I was having a post-class discussion with long-time participant and friend Denise when I exposed my utter cluelessness about popular music. When I got home I asked my two daughters (18 & 22) if they knew who PitBull was and they informed me that PitBull was a rapper who works with lots of other popular artists. You need to get with-it Dad!
Enter Spotify to get myself hip 🙁
First I checked the Top Instructor Class Music list Barbara Hoots put together last year. No Pitbull.
So I searched for Pitbull and was quickly exposed to a bunch of tracks that weren't half-bad.
I used two in my class this past Thursday night – sans Denise, who I'm guessing was attending to a soon-to-be new mother in her role as a delivery nurse.
For me the cool down is just as important as the warm-up and the cardio portion of the ride as it forms the last leg upon which a perfect class stands.
It is the last chance to get my riders to focus on bringing their body back under a structured control before we dismount and do all of those stretches our legs need and deserve.
North Left by Crisopa is a nice long 7 minute track that will to help clear the mind one last time, and one that allows us to relax and focus on feeling the tension in our muscles slowly disappear before having to rejoin the world outside of the class.
Right Click on this link to download North Left
This track isn't in Spotify but there are a number of other's from Crisopa you may enjoy.
[Important Note for ICI/PRO Members: As the world is scheduled to end sometime today, this (unfortunately) will be our last Free Music Friday. John][Update – the world didn't end so you can look forward to Free Music Friday's for years to come.]
Hard to believe the holidays are almost here and so is the end of 2012 and of course who is stressed about all of that!
This is the time of year when a six minute dose of beach chill is just what your riders need in the form of ‘These Dream‘ by Chris Malinchak perfect to warm them up after coming in from the cold, or use it as an easy flat road.
The one thing I like to do is use a songs lyrics and play with them during the ride. In this case try using the segment “I'll take my time, won't stop, until I get it right.”
Ask your riders to decide what they need to perfect in their form?
Could it simply be getting their shoulders out of their ear canals and allowing themselves to relax a bit more?
Maybe smoothing out their pedal stroke, focusing on finding and keeping the perfect breath to control their heart during a recovery?
At a 120 bpm this is one of those 5 min tracks that you can toss into a profile when you get stuck as it fits a variety of applications.
Will you use Off My Mind by Rogue Vogue for a recovery, climbing or flat?
If I'm using this in a climb this is one of those tracks where I like to let my riders go with what feels right for them, those who love being in the saddle can hook onto the beat and pound out the perfect cadence. While those who just love to dance on the pedals will feel right at home getting a booty break. And I love it's easy rhythm that makes Jump junkies happy as well
Now if I'm using it for a flat road I'm tempted to use it for some speed work having the riders do short little surges 15-30 second surges with a corresponding break at a slightly reduced cadence or maybe just doing a couple 60 second pushes it all depends on what sort of energy vibe I'm getting from folks.
For you MixMeister addicts out there it's steady beat makes coming up with your own custom mixes a cinch.
When I first upgraded to Spotify Premium back in August, I was excited to try something new, but a little disappointed and apprehensive because it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. Change is never easy. But I kept at it and now I think I’m able to navigate it quite well. Creating and publishing playlists is the easy part. Muddling through all the little glitches with the system was a little tricky, but once I was able to figure them out, I rarely run into problems anymore. The difficult part, for me anyway, was finding people to follow and finding new music.
I don’t know about you, but I could spend hours listening to music and deciding if I think certain songs should earn a spot on my next playlist. When I first began using Spotify, I really didn't know where to begin. It wasn't like iTunes, (which I had been using forever), so I knew that I needed to find an easy way to use Spotify to get access to music that I could use in my classes. I didn't want to be tied to my computer all night searching for music because I couldn't navigate my way through this new terrain. I wanted to be able to easily find new releases and I wanted to see what other instructors were using in their playlists. So I set a goal to find some easy and time-saving ways to search for new music. I think I succeeded. Here are few tips to add to your arsenal or to help you if you’re just getting started:
Find people to follow and subscribe to their playlists. I explain this in detail in my last ICI/PRO post.
Don’t overlook the ‘What’s New’ Tab at the top left of your main sidebar on your profile screen. Click on this tab and you’ll find a customized page for you with new releases, top playlists, top tracks, trending playlists, and featured Spotify apps.
Subscribe to playlists that ‘refresh’. I have found a few playlists to subscribe to that help me to keep up with the best new releases as well as the hottest songs in the country at the moment. Here are a few that I subscribe to: Billboard Hot 100; New Release Tuesdays and New Releases on Spotify
And speaking of new releases, if you like to use them in your playlists, learn to love Tuesdays! Most of the new releases come out on Tuesdays, so check for updates on your main page and be the first one to listen!
‘Like' Spotify on Facebook. You'll get really great updates on new music and bands, helpful tips and general updates.
Sign up at Sharemyplaylist.com. I have not used this service as a means of sharing my playists (yet), but they DO email me a newsletter every week with seven of their top playlists, all of which have been published in Spotify. So with the click of a button, you can listen and subscribe. I can't say enough about this resource. I always find a TON of great music here.
In addition to the ideas mentioned above, I think in the not too distant future you may see some changes over at Spotify that will make your music discovery a little bit easier. Not only has Spotify overhauled their website, but they will very soon be unrolling some new and exciting changes. If you used iTunes Ping, you may find this to be a good replacement. See what it's all about by clicking the photo below:
How do you find music to use in your classes? If you have a great resource, please share in the comment section.
One of the beauties of taking another Instructors class is that you can observe the problems and/or issues they have during class and make a note to ensure the same doesn't happen to you.
Case in point…
I was taking the class of an un-named Instructor last week. Even though I was sitting the the front row, I couldn't hear most of what she was saying. It wasn't that she was trying to talk over the lyrics (thankfully) but I was only able to pickup about 50% of her cues.
I found myself asking the person next to me; “what are we supposed to be doing now?” But then I had to stop. I was getting less than friendly looks from the un-named Instructor, so I turned to face forward, smiled and tried to concentrate on her cues… that I was only hearing bits and pieces of.
There's a perfectly technical reason why this can happen.
Instructors don't hear what their student's are hearing.
The sound levels you hear up on the Instructor bikecan be are different from what your class hears. Speaker placement, room acoustics and the number of riders in the room all affect the sound levels – beyond the settings you make to the studio's sound system.
One universal problem is studios with wall mounted speakers, on either side of the Instructor platform, facing the class. Sound travels in a straight line and the sound's energy decays quickly as it travels through the air. So your participants in the front row get everything, second row a little less and so on. You sit in a relative Cone of Silence. Most of what you hear comes after bouncing around the room = weaker that what the rest of the class hears.
We had a phenomenal sound system, complete with a Sound Engineer and his big mixing board, at our last conference. Big speakers on either side of the stage. I thought it sounded great. Barbara Hoots was one of the Instructor team on stage during Tom Scotto's ride with a live band. She explained to me after the ride that she had a very difficult time understanding what Tom was saying, even though she was riding only 2 feet away from him and neither could the un-named Instructor sitting right next to her. We hadn't thought to provide monitors pointed back at the Instructors on the stage like they use during a concert.
But our studio also has speakers on the back wall facing me… so this doesn't apply to me, right?
Maybe yes, and maybe no. It didn't help the un-named Instructor in my example above. The distance you are from the source of sound has a huge effect on how loud it sounds.
There's a simple way to solve this* – get off your bike 🙂
When I first started riding in with my class, while teaching to a video, I would begin class up front in the normal position. Then, after we were through the warm up I would dismount and climb on a bike with the rest of the class. Often I'd find myself needing to reduce the volume of my music so I (and presumably the rest of the class) could hear me properly**. But then the music would be too low… so I would find myself constantly adjusting my iPhone down when I needed to cue and then back up for more energy.
I figured out that if I started class, with what I thought was a good balance between my voice and the music, I could walk around the room and test what everyone else was hearing. If I was a little too weak, compared to what sounded like the right level for the music, I could naturally return to the sound system's controls and make any needed adjustments. Only then, after finding a good balance, will I join the class for the rest of training.
Give this a try and let us know your experience.
*No, the solution is not to ask the class; “How's my volume?' With each student hearing you slightly differently (or having a different sensitivity to sound) who do you respond to? Besides, in public environments like your class, most people will tend to lie to you (not want to be critical) and tell you everything is just fine, when maybe it isn't.
**I use a $20 wireless Bluetooth connection for my iPhone so I can control it anywhere in the room. This post explains more.
