Mental / Physical Health

In an effort to shed some belly fat and better my fitness and overall quality of life, I began exercising this summer - mostly running and swimming, but, more recently, some weight lifting as well. I've continued this habit into the fall semester. My schedule works out to where I typically have classes early in the morning and then a seminar in the evening. This allows for a perfect window of opportunity to go running/swimming, or lift weights at the Johnson Center. To be truthful, I've learned to enjoy exercising and I'm currently in the best shape of my life.

However, taking approximately two hours each weekday to exercise has forced me to give up a fair amount of "art" music listening. Whereas in previous semesters I would do homework and browse YouTube and Naxos, I now spend it focusing on my physical health. This, of course, means I spend more of my evenings and night with homework (reading, writing, analyzing, practicing, etc.). By the time I'm done with school and homework, it's usually the time when people want to go out and enjoy the Lexington nightlife.

When I listen to art music, I listen by myself in a room with headphones, preferably (not nearly as often as I would hope) with a score. I find listening to art music while doing other activities, such as driving, exercising, or homework, to be diminishing to the overall emotional and intellectual aural intake and somewhat offensive to the work(s) of the composer to whom I am listening. Whereas I usually listen to pop music while doing the previously listed activities, I've tried to make a compromise since my time allotment for art music listening has shrunk by listening to pop music that fuses art music - progressive rock. But let's face it, Radiohead's "The National Anthem" is no substitute for Ives' "Variations on America".

This absence of listening, I believe, has made my mood, thoughts, and overall disposition less lively and optimistic than usual. I've arrived at a dilemma in which I must choose between attending class, doing homework, exercising, eating, establishing and maintaining personal relationships, and listening to music. It’s a shame that I’ve chosen listening to be the least important of these.

Ironic how a music student doesn't have time for music.