Concept2 Forum

What music do you listen to when you are (1) warming up for a big erg test and (2) rowing it? I'm looking for suggestions.

Mine:

Warming up:

(1) La Marsaillaise (sp?) (no laughing; this is serious; it gets me going)
(2) UEFA Champions League Anthem (see comment to 1);
(3) Star Spangled Banner (to dream of hearing it on the podium;
(4) The Writ (Black Sabbath) (time to focus);
(5) Civil War (Guns 'n Roses) (ready to row through a wall now).

The Piece:

(1) Far Behind (Candlebox; don't know why, but this one puts me in a frenzy);
(2) Paranoid (Black Sabbath; no comment needed, really).

You?

Criminal: I forgot my all-time favorite for during the piece: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana). Shame on me.

Hi Jamie,

Listening to music for big pieces like 2k tests is probably a newer concept to me than it should be. So, I like to change up what I listen to every time. Usually, there's some combination of the following:

(by Linkin Park)
Papercut
One Step Closer
Crawling
Bleed It Out
What I've Done

(by Nirvana)
Rape Me
Polly
Teen Spirit
In Bloom
Heart-Shaped Box

I always listen to some of these guys. I'm always afraid people are going to think I have emotional problems or something listening to music like that in the gym. But... I'm just not naturally angry, so almost getting there by listening to this music puts me in a extraordinary state . Additionally:

Violin Sonata in D minor, No. 3, Op. 108, IV. Presto agitato - Brahms
Violin concerto in E minor, Op. 64, I. Allegro molto appassionato - Mendelssohn
Violin concerto No. 1 in A minor, I. Allegro - J.S. Bach
"Double" violin concerto in D minor I. Vivace - J.S. Bach
Sonata No. 1, Fuga, BWV1001 - J.S. Bach
Partita No. 1, Sarabande, BWV1002 - J.S. Bach
Partita No. 3, Preludio, BWV1006 - J.S. Bach
Caprice in A minor, Op. 1, in A minor - Paganini
Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone
Ding Dong Song - Gunther & the Sunshine Girls
The occasion old Blink-182 song

The last three are on there to lighten things up if I feel I'll need that. They're pretty funny, to me at least!

Phil

For those that don't know it, Phil is a concert violinist. That's on top of being an "A" student and an awesome lightweight rower. I VERY much hope that, by this time next year, he rows for the Georgetown Lightweights. We'd be lucky to have him.

Dragonforce, "Through the Fire and the Flames". It's over 7:00 long, so you don't need anything else Give it a listen and you'll understand.

I listen to the same 3 songs no matter what...

Disturbed - Down w/ the Sickness (have you ever heard the opening?)
Disturbed - Decadence (fast paced song)
Slipknot - Before I Forget (good hard song)

Start of w/ DWTS and put it on shuffle for the second song...working so far

I knew you guys would have great suggestions. Thanks very much.

Uh, guys, those are some seriously aggresive songs. Does your mother know that you listen to that kind of music?

Yea, my mom was a bit upset when she heard me listening to the Presto agitato movement from the D minor Brahms sonata.

i listen to a lot of stuff during tests, but no matter what, the last 1000 meters i have to listen to "I wanna be with you" by bruce springsteen.

I don't think to much about what is playing at the beginning but at the end of a hard piece I arrange to have some particular song playing. Over the past year I've used:

Some of my daughter's chick rock:
Avril Lavigne -- Tomorrow
The Veronica -- Leave Me Alone

And some stuff I didn't get from my daughter:
REM -- I Believe
The Cranberries -- Forever Yellow Skies
Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Pin
Green Day -- Blood, Sex, and Booze
Vivaldi -- The final movement of summer.
Liszt -- Transcendental Etude #10, Allegro Agiatato Molto In F Minor

I was listening to the Brahms violin sonatas commonly last March - July but I tended to pair them with a nice 3 x 6K or a 60' piece rather than the shorter workouts.

Did you ever listen to the D minor, Op. 108, No.3, 4th movement Brahms sonata? I think it's definitely suited to short pieces. Although, I agree, I think the Brahms violin and piano sonatas are better suited to longer, less-stressful pieces, or going to sleep for that matter. :-p

I think études and caprices are great. When I listen to such pieces Paganini, Ysaye, Liszt or Chopin, I'm constantly amazed by what I hear and what is behind that. It compels me to watch my own technique!

If you're going the Vivaldi route, and I think Baroque in general is a good way to go for any training, III. from the Summer concerto is indeed great. I. from the Winter concerto is good, too, I think. The Vivaldi concerto for two celli in G minor, RV.531 is a good one too.

The thing about Baroque music is that movements are more consistent, as they are composed under musically stricter terms in the binary form. The variance in tempo and material happens between between movements in the Baroque, in general. The standard concerto or concerto grosso from the Baroque usually has longer and fast movements surrounding a slower movement. Later music, from mid-Classical on, can feature more prominent and frequent variations even in the same movement with the development of more complex composition, such as the sonata allegro and rondo musical forms.

The third movement from Smetana's piano trio in G minor, Op. 15 is fantastique, I feel compelled to note. Finale presto! It illustrates very well the basic differences between Baroque and Romantic chamber pieces. I'd save it for a longer piece, unless of course you become familiar with it. For me, the anticipation of getting to the development or recapitulation is enough to keep my intensity up!

Phil

corpsrower wrote:I listen to the same 3 songs no matter what...

Disturbed - Down w/ the Sickness (have you ever heard the opening?)
Disturbed - Decadence (fast paced song)
Slipknot - Before I Forget (good hard song)

Start of w/ DWTS and put it on shuffle for the second song...working so far

Have you ever heard the version of DWTS by Richard Cheese?

Phil and Greg: What are some "classical for beginners" choices to include in a mix for long pieces?

I like the Triumphal March from Aida (I know it from my wedding and from soccer stadia) and the Flight of the Valkyries (sp?). I confess that I know the latter just from Apocalypse Now.

Thanks.

Well Jamie, with the sort of rather long pieces you do, you could well manage to listen to a ton of great music really of any length, including the Romantic and modern symphonies and concerti.

I would highly recommend pretty much any of the Dvorák symphonies. They are highly accessible Romantic pieces, and, in my opinion, amongst the finest examples of symphonic works. I especially recommend symphonies:
No.4 in D minor, Op. 13.
No.8 in G major, Op. 88.
No.9 in E major, Op. 95 ("From the New World")

They're all roughly 35-40 minutes long. Watch out for the 2nd movements in each -- they're killer beautiful. If you don't fall asleep during those movements, the scherzo and finale movements (numbers 3 and 4) are incredibly high-energy and exciting. I've had the pleasure of playing Nos. 8 and 9, and just playing them is a workout; I think I average a heart rate of 162bpm or so...!

Speaking of great Czech music, the symphonic poems of "Má Vlast" by Bedřich Smetana are phenomenal and again, very accessible. They're really not high-intensity work material. They're more sit on an erg for 90 minutes and listen to Smetana describe "[his] Country" so vividly.

Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 would be a bit more of a challenge to listen to, but it's definitely a possibility. Again, this would be for a more relaxing long piece. I just don't see the piano as being an aggressive enough instrument in many contexts... that's why I play the violin, an instrument I will now proceed to advertise :-p

The Sibelius violin concerto in D minor, Op.47, is absolutely incredible. I find concerti to be a great listen because they're just dazzling. This is my favorite violin concerto in a minor key, and to me is one of the most impressive concerti in the repertoire (the Tchaikovsky violin concerto is my favorite major key concerto, but I don't think it's appropriate for ergo listening).

The Bruch violin concerto No.1 in G minor is a maybe. Honestly, stay away from the 2nd movement unless you do plan on falling asleep. Maybe even stay away from the first movement if you think it's too low-energy. But, the third movement scherzo, my goodness, that's something to end on! I've played this piece, and again it's a workout just to play it!

Finally, the Mozart violin concerti are nice classical pieces. I'd recommend either the No.3 in G major, Op.216, which I am studying now, or the No.5 in A major, Op.219. It really doesn't matter, though: Mozart composed all five of his violin concerti within a span of like 15 minutes, so they're pretty much the same (like the rest of his trite music... sorry, Wolgangerl!). Still, No.3 is especially exciting of the five.

You were probably looking for a lot less music than that -- sorry! But at least you have a number of good options. For you, if you could only listen to one or two pieces ("classical for beginners"), I'd choose from the Dvorák, Smetana or Mozart.

Let me know if you listen to any of these pieces!

Phil