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Old 05-11-2011, 06:22 AM   #45
Krystal Locke
Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
United_States
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Re: Aikido and Music

Quote:
Rudy Ternbach wrote: View Post
Forgive this naive question, but does anybody teach Aikido while music is playing in the dojo? That is audible music everyone practicing can hear.
If the answer is "no-never", Why Not?

Thanks in advance for your consideration of what is obviously a naive beginner's question.
We generally do not listen to music in class. I will sometimes bring my Shuffle and listen while I am practicing by myself but I would not impose my music on anyone else.

Class is a collection of many people, all with different tastes and different, changing emotional conditions. Music carries emotional information, and can affect mood strongly and unpredictably.

I do not want to have to juggle musical tastes in an aikido setting, easy solution, have none. I cannot control others' emotional reactions to music, so it is easier to have none. Like Janet, I do not want my responses influenced by an irrelevant external source, better to have no music. Music is personal, I wont inflict my tastes on other people, that'd be rude.

And, when we've tried music in group training, some people got too jacked up and got injured. Or, class became a lovely little sitdown and chat on the mat session. Neither is much good for effective training.
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