Any runners who play the piano?

My roommate in college, Stuart Burnham, was a concert pianist and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at Stanford...He ran in 4 NCAA Division I Cross Championships and ran about 29:47 on the track.....

Kyle Armentrout

Wake Forest University

Class of 1995

Who's that dude who is friends with Bruce Hornsby?

lane

As a piano player you should have great respect, yet possibly not enough to know how to spell his name, for Josef Hofman's immaculate technique. One story that had struck me was his master's (Artur Rubenstein?I honestly am not sure) exercises done while books were on his hands. Similar training can work with running. Walk with a book on your head, though I recommend constructing earmuffs that have an attachment to balance a ball on top of them, and get to the point where you can run while balancing it. Without a certain amount of fluidity and balance you can not play the piano with much vision of what the composer had in mind, and your running is no different.

Uh.... Yeah!

Funny you should ask... I just picked up playing piano again a few months ago (I started over ten years ago, completed the first grade book and then got distracted by business concerns and didn't touch it again until this summer). On the other hand I've been playing the drums for over 30 years. I once put on my HR monitor and played as fast as I could for about 10 minutes. My heart rate barely got to what I see on an easy run. That was an eye-opener. This might sound goofy, but I find that drumming is a nice counter-balance to running as it's all about fine motor control, coordination, and limb independence. My PT once told me that I had great "kinesthetic awareness" (knowing where my body/limbs are in space) and I wonder if this has something to do with drumming. In case you're wondering, I'm not into thrash metal or anything like that, so I'm not wailing on the drums. It's mostly wrists and ankles. In spite of this, I can always tell if my running workout was particularly hard becuase it will show up as a lack of fine ability and stamina in my playing. It's actually a useful barometer as it doesn't "lie" to me.

Moral of story: Even a frenetic 20 minute solo from a head-banger doesn't mean he can cover 5k in under 25 minutes, but a jazz player could probably move his feet faster than you though humanly possible and not break a sweat!

I am curious to see if anyone else has observations of how playing an instrument (or similar diversion) has affected their running (positive or negative).

I play the trombone and I have found a particular coorelation with breathing and running. The exercises to improve breath support and endurance required to play a brass insturment are the same techinques encountered in proper breathing in running.

I don't want to make a big deal about this 'connection' but i truely believe that stronger diaphram muscles (not necessarly abs) contribute to running performance.

the word is that Matt Lane 5000m specialist is musically talented. Piano is also his specialty

Here is what we have been waiting for...

Ritz vs. Webb

Who can play Rimsky-Korsakov's (sp?)flight of the bumble bee faster with complete proficiency? I'd put my money on Ritzy, coming across the line in about 1:04, his delicate touch would make for the better translation as well, while Webb's power would be better suited for a Rachmaninoff concerto.

And the award for post of the week goes to:

Legalizit.

I play keyboard and guitar - mostly a blues and rock guy. 1,4,5 will get you into almost any club in America if you know how to play it.

Jim,

My piano and guitar playing helps my running in that I can put a song in my head that goes along with the necessity of the moment. Some of those songs are my own originals, and some are not, but since I play my instruments every single day, those songs are readily available to me to help me when I need them. In college there was this guy who ran for another school in our division, and he was an ass and arrogant as hell. When I would run against him and we were stride for stride, I'd have "Running with the Devil" going through my head - got me past him a couple times.

Zipperman so your saying the 1,4,5 combination (like from Jerry Lee Lewis's What'd I say)

will do me some good?

cuz man not to blow my own horn but I can play some mad imrpov of "what'd I say" by lewis and thats pretty much just 1,4,5 in the key of B

xyz,

If you can master 1,4,5 and the blues scales that are played over that chord progression (blues scales AND pentatonic scales) then you can impress the hell out of just about anyone as long as you have decent gear (amps and keyboards or a nice piano) and as long as you have rhythm.

Want to play some classic rock and utilize the blues scales, get a good rock organ sound and play Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild. Follow along with the chord progression of the song like the organist does for that song and then rip off the blues in E scale for the fills. A pro is born.

Here it is:

[Em]Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

In whatever comes our way

[G]Yeah, [A]darlin' gonna [E]make it happen

[G]Take the [A]world in a [E]love embrace

[G]Fire [A]all of the [E]guns at once and [G]expl[A]ode into [E]space

[Em]I like smoke and lightnin'

Heavy metal thunder

Wrestlin' with the wind

And the feelin' that I'm under

[G]Yeah, [A]darlin' gonna [E]make it happen

[G]Take the [A]world in a [E]love embrace

[G]Fire [A]all of the [E]guns at once and [G]expl[A]ode into [E]space

Like a [E]true nature's child

We were [G]born, born to be wild

We could [A]climb so high, [G]I never wanna [Em]die

[E]Born to be [D]wild, [E] [D]

[E]Born to be [D]wild, [E] [D]

{c:Solo, organ + guitar (in Em - blues scale in E)}

[Em]Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

In whatever comes our way

[G]Yeah, [A]darlin' gonna [E]make it happen

[G]Take the [A]world in a [E]love embrace

[G]Fire [A]all of the [E]guns at once and [G]expl[A]ode into [E]space

Like a [E]true nature's child

We were [G]born, born to be wild

We could [A]climb so high, [G]I never wanna [Em]die

[E]Born to be [D]wild, [E] [D]

[E]Born to be [D]wild, [E] [D]

Solo fade out in Em - blues scale in E

Marty Liquori plays guitar in a jazz band.

There was a girl at my college who ran a 2:03 800m. Apparently she was a concert level pianist.

Pink Feathers does.

run&piano wrote:

Any runners out there who play the piano as well?

I'm from Edmonton, Canada, where I compete in the middle-distance events and play piano at the ARCT level...

I have actually a good running friend who plays piano, composes and writes screenplays. I should hook you up with him.