| Music can be used so many different ways during a | | | | differences. |
| training program. The following is a medley of practices | | | | Holidays can be celebrated with nondenominational |
| and thoughts on the subject: | | | | music- for example, big band renditions of winter |
| I enjoy playing upbeat, happy music to welcome | | | | holiday music. |
| participants into the training room. | | | | New age music works well in the background for |
| Once the training begins, I like to play calming classical | | | | visualization exercises. |
| music at a subliminal level to produce a relaxed feeling. | | | | Moving away from recorded music, there are all sorts |
| It is fun to have a variety of different up-tempo music | | | | of musical ways to get participants' attention: bell |
| to play at breaks. Oldies from the fifties, sixties and | | | | chimes, kazoos, train whistles, plastic clappers, gongs, |
| seventies tend to get most folks' feet tapping, | | | | even hand clapping. Any of these is preferable to |
| regardless of their age. The idea is to play the music | | | | straining your voice trying to be heard over a noisy, |
| just loud enough to change the energy in the room, but | | | | enthusiastic crowd! |
| not so loud that participants are unable to have a | | | | Now that I have used music for so many years, a |
| conversation. | | | | silent training room seems cold, unwelcoming, and |
| Some trainers use music, such as a trumpet blast or | | | | un-alive. In fact, I find that I need the music, whether or |
| the Lone Ranger Theme, to alert their participants that | | | | not my participants do! As soon as I feel my own |
| it is time to return after a break. They consistently play | | | | energy flagging, I turn to music to pep me up. |
| this music at the end of breaks, so the participants | | | | It is a wonderful legacy from my parents, who have |
| know immediately what it means. | | | | always played classical music. I find that classical music |
| Right before and right after lunch, as well as the last | | | | gives me both clarity and peace of mind as I prepare |
| hour before the end of the training session, I play | | | | training, set up the training room, sit and read the |
| energetic classical music at a subliminal level to keep | | | | evaluations after a training, and pack up to leave. |
| participant energy high. | | | | As George Eliot wrote: "I think I should have no other |
| It is fun to use music during games and physical | | | | mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It |
| activities. You can actually purchase game show | | | | seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into |
| music. | | | | my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I |
| For accelerated learning sessions, it is always | | | | am filled with music." |
| enjoyable to find music that reinforces the key themes. | | | | But perhaps Plato said it best: "Music is a moral law. It |
| For example, Aretha Franklin's "Respect" works well | | | | gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to |
| for any number of interpersonal communication topics. | | | | the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to |
| Simon and Garfunkle's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" | | | | everything." I cannot imagine training without music. |
| works beautifully in workshops focused on bridging | | | | |