RUNNING MUSIC – RHYTHM AND BEAT
AUTHOR – GARY BLAKE FOUNDER RUN2RHYTHM
I have been requested by many people to explain why my run2rhythm website was created and what the significance of specialist running music is. I feel it is best explained by description and also comparison of one of the perceived great running tracks ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and a specific running track from my website ‘Bionic Pulse’.
Let’s start by talking music terminology.
Musical beat is notated by a system of time signatures and measures.
BEAT is the foundation of the piece of music that determines the speed of the music. The BEAT is what we keep in time with when we dance – what we tap our feet or fingers to. The speed of music is indicated by a tempo mark above the first measure of the musical score. This is measured as Beats per Minute and rarely changes during a song. The BEAT can be represented in a piece of music many different ways from solid easily identifiable drum beats too the most subtle of pulses emanating throughout the music.
RHYTHM can be best described as the flow of the music over the underlying beat. The melody, the syncopation, the faster sounds, slower sounds, the ebbs and flows, the highs and lows, the excitement, the calmness of the overlying melody are all part of the embrace of rhythm. RHYTHM is the part of the music that is emotive and most influences our response to the music.
Music is a very perplexing medium and many people don’t quite understand it. They know what they like and what they don’t like. But, why is it that we like some music and dislike other music? Is it the sound, the melody, the beat, the rhythms? Is it the performer with brilliance or an artist who is just plain terrible. Why is it that some music sounds inspiring and great but is lousy to run with? Why is it that some music sounds just average but is sensational to run to?
Why is it that a piece of music can have such an inspiring sound, feel as if it is fast and upbeat only to be at a slow beat and totally unsuitable for running with?
e.g. “Eye of the Tiger.”
Why is it that a tranquil, wafting piece of music can sometimes have a solid and fast beat and be ideal for running? Why is it that during a run when the body needs to relax a bit more but keep at the same speed this music becomes awesome? When you combine the excitement of solid sounds and rhythms with a beat suitable for running, that’s when your run can be truly musically inspired!
Ideal running music has many musical elements to it and should not be just high energy repetitive sounds. Repetitive ‘techno’ can become very boring after a short while. Conversely ‘New Age’ can be horribly uninteresting as well. Running music should contain all the elements of well composed and well constructed music. It must have great variety and enable the runner to run as they want – to either, switch off and enjoy the surrounds whilst the music keeps them at their speed or, to listen to all elements of the music and enjoy it for what it is.
When out running most people run from a half hour up to 2-3 hours. Marathons for most take 3-5 hours. Even in a half hour run playing popular music will consist of probably 10 -15 different songs. All will be at various Beats per Minute and the runner will have little chance of running with a steady pace or a good rhythm if trying to run to the music.
Although “Eye of the Tiger’ has wonderful sounds, solid rhythms and is truly a brilliant and inspiring musical score it is simply no good for running. Its beat is far too slow.
Looking at the graphics below best describe what I mean here.
EYE OF THE TIGER 109BPM 6.6 sec
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Music notes represent the beat and the body cannot run to this beat. It is actually slower than slow walking pace.
The red music notes below equal the ‘foot plant’ when running at 5 minutes per km (8min per mile)
Run2Rhythm music - BIONIC PULSE 166BPM 6.6 sec
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It can be seen that in the space of 3 musical bars of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ the runner would have listened to 12 beats whereas in the same time frame with ‘Bionic Pulse’ the runner would have listened to 18.25 beats over 4.5 bars all in the time space of 6.6seconds.
Even at the slowest running music speed we have on our website at 150bpm (10 mins per km, 16mins per mile), the runner would have taken 16 ½ steps in the 6.6sec time frame above.
If running at a speed to meet this time (5min per km), running with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ will have no relevance to the running rhythm and consequently the runner’s body rhythm. The ‘feel good’ sound of the music may well be lost during the run.
How much do we like to dance out of sync with music – not at all. Why then should we be running (i.e. moving our bodies) out of sync with the music on our MP3’s and iPods.
If simply we are out for a run and don’t really care about the sync of the body – then fair enough. But if we are concerned about the overall syncopation of our running effort and mind and body effort, then we should be very conscious of the beat of the music we are running with.
More importantly, we should look at the distinct benefits of running in sync with music over running contra-sync against the music:
- Enables the body to be at one with the music and not physically fight against the music rhythms
- Helps control pace during a run.
- Simulate speeds required to achieve run/race goals.
- Reinforces the ‘effort/relax’ aspect of ideal running
- Helps the muscles to relax during a long run resulting in better capillary blood flow and less muscle fatigue.
- Helps you find the mind and body meld that puts you ‘in the zone’.
Many people are extremely disappointed when they take their favourite music out on a run. They are usually filled with excitement and anticipation that their music will drive them better than ever before. Sometimes they hit it ok when a music track is close to the running pace but not very often. Mostly, they find that it does not seem to inspire them or help them as much as they expected. This will invariably be due to the fact that the beat and the rhythms are all wrong for the exercise.
Gary Blake
Founder run2rhythm
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