Rowing Music

[old] alatus · Post by **[old] alatus** » September 25th, 2004, 1:14 pm

I regularly use music to row by on the Concept2. Has anyone compiled a source of music and particularly a list of music by strokes per minute? I have a short list of music on my computer that I know works for rowing and I mix various rowing music playlists for various length and intensity workouts. It is a fairly tedious process. Has anyone produced a list or does anyone know a source of rowing music to make the task easier and probably better? Thank you.

[old] Niall · Post by **[old] Niall** » September 25th, 2004, 4:03 pm

What works for me for the final 1000m is the Dance Remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation". The beat of this track really gets me pumped up for a quick finish. Of course music is a personal thing so what motivates me, wont work for everyone.

[old] NavigationHazard · Post by **[old] NavigationHazard** » September 25th, 2004, 7:30 pm

An excellent question, and one that should be extended to classical music as well as rock/pop: depending on the workout, various bits of Orff's Carmina Burana, some of the Wagnerian overtures, Dvorak's 9th, Shostakovich's 10th, even Chaikovskii's 6th Symphony work for me just as well as the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" and the Guess Who's "No Time." As for the tempo of recordings, there are various ways of 'tweaking' it to fit your needs. Variable-speed tape decks, for example, allow you to fiddle mechanically with playback speed. And it's quite possible to stretch or compress .wav files electronically. Usually this introduces distortion and/or alters the original pitch, but if you're not overly worried about fidelity and not changing things too much you can get quite acceptable results. You're listening to it while erging, after all, so you shouldn't be concentrating all that intently on the music.... For the truly fanatic, consider programming a freeware drum machine or loop synthesizer to match the desired tempo(s) of a workout. I've thought about it, but haven't actually sunk that far yet

[old] sekitori · Post by **[old] sekitori** » September 27th, 2004, 4:35 pm

Regardless of what kind of music you like rowing to, I think that it would be nice to at least occasionally be paced by a metronome. I don't know of one that works accurately in the range of 20 to 40 beats per minute. Every one I've ever heard of is quite a bit faster than that. Is a metronome that can be used in conjunction with rowing available? If so, where?

[old] NavigationHazard · Post by **[old] NavigationHazard** » September 28th, 2004, 6:43 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Is a metronome that can be used in conjunction with rowing available? If so, where?  </td></tr></table> There are plenty of small freeware or shareware electronic metronome programs available that will work just fine on a computer with speakers or headphones. Assuming you're in the Windows universe, try for example <a href='http://www.oli.tudelft.nl/vvier/v4softw ... ronome.zip' target='_blank'>http://www.oli.tudelft.nl/vvier/v4softw ... > Unzip this to the folder of your choice (I used "Metronome") and run the exe program. Clickable buttons allow you to adjust the tempo and to choose between a number of sounds (bass drum works best for me). This particular program isn't great -- depending on your hardware it may take a while to respond to tempo changes you introduce. But it's servicable, and hard to beat the price.

[old] NavigationHazard · Post by **[old] NavigationHazard** » September 28th, 2004, 7:39 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Has anyone compiled a source of music and particularly a list of music by strokes per minute? </td></tr></table> A number of software programs allow real-time calculation of beats per minute. From this you can arrive at a strokes-per-minute rating, which will depend on how many musical beats you want to assign to each stroke. There are two things to bear in mind. First, most rock music is pretty dang fast. The Kinks' "Lola," to take an arbitrary example, was recorded at about 120.6 beats per minute. Not even Dwayne Adams or Matthew Pinsent can erg at 120 strokes per minute. Second, most rock music uses 4/4 time (measures divided into 4 equal quarter notes). If you assign some regular multiple of four beats/one measure of it to each stroke, you'll get a manageable stroke rating. Thus one stroke per measure of "Lola" works out to 30 strokes per minute; one stroke every other meaure works out to 15 SPM. Other representative songs from one of my erg playlists: Van Morrison, "Brown-eyed Girl" about 120 BPM/ 30 SPM Steppenwolf, "Born To be Wild" about 122 BPM/ 30.5 SPM ZZ Top, "Lagrange" about 80 BPM/ either 20 or 40 SPM Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't Fear The Reaper" about 140 BPM/ either 17.5 or 35 SPM Bear in mind that "classic rock" generally was recorded in the days before drum machines and electronic tempo adjustments. Even the most rhythmic, tempo-conscious drummers (e.g. Ringo Starr) playing simple, straightforward songs will speed up and slow down along the way. This sort of subtle time manipulation is part of what gives bands like the Rolling Stones their distinctive sound. However it doesn't necessarily make for the most consistent erging music..... A freeware program that will allow you to sample beats per minute during realtime playback is available at <a href='http://www.multimania.com/toniowar/Files/BPM_Meter.exe' target='_blank'>http://www.multimania.com/toniowar/File ... r> It's actually a zip file; unzip it to the folder of your choice and run the exec file. While the program is running, the meter will sample whatever's coming through your sound card and calculate a BPM figure based on the bass drum rate over an arbitrary number of measures. From this you can figure out stroke ratings. If anyone out there wants to sample their own playlists and send the BPM/SPM results to one of my alter-ego accounts at "NathanJBoone@Netscape.net," I don't mind compiling them and eventually posting a list here.

[old] chudwell · Post by **[old] chudwell** » October 12th, 2004, 9:48 pm

early Metallica for fast pace ("whiplash" for instance) and AC/DC for medium pace ("Thunderstuck") and for slow pace ('back in black', 'dirty deeds') Hairbands forever!!

[old] Gaz · Post by **[old] Gaz** » October 25th, 2004, 7:34 pm

I'm a Dj in my spare time. What I like to listen to is Happy Hardcore. Something with a BPM (Beats Per Minute) Higher than 130 You can buy specailly made music for workouts. look it up on the internet, I can't say I have ever really listend to any to say if it's any good or not? The Eric Prydz Call On Me video has borrowed the idea, but it's top notch stuff For longer rows I tend to watch a DVD. Visit my website for plenty more music related stuff.

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » October 25th, 2004, 7:51 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (sekitori @ Sep 27 2004, 01:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Is a metronome that can be used in conjunction with rowing available? If so, where? </td></tr></table> Sekitori, I am getting an metronome soon and am looking forward to using it. Just set it for 2 beats per stroke (or 3 or 4 etc).

[old] rabblerower · Post by **[old] rabblerower** » October 31st, 2004, 2:31 pm

I tend to find that for something such as a 2k test, Master of Puppets by Metallica works well, as does Wherever I May Roam. I've never tried to match my spm to the tempo of a song, but I do think music helps immensly to keep psyche you up, especially when you're training on your own and that's why I use quite agressive music. Other stuff I've used to train to includes some Tool tracks (the lyrics to Parabola - "All this pain is an illusion" always works well for the final push!), and also Lose Yourself by Eminem. I believe it's the last song James Cracknell listens to before going out to row at regattas, it's certainly another good motivational song.

[old] drkcgoh · Post by **[old] drkcgoh** » November 1st, 2004, 9:12 am

In Dragon boat competitions the Saikong, or cox pounds out a resounding rhythm on his drums. But when those same drums were used at our indoor rowing competitions indoors, it was deafening and the clashing tempos from adjacent drums just added to the confusion. I requested for silence during our event. KC63

[old] Hairy Ben · Post by **[old] Hairy Ben** » November 1st, 2004, 9:58 am

i love the idea of using steady music to row to on an ergo... one day i'll be sooo bored that i'll make the ultimate CD to train to, which will involve lifting weights in a circuit to the steady rate i'm able to do so, and also including a 30minute run to our local town of Stourport

(eventually i'll get certain songs to help with specific areas inwhich i intend to pull away from other runners)

[old] Ergomanic · Post by **[old] Ergomanic** » November 1st, 2004, 5:44 pm

Music can be a help but beware, if the build up is not towards the end of the piece you can pay the price. I think 'Fly and Die' is a recognised phrase. Linkin Park or a good Dance album is my favourite. I've heard 'Reckless Paradise' are good but I don't think they have made it to the US yet.

[old] starboardrigged1seat · Post by **[old] starboardrigged1seat** » November 3rd, 2004, 2:58 pm

Techno is great for steady state and AT work. I prefer to listen to either Linkin Park or hip-hop when doing more intense work, but for the majority of steady-state, anything that will keep me interested. The Blue Man Group cd is a classic, so is just about any classic rock band, or live Phish concert.

[old] NavigationHazard · Post by **[old] NavigationHazard** » November 4th, 2004, 10:45 am

Related to the question of what to listen to while erging is what NOT to listen to. There was a not-very-coherent row2k forum on this a while back: <a href='http://www.row2k.com/stories/index.cfm? ... ead&ID=108' target='_blank'>Worst Erg Music</a> For my money, anything that evokes melancholy, loneliness, pain, suffering, degradation, etc. is right out. Who wants to finish a half-marathon, say to "King of Pain" by the Police? Or to Mozart's Funeral Mass? Or to Sinatra singing "One for my baby and one for the road"? Or to quite a lot of Morrissey? There's also the question of titles or lyrics that have to do with or mention * sinking boats (e.g. the theme from the Poseidon Adventure), * drowning (e.g. Grand Funk's Closer To My Home), * stuff on the bottom of the ocean (Donovan's Atlantis), * letting the water hold me down (Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime) * seasickness (Dylan's It's All Over Now Baby Blue) * etc.....

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