Running Music Update
I’ve posted previously about the music I like to listen to while running. Steve Reich, Vampire Weekend. Alton Ellis tunes (“La La Means I Love You,” “It’s a Shame’) are especially nice. It’s been quite a while since I’ve run on the bike trails in the woods, where I can’t wear earbuds and be blindsided by approaching bicycles.
So these days I’m always on the lookout for a good run playlist, something to shake it up a little. I recently scored a bag o’ magazines at Half Price Books, six issues of Jazz Improv magazine ($14.95 cover price on each) for a total of seven bucks. Lots of interviews to read, but a bonus: each issue came with a CD of jazz recordings, some made by performers featured in the issue. Seven CDs! (One magazine contained a bonus CD.) I spent an evening picking out a handful of cuts from each CD and creating a playlist. I eagerly made it the background music for my next day’s run.
As it turned out, the selections all seemed to blend together. I finished the run without any distinct impression of the music I’d heard. Which would be okay, I guess, if that meant that I’d entered “the zone” and become oblivious to my surroundings, including the music. But that wasn’t it. The songs just coalesced into a mush somehow. Maybe my selection process was flawed, too hasty.
That evening, I grabbed two CDs I’d received for Christmas and made a new playlist, “Fellini-Rota.” The CDs were The Ultimate Best of Fellini-Rota Originals (“Ultimate Best,” huh? Maybe there’s a “Super Ultimate Best” I should have ordered, or a “Semi-Ultimate Best” that would’ve been cheaper) and a CD that featured the soundtracks of both La Strada and La Notti di Cabiria. I posted not too long ago about the Nino Rota music I cherished. These two round out my collection nicely.
The Ultimate Best features a very nicely done medley of the themes of each Fellini movie whose soundtrack was done by Rota, including I Vitelloni, Il Bidone, and even Boccaccio ’70. I included most of them, and mixed in several selections from the other CD. I used the Fellini-Rota playlist for my next run and it was perfect! A little bit of distraction and a little bit of energy to make the run a nice experience.
I think Nino Rota’s Fellini music is ideal for running. But maybe that’s just me. What do you like to run to? Motown? Black Sabbath? Silence?
Related articles
- Nino Rota: A musical offer Coppola couldn’t refuse (telegraph.co.uk)
