dominant. A simple 1-2-3 cadence would alternate the dominance between the two feet, which I think most runners would find difficult.)

The other day I was out for a long run (7 miles) and I decided to see if I could find a triple-meter tune that was "joggable." Perhaps the answer has already occurred to you, but yes, all one has to do is find a nice compound-meter tune (one beatable in even measures of both 2 or 4 and 3). For me, Strauss' _The Beautiful Blue Danube _fits the bill nicely, as it is written in nice four-bar triple-meter phrases. (And it has several different little tunes that constitute the whole.) So that's the upside, it makes my run more interesting and gets my mind off the little aches and pains that might accompany.

Now for the downside: It is also like _pounding the world's worst earworm_ into my head, running that far with such a tune accompanying every step of the way. I wake up and immediately hear "tra-la-la-LA-la, la-LA-la, la-LA, tra-la-LA-la, la-LA-la, la-LA, tra-la-la-LAAA-tra-la-la, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-LA (repeat)"!

So, what about you, other runners/joggers? Do you suffer (or enjoy) similar phenomena? Do you have a favorite tune to run/jog by, and is it duple meter, triple meter, or more? What is it? Does anyone run in 5/4 or 7/4? Do all runners feel a dominant foot? Do you have a way to banish those earworms that result, or do you have a different experience altogether?

I'm going out for a run. Maybe I'll try Wagner today (but not the _Ride of the Valkyries_!).

Maddeningly yours,

:tiphat:

Kind regards,

George


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

No one? Crickets :chirp:

George


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

How do you cope with all the different tempos? That would be a nightmare for me. I don't jog, but if I'm out and about anywhere where music is playing, and it enters my consciousness, I always end up walking in time to it. I find it can be very irritating if the tempo doesn't fit my preferred speed and I have to keep making adjustments like shortening my stride. Meter is immaterial. As long as there's a discernable rhythm, I'll move in time to it and there's nothing I can do to stop myself. If it's particularly catchy, I may end up putting in a chassis or a ball change here and there. I've had some strange looks from passers by from time to time!


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## mishima1968 (Jan 7, 2019)

Barelytenor said:


> I have always been interested in the intersection of music, language, mathematics, and the mind. (Among my favorite writers are Oliver Sacks and Steven Pinker, who also like to research at those nexuses.) I have brilliant friends who have synesthesia, color-related perfect pitch, Asperger's, and brilliant friends who are mathematicians, lawyers, artists, and linguists, among many others, and nearly all of them are musicians.
> 
> In my own case, I find that my mind is always, from waking until sleeping (and even dreaming), occupied by numbers and music. I automatically factor license plate numbers and house-address numbers, phone numbers, whenever I see them (this is a faculty I have had since childhood). As a singer and active listener, if I work on a song or listen to a piece of orchestral music, (as long as I like it) it often develops into an earworm that plays in my head over and over ... sometimes pleasantly so, and sometimes unpleasantly, to the point that I have to sing "Ode to Joy" or some other powerful tune to banish the other, unwelcome guest.
> 
> ...


Try the second movement of Tchaikowsky's 6th Symphony. I find that 5/4 helps me breathe evenly (three beats out, two beats in). The only problem is that when the minor section is introduced, the count is reversed (two plus three), which trips me up if I think about it too much.

The Walz from Shostakovich's Jazz Suite isn't bad, either.


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