Music for 2K Test?

[Rocket Roy]

WOW!!!!

I was hoping to find a response to my further question this morning, but this is fantastic. Thank you very much for all the enlightenment. My best memory of being at school was going to see an Orchestra...wonderful I didn't think I would enjoy the trip but I did and now it is one of my best memories.
I will download some of those pieces mentioned and get them onto my ipod and have wonderful, interesting erg sessions where the erg finish will always come too soon----and that's not often said!
Finally (for the time being) which 7 min piece would you recommend to play through the World Championship race in 6 weeks time? I say 7 min piece because I like to start it 40 seconds before the start and finish on the last note ................yeah right

And thanks again for all the info. I can't believe you are only 18

[Byron Drachman]

but I love Schubert's Erlkönig, D. 328

Hi Phil.

Yes, I have a couple recordings of it, as well as lots of Schubert songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B6nysheec

By any chance have you heard the historical recordings of Kraus and Goldberg doing Mozart piano and violin sonatas? I should transfer some of them and put them on youtube. I'm always taken back a little when someone doesn't share my reverence for Mozart. I also love the Beethoven and Haydn quartets. I have an interesting transcription of a Haydn quartet for flute and piano that works quite well. Usually transcriptions don't work well but this one is pretty good. And the trios. And the Schubert trios, the piano sonatas. Well, we could go on for hours listing our favorites, couldn't we? This reminds me of a friend whose oldest child got very interested in music. He enjoyed introducing him to many of his favorite works. He remarked slyly that he didn't ever play the Schubert String Quintet in C major for him because he wanted him to discover that by himself some day.

Byron

[Jamie Pfeffer]

And to think, I was impressed to read about Smoke on the Water.

A part of rowing that my two mentors at Georgetown -- Conal Groom and Rich White -- used to stress to me is the depth of most rowers' passions. My friend Rick Trimble and I used to listen to them for hours talk about the great rowers they knew. The unfying theme was that rowers commit themselves completely to the things they do.

This discussion embodies that. Personally, I know nothing about music. But it's interesting to me here because it matters so deeply to all of you.

So thanks.

[GLC-Will]

When I was doing 2 x 20 minutes on the erg with some of the other guys on my team, somebody changed the music to smooth jazz and classical music as a joke. We were all occupied by the ergs so we couldn't change it, but the best part is that it actually helped. I don't know why or how, but it did.

I don't reccomend this to anyone in the future though.

[rowumass]

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

I need to check out those classical pieces; most of the music I know that would be good to erg through usually changes in intensity to a point where you can't hear part of it or it's just too damn long (the recording of Verdi's Requiem is a good example; the Dies Irae is great for the first 4.5 minutes, but after that it drags).

I've been burning out on the stuff I usually listen to; I've been listening to more and more techno/electronica lately.

[Big Fat Fishy]

I tend to like a mixture of punk, techno and some old school heavy metal to row by. I need the energy boost they provide to keep going.

Examples include:
Skid Row (Slave to the Grind),
Megadeath (Youthanasia),
Prodigy (Fat of the Land),
DFA 1979 (You're a Woman, I'm a Machine),
The Hives (Tyranosaurus Hives),
etc.

[Jamie Pfeffer]

I just downloaded the Rambo theme. As expected, I'm ready to row now.

Teasle: Are you telling me that 200 of our men against your boy is a no-win situation for us?
Trautman: You bring that many men, just remember one thing.
Teasle: Oh yeah? What?
Trautman: A good supply of body bags.

[grams]

Wish I Could Fly (Like Superman) The Kinks
ZZ Top most tunes

[Jamie Pfeffer]

Wish I Could Fly (Like Superman) The Kinks
ZZ Top most tunes

Best wishes to the family and the baby!

[gregory.cook]

Caprice in A minor, Op. 1, in A minor - Paganini

Phil,

There are two Op. 1 A minor Caprices... which one is good for a 2K?

[gregory.cook]

Nevermind. It must be #5.

[philrow]

Ah yes, sorry about the ambiguity there. I actually prefer No. 24, although No. 5 will definitely do the trick when one needs a bit of frantic inspiration. I personally find the former to simply be more... capricious!

Perhaps interestingly enough, I find No. 24 as my favorite caprice (just ahead of No. 9) in general as well as specifically for listening during rowing not so much because of the music itself, but because of what it represents to me. I have the sheet music for No. 24 and have tried to play some of the easier variations therein, generally failing miserably. It is one of those pieces that is overwhelming in every capacity -- whether it is in looking at the music, watching it be performed in all of its phenomenal technical demands, or simply hearing it in all of its surreal glory. To me it represents perfection, basically as a perversion of the adequate or normal. I think of Paganini and his overwhelming fervency and vehement passion, and how I can only hope to emulate that in any personal aspect, whether on the violin, on the erg, in the boat, or anywhere else. If the Tchaikovsky is the epitome of performance with melody, the Paganini caprices and even the concerti are the essence of pure technical potency, precision, and basically perfection.

Phil

[gregory.cook]

#24 is in A minor too? My mistake.... there are 3 A minor caprices. #5, #7, and #24.

#24 is nice. I really like #2 (in B minor).

[Jamie Pfeffer]

Perhaps we can resurrect this thread for Eduit. The title missed the mark, though. Instead of just covering 2K tests, we discussed music for training sessions as well.

[Thomas]

Metallica-Enter Sandman
Wherever I May Roam

System of a Dwon: Chop Suey
System of a Down: Hypnotiz
System of a Down: BYOB

Evanescence: Bring Me to Live

Republica: Ready to Go

Red Hot Chilli Peppers: By the Way

Flock of Seagulls: I Ran

Garbage: Only Happy when it Rains

The Killers: Somebody Told Me

Missing Persons: Walking in LA

Motley Crue: Girls, Girls, Girls
Motley Cure: Dr. Feelgood

New Order: Shell Shock

Scorpions: Rock you like a Hurricane

Stone Temple Pilots: Vasoline
Stone Temple Pilots: Trippin on a hole in a paper heart

Talk Talk: Talk Talk

U2: Vertigo

White Zombie: More Human than Human