MUSI20150 Music And Health University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

MUSI20150 Music And Health University of Melbourne

As a runner, I’ve built a personal playlist over the years which I currently turn to when
I’m in need of something to throw in my headphones. This playlist has served me well in running
short 2km bursts to full marathon training as it has hundreds of songs that I actively enjoy. To
narrow this down I’ve structured a run of roughly 15 km, leaving from my house that lasts for
these 10 tracks and tried to fit songs that fit each stage of this run. In these 10 tracks I have also
tried to follow a logical musical progression from light techno, to heavy techno, to house and
finally to disco.
Beginning with a brief warm-up, where music has been shown to decrease exertion in
further activity (Chtourou, Jarraya, Aloui, Hammouda, & Souissi, 2012), I have then gone on to
fit songs into each stage of the run, beginning with the start where I often think of giving up a
run, and where (Tenenbaum, Lidor, Lavyan, Morrow, Tonnel, Gershgoren & Johnson, 2004)
found that music is key in motivating runners to continue. Once I have overcome this barrier
what I next consider is am I enjoying myself, which (Tiev, Manire, Robert, & Barbara, 2010)
have outlined and also I want to make sure that I’m trying to push myself and not get injured
doing so, with cadence playing a large part I looked to work done by (Van Dyck, Moens,
Buhmann, Demey, Coorevits, Dalla Bella, & Leman 2015) and (Karageorghis & Priest, 2012) to
inform my selections. The playlist concludes with a light cool down, where soft and slow music
has been show to reduce physiological and psychological arousal (Copeland & Franks, 1991)
which is key in returning the body to resting levels and promoting recovery.
In fitting the music to this specific run, I broke the playlist up into warm-up, exercise and
cool-down sections and created 3 sub-playlists, this allowed me to then test each sample of music
with its intended outcome. My testing took place over a week where I listened to each subplaylist
over each period of my run and recorded my observations on its conclusion. When
deciding on the order of the songs in the “exercise” section, my intention was to work with the
academic backing to determine what sort of music I should be listening to, in order to elicit
certain psychological and physiological responses, as well as paying attention to the terrain and
my states of exhaustion on this run. This allowed me to integrate the research I had done with my
own personal findings about what worked effectively for me, as music listening has been shown
to be a very personal and contextual experience (DeNora, 2013).
1. Polaszek, A; Boadu, A & Sutterlin, G. (2018). Muye [Recorded by &ME, Rampa &
Adam Port]. On You Are Safe [MP3]. Berlin, Germny: Keinemusik. (2018-03-16)
Stepping out of the house, I need a strong warm-up song to raise my heart rate from
resting levels towards something more appropriate for exercise and to allow me to perform better
on this run than if I had not listened to music during my warm-up (Chtourou et al., 2012). I chose
Muye for this purpose as it has a strong bass straight from the start, but the rest of the elements
build up to a late peak with vocal and piano elements being gradually introduced and their
volume and intensity being gradually increased, the song tails off in the last minute which allows
me to open my phone and engage Strava, my run-keeping app. Functionally at 7:49 this song
also affords me me enough time to run through my entire warm-up routine without cutting
elements off.
2. Olieroock, A; Kriek, P & Digby-Bell, T. (2019). No Dancers – Adam Port Remix
[Recorded by Cubicolor & Adam Port]. On NO DANCERS (ADAM PORT
REMIX) [MP3]. London, England: Anjunadeep. (2019-06-18)
To get me out of the driveway and onto my run, I have chosen Adam Port’s Remix of No
Dancers. This song picks up where Muye left off on a slightly low point with only drum sounds
and no melody and soon builds with melodic elements and Cubicolor’s vocals. The vocals come
in at the point of the run where I often consider turning around and abandoning my run, with
Tenenbaum et al. (2004) providing the basis for the judgement that I use music to motivate me to
continue, I find the lyrical content to be enough to get me over the line as it is individualistic and
reflects the solo nature of my run. The second half of this song is not lyrically dense, but there is
a looped synth bass that establishes a repetitive nature to the song as I begin to settle into my run.
3. Hunt, J; Evigan, J; George, J & Lindqvist, T (2018). Underwater – Adam Port Remix
[Recorded by Rufus du Sol & Adam Port]. On Solace Remixes Vol 2 [MP3]. New
York, United States: Sony Music Entertainment. (2018-09-28)
Continuing along the Adam Port theme, the heavy looped synth bass in No Dancers is
used from the start of this song, following the repetitive end of the last track it flows seamlessly
and allows me to carry on with my run along the flat section of my road. The song’s volume and
tempo stay consistent throughout, which I find effective as this section of my run doesn’t require

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