Tapping the power of music in sport and exercise

Music is now almost omnipresent in sport and exercise environments. It is recognised by researchers and practitioners alike as having the potential to produce significant benefits for physical performance as well as the psychological state of performers if used judiciously. At the 2012 London Olympiad, many of the world’s finest athletes will tap the power of music as part-and-parcel of their pre-event preparation. This interactive presentation will provide a review and synthesis of the theory, research findings and applications of music in the domain of sport and exercise. The presenter will draw upon his published and applied work from the last 20 years to illustrate novel music applications and provide suggestions for future advances in this domain. Also a new theoretical model will be advanced, which emphasises the principal benefits of music: improved mood, pre-event activation or sedation, reduced perceptions of exertion, enhanced work output and duration, improved skill acquisition, incidence of flow states, and dissociation from feelings of pain and fatigue. The antecedents of these benefits are thought to comprise of factors relating to both the structure of music and the way in which it is interpreted. Using findings from recent studies, applied examples will be expounded with the aim of empowering delegates to tap the ergogenic and psychological effects of music for themselves.