Music for a runner’s ear
Nov. 20, 2015
Annaka Price
For Annaka Price the ideal cadence for running is 180 steps per minute and to
make sure she stays at that pace she’s creating unique music to help her stay
in step. Price, who is studying for a doctorate of musical arts and also is a
teaching assistant at CU-Boulder’s College of Music, arrived at that cadence
number after injuring herself training for a marathon.
CUT 1 “It took me a year to learn how to run again. I read lots of material on
websites and I eventually went to a class and in this class they videotaped us
and gave us four different principles of good running form and one of them
was cadence. (:14) For me that was the magical thing and being the good
student that I am I ran with my metronome for a long time. It was a little
monotonous and a lot of people laughed at me.” (:24)
But for Price the goal of finding the perfect cadence for running was no
laughing matter as she discovered that a cadence of 180 beats per minutes is
ideal running efficiently with less chance for injury.
CUT 2 “When you increase your cadence it more naturally facilitates a smaller
step size and it also more naturally facilitates a mid-push strike. (:11) And with
both of these things it allows your skeletal system to operate more efficiently
and to reduce the impact from each of the steps you’re taking. So there’s less
force as you hit the ground.” (:24)
Except for her monotonous metronome she says there is little music she has
found to match her needs. So to advance her goal a step further she has
created Operation Cadence – a project where she is commissioning pieces
from composers that will hit 180 beats per minute and at the same time be
diverse with a broad appeal.
CUT 3 “I’m working with composers from across the country to write pieces
specifically at 180 beats per minute. So it’s specifically designed for running
and there hasn’t been, as far as I’m aware, other classical music composed
with this intention. (:16) The composers I’m working with have come from
very different backgrounds. There’s some composers who are influenced by
film music or jazz or dance or video games, which I think will create a very
diverse and appealing playlist.” (:31)
Price says she created Operation Cadence for two reasons that are very close
to her heart.
CUT 4 “Ultimately I have a desire to teach people about running form. I think
a lot of people don’t run because they don’t know how and we think it’s
something that should be easy because as kids we played tag or we played
dodge ball and so it seems like it would be something that would be really
easy. (:15) So I wanted to teach people about that while also increasing
awareness for contemporary classical music because I think that’s something
that’s misunderstood frequently.” (:24)
Price says once the playlist is completed people will be able to purchase it on
the Operation Cadence homepage where you also can now listen to a sample
by composer Alan Eikins: http://www.operationcadence.com/#!support/cnec.
-CU-