The Speed of Music

When I listen to music, I feel like the music is moving toward some unknown destination. I don't mean just that it makes me want to move, I mean that the music itself is moving.  Like you, I read a page left to right and top to bottom. If I'm reading a novel or the daily newspaper, I read left to right and top to bottom.  It's the same with music. I read a sheet of music left to right and top to bottom. Because of that, when I'm listening to music, I'm hearing the music moving left to right from its beginning to end.  If I imagine I'm facing north, then the music is moving west to east.

As I hand the young lady at the desk my key tag at the gym, I chuckle to myself when she says, "I hope you enjoy your workout."  "Workout" to me involves great effort and lots of sweat. I intend to do neither. I spend 40 minutes or so walking on a  treadmill at a brisk pace and then another fifteen minutes lifting and pulling weights. No sweat. I'm "keeping the mass in motion" as my wife puts it. Like many people at the gym,  I listen to music while I "work out." Unlike most people who use the beat of the music to rev them up, my playlists consist of my favorite music.  Some of the songs have a steady beat, but many of them do not. I just enjoy the music while I'm walking and using the gym equipment.

Although I am not looking for some specific beat, or "workout" music, many times I realize that the beat of the music is very close to my pace. When that happens I adjust my speed and my step so that I'm walking in time with the music. A few days ago when this happened, I was walking at 3 mph, or a 20 minute mile. That's when it occurred to me that the music was moving at 3 mph. As the playlist continued song by song, I paid attention to the speed of the music.  I learned that most music that  I listen to moves west to east between 2.5 mph and 4 mph. There are outliers such as "Desperado" on the slow side and "Boys of Summer" on the fast, but they are the exception and not the rule.

I know of no practical use for this information. There is benefit to walking on a treadmill. There is benefit to listening to music you enjoy. There's benefit for doing them simultaneously.  I'm not sure there's any benefit for assigning a speed to that music. A recent study suggests that there is benefit for even 10 minutes of exercise per week. That's good to know. At 3 miles per hour, I don't have to go back to the gym for a month.