Music

[pilgrimsister]

I am setting out on my first Camino on Sept. 19th. I have done the packing and the training and am anxious to begin! I have noticed when doing my training walks that listening to music can help me find a rhythm and can sometimes get me through the tough bits. I know music is a very personal and subjective thing, but I was wondering if anyone has any particular music that inspired them and was meaningful and helpful to them on their Camino?

 

[scruffy1]

One of my true joys while walking is the opportunity to be totally free from radio/tv, cellular phone, newspapers, and internet meaning a unique period in which I may be inaccessible to all except for my own self. Walking then becomes a form of yoga or meditation in which I must then confront my own personal thoughts, ideas, muse, plans, beliefs and desires. Often this self-confrontation is more difficult than the physical effort demanded of walking some 25 odd kilometers. By all means take whatever music you think may help you to walk but know it may actually interfere or distract with this thought process and it will certainly be an obstacle to my second great love of the Camino, the immediate interaction and camaraderie with fellow pilgrims united in a shared goal. People will interact with someone with a wire coming out of his/her ear but will not want to interrupt. Choose your music well but more importantly choose the times to listen with even greater thought.

 

[julo d.]

I love very much music, but on camino no better music than voices of birds, wind through the branches of the trees, your feet on stones, a friend that say "¡Ola!".
I follow the rhythm of my heart

 

[mspath]

Personally while walking I prefer silence broken only by birdsong or the crunch of my boots . However à chacun son goût ; here are other pilgrims comments regarding their choices of music for walking.>>caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/music-to-keep-you-going.13757/.

Buen Camino,

Margaret Meredith

 

[KinkyOne]

I can only second above posts. For me Camino or any hiking/mountaineering/even jogging is time to be with my thoughts only, to listen to the birds singing, to my heart beat, breathing etc. I can't even imagine to get myself in walking rhythm with music. For example, maybe it's easy to walk fast due to the rhythm/tempo of the music in your earplugs on the flat Meseta, but would it be the same when a minute later starting an ascent to Alto Mostelares? No, I guess you'll have to pull out the device, go through the menus, find the right album, find the right song and on and on... And this way you can't be really into walking as such. I simply find the walking rhythm within myself. But - of course - that's just me

Ultreia!

 

[Houlet]

A suggestion for non-Spanish speakers like myself.

I walk around 50 miles per week at the moment and listen to Spanish for at least part of the time.

The spoken word still allows me to hear the bird, rivers etc.

I have downloaded mp3 files from this website, but of course there are many others.

http://www.notesinspanish.com/2007/06/07/inspired-beginners-podcast-1-¡hola/

 

[dulcitea]

I second Houlet's recommendation of Notes in Spanish!

When I walk long distances I sometimes enjoy walking in silence, sometimes silently praying, sometimes signing, sometimes skipping to the Foo Fighters or Motown. Lately, Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate makes my heat soar! I also have downloaded Pray As You Go and Pray the Rosary, as well as some traditional hymns that I want to memorize. For me, music is prayer. It is also it a good way to drown out the world's distractions and be alone with God. It is a divine gift sand I am sure there will be time on the camino to let it move me. God is everywhere: In the silence; in The Ramones. A hymn I was learning yesterday sums it up for me: "From the blessed heart of Mary; From all saints the song ascends; From the church the strain reechoes, Unto Earth's remotest ends."

So, Pilgrimgirl, as Mr. James Brown might say: "The Camino .... 'it's your thing, do what you wanna do; (they can't tell you what) to (listen) to.'"

BTW, I'm leaving from St. Jean the same day as you. However, I have NOT sufficiently trained or packed. I will be the old lady behind you with maybe/maybe not the wires sticking out of her ears and Edwin Starr exhorting her feet to get moving; she only has "25 Miles" to go now and I can hear Roncesvalles calling my name!

 

[Cathy1714]

Have a look at Gregorian, singing in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela and at Finisterre - they have an album based on the Camino de Santiago. My favourite is 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' which is better than Bono's version!

Nothing else matters (Metallica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7csvgL-G3E
Sound of Silence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7c44bXST-o
I still haven’t found what I’m looking for (U2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPaLK1RVeCI

 

[Maggie97520]

I'm leaving on the 19th, too, and I have my iPod loaded with music. But I like to listen to both silence and music. Silence on forest and mountain paths, music when the sound of traffic is bothersome -- Though i have learned to turn off the ipod when walking through a city or on busy roads. (safety first!). but what is most important for me is music at night: Libera Boys Choir is great for going to sleep.