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September 4, 2009 9:00 AM Subscribe
I'd like to learn how to count off seconds in my head with more precision. Are there any popular songs out there at exactly 60 or 120 bpm?
Stars and Stripes forever is supposed to be played at 120 bpm, and has a dead simple beat.
posted by Benjy at 9:05 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by Benjy at 9:05 AM on September 4, 2009
Came in here to second Benjy. Most Sousa marches are made for 120 bpm - "double time". (my problem is, in band class, we would speed it up, and up, and up, to see how fast we coudl keep it together. So it speeds up in my head. That, and the piccolo solo. *sigh*)
posted by notsnot at 9:07 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by notsnot at 9:07 AM on September 4, 2009
I just think of the stopwatch at the beginning of 60 Minutes.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:30 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 9:30 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
I heard once that Another One Bites the Dust is pretty damned close to 120 bpm. It's recommended to sing that song in your head when you're doing CPR, because apparently everybody nails the tempo of that one.
posted by nushustu at 9:37 AM on September 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by nushustu at 9:37 AM on September 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
BPM Database and Best Workout Music might be helpful.
posted by The Deej at 9:39 AM on September 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by The Deej at 9:39 AM on September 4, 2009 [2 favorites]
I tend to use Sousa marches for keeping beat. As Benjy and notsnot said, whenever I'm without metronome and practicing, I can get to 120 pretty easily.
posted by SNWidget at 9:52 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by SNWidget at 9:52 AM on September 4, 2009
I got really good at this by practicing a grip of piano music at 60 quarter notes per minute. If you play an instrument of any kind, just always practice scales at this speed.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:52 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:52 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
If I remember correctly, Time by Pink Floyd is uses 60 bpm for the slower part and 120 bpm for the faster part.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 10:04 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by Midnight Rambler at 10:04 AM on September 4, 2009
The other one I heard runs at about the correct BPM for CPR usage is Stayin' Alive which might work, or you can alternate between that and Another One Bites the Dust as the victims face color changes. Having looked them both up though they are both just over 100 BPM so not much use for the original question...
posted by merocet at 10:28 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by merocet at 10:28 AM on September 4, 2009
I heard once that Another One Bites the Dust is pretty damned close to 120 bpm. It's recommended to sing that song in your head when you're doing CPR, because apparently everybody nails the tempo of that one.
This is wrong. Another One Bites the Dust is ~100 bpm, not 120 bpm. See for yourself. The correct tempo for CPR is not 120 bpm.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:42 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is wrong. Another One Bites the Dust is ~100 bpm, not 120 bpm. See for yourself. The correct tempo for CPR is not 120 bpm.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:42 AM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
"When I'm 64" by the Beatles is 60 bpm. (They used that fact in the visuals of the "Yellow Submarine" movie.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:17 AM on September 4, 2009
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:17 AM on September 4, 2009
Count your heartbeats. 12 beats ~ 10 seconds.
posted by grateful at 1:14 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by grateful at 1:14 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
The Final Jeopardy countdown is 30 seconds, including the timpani solo at the end.
posted by bach at 1:58 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by bach at 1:58 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
60 bpm can be hard to keep steady if you're new to this. Most musicians would keep it steady by subdividing, or thinking of 2 beats at 120 (or maybe 3 at 180) to every second. Check out The Deej above -- most musicians I know keep a little inventory of tunes for tempo references. (I'm a classical player, so I hang on to Sousa, Ride of the Valkyries, Bolero, Shostakovitch Festive Overture, and a few more.) There is a similar game for intervals -- "Maria" starts with a tritone; "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" a major 6th; etc.
The best way to get really good at this is to practice. If you have a stopwatch, you can count time to yourself while you start & stop it (you can do this with a second hand on a watch, too, but you'll miss the satisfaction of occasionally nailing 1.00). As you get better you start going for longer intervals without peeking. If you have the right obsessive-compulsive temperament you'll find yourself practicing this every time there's a clock nearby and will be a master in no time.
posted by range at 3:26 PM on September 4, 2009
The best way to get really good at this is to practice. If you have a stopwatch, you can count time to yourself while you start & stop it (you can do this with a second hand on a watch, too, but you'll miss the satisfaction of occasionally nailing 1.00). As you get better you start going for longer intervals without peeking. If you have the right obsessive-compulsive temperament you'll find yourself practicing this every time there's a clock nearby and will be a master in no time.
posted by range at 3:26 PM on September 4, 2009
I do this very well because I played in a marching band (well, actually, drum corps) for a few years, so 120 bpm is easy to land on. So I guess thinking of a Sousa march would help, but we played all sorts of music.
posted by Brian Puccio at 3:43 PM on September 4, 2009
posted by Brian Puccio at 3:43 PM on September 4, 2009
Well, heartbeats vary a lot, not just from person to person, but for the same person at any given moment.
Along with the Jeopardy theme, "Happy Birthday to You" twice lasts about 30 seconds. (Obviously it helps to sing it in your head along to a clock to make sure your rhythm is correct. When I tried Jeopardy just now, I had to go a little faster than I thought I'd needed to.)
"When I'm 64" seems to be a touch faster than 60 bpm. I didn't even make the connection in the Yellow Submarine video to the beats of the song, but even then I thought the countdown there was kinda fast.
And yeah, another trick is to just try counting in your head until you can get 30 seconds on the nose (I don't have the patience for a whole minute), but some of these song suggestions would probably make things easier.
A loosely related task that's nice to try to master is to be able to estimate what time of day it is without looking at a clock. If you're at work, odds are it's earlier than you think it is.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:22 PM on September 4, 2009
Along with the Jeopardy theme, "Happy Birthday to You" twice lasts about 30 seconds. (Obviously it helps to sing it in your head along to a clock to make sure your rhythm is correct. When I tried Jeopardy just now, I had to go a little faster than I thought I'd needed to.)
"When I'm 64" seems to be a touch faster than 60 bpm. I didn't even make the connection in the Yellow Submarine video to the beats of the song, but even then I thought the countdown there was kinda fast.
And yeah, another trick is to just try counting in your head until you can get 30 seconds on the nose (I don't have the patience for a whole minute), but some of these song suggestions would probably make things easier.
A loosely related task that's nice to try to master is to be able to estimate what time of day it is without looking at a clock. If you're at work, odds are it's earlier than you think it is.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:22 PM on September 4, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fire&wings at 9:03 AM on September 4, 2009