MUSIC, to listen or not to listen

My partner and I went camping with another couple, and they brought an ipod with speakers.


I was shocked.
My favorite music is that of the birds, the brooks, and the wind in the trees.

Dont get me wrong, I am listening to music RIGHT now. (tool, 10,000 days) I listen to music almost every waking hour, in the car, in the house, at work. Music music music.

But I think I have a split personality because I dont want 1 reminder of the city, of the stress and of real life. I love escaping in the bush with my pack on my back and feet doin what they do best = walking.

I want to get all of your opinions please, to listen, or not to listen.

I find that when I'm in the backcountry, most "civilized" things annoy me (reading, listening to music, cell phones, alcohol, and even - to a limited extent - cameras.) Therefore, I don't indulge.

But it doesn't particularly bother me if someone else wants to do those things - as long as they don't require me to be involved. So, an iPod with speakers would upset me; and iPod with earbuds wouldn't. The guy 25 feet away with the guitar and off-key rendition of "Kumbaya" annoys me; the guy whistling or humming softly to himself, not so much. Having to stop and pose because someone thinks it would make a good picture is a pain; being in someone's candid shot, taken without my knowledge, is no problem (unless I'm watering a tree or testing the plumbing facilities of a log.)

Being old, I'm allowed to be a practicing curmudgeon.

On longer trips, I will bring an Ipod with ear buds. I enjoy good music when I am in beautiful country; in limited amounts. My tastes run to Baroque, classical and romantic era compositions--I'm not much of a fan of most of the more popular modern music.

There is something spiritual about listening to, say, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, while watching the sun set on the Grand Canyon or the Sierra.

I don't care what people bring to listen to in the backcountry, as long as I don't have to hear it. In other words, they'd better use earbuds/earphones and keep the volume down, or I'm going to be making lots of noise of my own!

BAHAHAHAHAHA! It would be an in-opportune time to get a pic taken!!!!

I want a digital camera, but one that has the shutter speed and light and stuff, like the old school cameras but with no film, just digital. And I dont like pics of ppl unless they ARE unaware...mostly I like special scenery tho - I have never taken a camera with me?

I hate fake smiles in set up pictures. It ruins the whole shot.

On longer trips or trips revolving around another hobby of mine, amateur radio, I'll listen to shortwave broadcasts/music in the afternoons. I've never brought an iPod. My shortwave radio is also a walkie talkie (ham frequencies) so it serves double duty and not much bigger than a pager.

I spent a night at an AT shelter with a couple of hikers who pulled out their iPod and speakers and started playing music. Loudly. Grrr. They didn't much appreciate a request to turn it off. Grrr.

That where I draw the line. If I'm by myself and it doesn't matter, a little noise is ok. In a group, it must be a consensus decision to play music. I've never hiked with anyone who brought ipods and speakers but I have ended up in car campsites where people decided the entire park needed tunes. A call to the ranger fixes it.
Happens on the lake too. I can be kayaking or sailing and only one wakeboard boat with a 500 watt sound system can screw up the entire lake. I'm a working musician, love music of all kinds....but "rests" are part of music too. Really long silent rests.

My wife hates for me to use the head phones at home. When she wants to talk to me she does not want to compete.

I tried hard rock on some uphills to see if the rhythm helped. I did not notice much of a difference, but quit listening when walking because I often hear water before I see it. It would be tragic to miss the call of the Canyon Wren.

My guilty pleasure is on solo trips I will lay in my hammock and listen to a football game or audio book.

A few years ago I spent three continuous weeks on the Pacific Crest Trail, resupplying through caches so I would never need to go to a town. Afterwards, when people asked me what I liked best about the hike, I told them that it was listening to only natural sounds 24-hours a day for 22 days.

However, on that trip I also experienced several musical brain-worms, songs that acted like a music player stuck on infinite repeat. Each one lasted about 7 days before a new one started up.

To avoid that happening again, I now carry a 1 oz. MP3 player and I listen to a few songs every evening - maybe 15 minutes worth - before I go to sleep. This has stopped the brain-worm problem. YMMV.

Great observation. I once had "Delta Dawn" in my head for about four days. That was closely followed by "All That Glitters is Not Gold" for about three days. When I have my Ipod along the "brain worms" don't seem to be there. Thanks for pointing out the connection.

AAAAGHH.

Now I have Delta Dawn stuck in my head.

Firing up the radio...

Sorry about that! How about trying "Mairzy doats" on for size?

"Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?"

Worse than brain cancer, eh? Wild-eyed he reaches for the Ipod!

"Mares eat oats and doe's eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy.
A kid'l eat ivy too, wouldn't you."

And another of life's great mysteries is revealed!

Seriously, I never understood "the gibberish song." I was pretty sure it came from the Roaring 20's or so - always assumed alcohol was involved (what with Prohibition and all.)

Thanks, Paul - that really was enlightening.

cowzy tweet and sowsy tweet...

Mom used to sing Mairzy Doats incessantly while cleaning.

I personally find music to be a HUGE morale uplift for me. I am a musician so I find myself wanting to listen to it a little more then average people. Its funny though, I don't listen anywhere near as much as I thought I would want to. I bring it every time I go on a walk just in case I get a craving for music, a lot of the time going without listening or thinking about a tune. I find it to be so much more energizing when I'm walking in the woods with some tunes playing compared to when I'm home. Like I said it gives my morale a huge boost when I start getting a little tired and gives my walk a more epic feel sometimes. Just my two cents...

That is so cute! Awww, as soon as I read it I was like Mairzy Doats? What the heck, Aw, Im sorry if you feel Im mocking you, i just thought everyone knew "Mares eat oats, and Goats eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid'll eat ivy too, would nt you?" This is from Sesame Street, and Sharon Lois and Brahm, and many other childrens shows!!!

(now I have a brain worm)

I am also a musician. but never take music with us into the wilderness. There are too many sounds to miss. And I find that I often rethink a piece of music as a hike...so when I come home, I have new ideas on how to play it.

That doesn't happen if your ears are busy all the time.

I agree. I'm a working musician (www.5secondrule.com ..... shameless advertising ) and sometimes hike/camp to "think". I'll bring a penny whistle or harmonica but since I spend a lot of time listening to, and recording music, I would rather listen to the 'music of the wilderness'. On my shortwave radio, I'll listen to talk mostly, sometimes international music, but never more that an hour or so in a day. A penny whistle in an echo'y canyon is amazing, as long as I'm very remote and don't risk bothering anyone.

very cool!

Like I said sometimes I do, not always. I go a lot of the time in that zone to just walk, and keep walking nothing else. Stopping to get an mp3 player is just a waste and undesirable most of the time and just hearing the sounds of the forest and the rhythm of my feet hitting the ground is enough. That and I notice I can't walk for more then 15 min without taking them off because I get worried of not being able to hear something. I personally just like to have the option. I am also constantly learning other peoples music, and sometimes it will just click on how to play it and I have to check and listen to see if I'm right(I play drums, so certain rhythms will just line up and make sense). To each, his own I suppose.

This is exactly how I feel, both of you! I actually feel kind of claustrophobic when I have music in the woods, the sounds are so expansive in the mountains, could be coming from anywhere, I like to hear all of my surroundings, not just for "nature-music" but also for a sense of security that no wild-life is sneakin up on us.

--> In Alberta this last month in the Rockies, a man was attacked and killed (apparently un-provoked)by a Buffalo?!?! A fish and game officer told us this while we were camping in the Castle Region Forest Land Use Zone.

I like to listen to the silence (or lack of) of the wilderness. I listen to music when I am at home.