seeking music for Tai Chi class

[greendragon]

Do you have some recommendations of CDs that would be good Tai Chi Chuan music ? I think music helps relaxation and flow in form practice. Traditional style prefered. OR how about good Japanese music for Aikido class ?

[Serpent]

Music while working out doing CV, bodyweight stuff, weights, etc. is cool, but I reckon that music while practising your kung fu is a big no-no.

[Laughing Cow]

greendragon.

It depends at my last kwoon they played music fairly quiet in the background, you could hardly hear it when concentrating on the Form.
Anything from classical chinese to Kitaro, etc.

At my current kwoon the yang 24 class uses Music to time the form, maybe twice a class.
Some say Music is good for beginning students within limits.

In Chen TJQ we don't use any music at all.

Here is a link to some music tapes for Qi-gong and TJQ:

Link (http://www.tai-chi.com/catalog/music.htm)

Cheers.

[joedoe]

I agree with Serpent.

[shaolin kungfu]

My school usually plays rammstein during tai chi.

[Serpent]

LOL. Makes me think of that tai chi championship video clip. Remember that?!

:D

[joedoe]

Originally posted by Serpent
LOL. Makes me think of that tai chi championship video clip. Remember that?!

:D

Yup.

Would Metallica, Sepultra, Iron Maiden etc. be any good for Tai Chi classes?

:D

[Serpent]

Cannibal Corpse for guided meditation?

[Oso]

you beat me to the hard core ref.


but, seriously, if you can't concentrate on what you are doing while some music (especially some sort of 'tai chi' approved mush) is playing then I would have to say that you aren't really getting it. what's some music as compared to a fist or two raining down on your head??

I play music all the time if I am working out solo. sometimes hard stuff, I've got some Radiohead I like to listen to and do forms.
And, Helmet's "meantime" is pretty tasty when I do tai chi.

[Chang Style Novice]

Oso - As far as I'm concerned, it's about the difference between training taiji forms (which are at least in part meditation) and sparring (which is a simulation of a fighting experience.)

During meditation you want to eliminate as many distractions as possible. During a fight you aren't concerned with such luxuries.

[greendragon]

Thanks for the link LaughingCow. It helps beginners to be more fluid in form practice and creates good energy, besides they need some soundtrack for their future "temple flashbacks". I was not wanting to do death rock push hands or anything.

[Oso]

Oso - As far as I'm concerned, it's about the difference between training taiji forms (which are at least in part meditation) and sparring (which is a simulation of a fighting experience.)

During meditation you want to eliminate as many distractions as possible. During a fight you aren't concerned with such luxuries.

CSN, no real argument from me about your points. For me, meditation, and I use tai chi and chi kung as meditations, becomes my 'trick' for surviving during the day at work. I feel that if I can meditate through distractions then I truly am succesful at centering myself. I have also trained to what I referred to as 'tai chi approved mush' as well. My favorite was Ray Lynch's 'Deep Breakfast'. 'Celestial Soda Pop' really did something for me. But, I also really dig doing tai chi to Helmet.

The good thing about this whole cma thing we do is that it can work different ways for different people.:)

[GLW]

The use of music is quite common in virtually allmeditative endeavors.

Monks use cymbals, the percussion gourds, chanting, etc... and I mean all kinds of monks INCLUCING Shaolin.

The idea is that you start with the 10,000 thoughts. you replace the 10,000 thoughts with a single thought. That can be a mantra, the words Quiet and Calm , Om, music, chanting, etc...

Then, when you have replaced them all with but one thought, you discard that thought until you are at a state of no thought.

This can apply to Qi Gong, Taijiquan, Bagua, etc...

Exernal training is trickier. Music is OK but it is for setting cadence and timing of training. It also can keep the spirit up. Many of the older schools did NOT use it...but that was more a matter of availability. After all, how would a Wong Fei Hung have music in his class ? Hire a band? There were no real radio stations and such and they were very new.

Performances to music are standard fare.

So...it is NOT forbidden and has its uses. But, you don't need to do it...and if the music becomes the thing instead of the task f practice, then the music should go.

[Oso]

how bout strippers? can I have a stripper performing while I do chi kung???

[joedoe]

LOL Oso! It might cause you to lose your jing :D

You could use a lap dancer to check that your stance is low enough :D

[Oso]

but see...that's my whole point...as it's said "It's easy to be a holy man on a mountain" Not that achieving the goals of meditation/chi kung/tai chi is easy to begin with but it is one thing to achieve that place in optimum circumstances and quite another to achieve it while the world falls down around you...and to me that's the point: to be centered and peaceful when the sh it hits the fan. It's has only been in the last couple of years that I have overcome, mostly, the adrenaline rush of potential conflict. I'm not saying that beginning med/ck/tc peeps should be jamming to Marilyn Manson but I think there is a point where you should test what you are doing against the chaotic maelstrom of everyday existence.


[Mr. Melton, please step away from the wine glass!]

[No_Know]

Noh music might be good for Aikido class.

T'ai Chi Ch'uan music (http://tai-chi.com/catalog/music.htm)