Music while cooking

[ElainaA]

Does anyone else find music a necessity for some kinds of cooking? And different types of tasks call for different music. For anything requiring precision and careful attention I need basic background - classical works best for me because I get distracted easily by lyrics. But for stirring risotto, I want something i can sing along with. And kneading bread goes much better with something energetic. My 

favorite just now is the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Rhiannon Giddens. Quite a few of their songs are about food - maybe that's why. "Country Girl"  always make me imagine some of the posters on this forum (Shelby, I'm thinking about you - but many others as well.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alex]

What a great idea for a forum! Sometimes I like music while I cook, sometimes I don't. And, like you, it needs to be energetic (or mostly so -- a Mozart symphony is fine, e.g.). And loud. Which means when Ms. Alex is around, I usually don't listen.

 

My most recent CDs were The Best of Van Morrison and Junction (Hot Club of Detroit w/Cyrille Aimée).

[Shelby]

I've been thinking about this topic for a few hours.  I don't listen to music while cooking unless my husband is gone (because he's always watching tv, which is fine too).  On the rare occasion that he isn't home, and I think about it, I turn on the 80's music channel --I was born in '74 so anything from then on I love.  Eagles (rip Glenn)....Bowie (rip)....Duran Duran....Stevie Nicks (love love love)....  I could go on and on.  

 

I do listen to music most every night that I stay up and do the dishes.  Usually Ronnie goes to bed and I jam out in the suds lol.  My iPhone is full of most any 80's ....mid to late 70's  some 90's and a few now songs.  

[huiray]

10 hours ago, ElainaA said:

For anything requiring precision and careful attention I need basic background - classical works best for me because I get distracted easily by lyrics.

 

I presume you mean instrumental classical.  There's lots of classical music that is heavy on the lyrics - opera, lieder, songs set to stringed instruments, etc etc.  For myself, I don't need music to cook with - but if I am doing something that requires "precision and careful attention" and feel like some music then almost any "popular-type" music will do with or without singers going at it because it just becomes background noise; alternatively, innocuous easy-listening-type instrumental classical. Otherwise, with both instrumental (orchestral, chamber, single instrumental - especially piano) or vocal (opera, lieder, etc) there are many pieces where I tend to stop what I'm doing and give my full attention to the music especially at certain points (some arias, various passages, etc). I can listen to these pieces if I'm cooking something that only needs intermittent attention - a long-simmering stew, for example. With some compositions I find it hard to have it on at all if I need to focus on something else.  For quick/detailed/focused cooking (like multiple-ingredient stir-fries) I can't listen to these sorts of music unless I mentally "turn it off" in which case when the dish is done I'd probably replay what I had missed. There have been a few times in the past when I might be listening to a broadcast of an opera, say, and literally have to shut off the heat and take the pan off the burner while I paid attention to the part that was just coming on, with or without picking up the libretto to follow along. Otherwise, I find that just having the radio on tuned to one of the classical stations is fine for "general purposes" when I'm cooking, if I want something in the background.

 

In a related way, when I was still working in the lab I liked to work late into the night/evenings (so would come in later in the day rather than at the crack of dawn) or on the weekends because then I could crank up the music when I was alone in the lab when I wanted to at suitable periods. One of the managers once confided to me that he could tell that I was there in the evening when he came down the corridor and heard some aria or other going at full volume the moment he turned the corner. Heh. :-) 

 

ETA: I was just idly browsing the list of still-available broadcasts on medici.tv and was reminded of one of the exceptions to the vocal-genre compositions that I can have on and still cook with attention (more or less) - Messiah (Handel) --- but I'll qualify that by saying that it should be one of the "original scale/instrumental" performances, rather than the full-scale over-orchestrated extravaganzas that some conductors in the modern age feel the piece "needs". Those I find irritating and usually shut it off (or avoid).

Edited January 26, 2016 by huiray (log)

[ElainaA]

9 hours ago, huiray said:

 

 Otherwise, with both instrumental (orchestral, chamber, single instrumental - especially piano) or vocal (opera, lieder, etc) there are many pieces where I tend to stop what I'm doing and give my full attention to the music especially at certain points (some arias, various passages, etc). I can listen to these pieces if I'm cooking something that only needs intermittent attention - a long-simmering stew, for example. With some compositions I find it hard to have it on at all if I need to focus on something else.  For quick/detailed/focused cooking (like multiple-ingredient stir-fries) I can't listen to these sorts of music unless I mentally "turn it off" in which case when the dish is done I'd probably replay what I had missed. There have been a few times in the past when I might be listening to a broadcast of an opera, say, and literally have to shut off the heat and take the pan off the burner while I paid attention to the part that was just coming on, with or without picking up the libretto to follow along.

 

Yes. I can not listen to opera and cook at the same time. In fact, what can one really do while REALLY listening to opera. (Exception: my husband feels that Wagner, particularly the Ring, is the perfect accompaniment to sheet metal fabrication.) Music for cooking, for me, needs to be relatively undemanding - relatively 'easy' instrumental classical, fiddles and banjos, or vocals from my era - Joni Mitchell or Simon and Garfunkel. 

The other difference between our approaches is the primacy of word or music. R. Strauss dealt with this beautifully, albeit inconclusively, in Capriccio.

 

[ChocoMom]

If I'm working in the chocolate workshop, I listen almost exclusively to Motown: Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross/Supremes, The Temptations, Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight, Aretha, Four Tops, etc.(Who can resist "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" while making candy? )   Something about that sound just makes me happy as can be, and I find that the "work" goes so smoothly. The moment I flick on the tunes, I slip into a groove and just work continuously without anything to distract or annoy me.  In looking back, I'd guess its because I grew up there, and my early candy making experience took place in "the Rouge", with my Grandma.  Motown was always on the radio (with a few exceptions for Ernie Harwell / Tiger Baseball).   I do listen to other groups also....U2, Van Halen, and Bob Seger are amongst the favorites to help pass those two grueling hours of caramel making. 

 

The only time the music selection changes significantly is when my teenage daughter is working for me. Then we have to mix in some TayTay, One Direction, Andy Grammar, Meghan Trainor, and a gob of other musicians/groups I've never heard of.

 

Having spent over two decades as a musician, I have great appreciation and affection for classical/instrumental music, but I prefer to listen to it while I am reading or relaxing.  To enjoy and savor the classical, I need a quiet, more restful environment.

[Darienne]

Saturday afternoon, when I was living at home and growing up, was always the Metropolitan Opera and woe betide him/her who spoke unnecessarily.  And so I love opera and classical music.  But not German opera.  But otherwise our house was silent.  And I never had music on while doing homework.  It would not have been allowed.

And so, now, many decades later, I still need silence to work and thus have on no music while cooking.  Or working.  Too bad.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Darienne
Lapse in grammar. Horrors! (log)

[Paul Bacino]

I usually  will Play  " Radio Paradise " -- listener supported radio.

 

Its usually good back ground music.. and I don't have to dig through my hard copies or pull up my digital play lists

 

 

[huiray]

On 1/26/2016 at 7:56 AM, ElainaA said:

Yes. I can not listen to opera and cook at the same time. In fact, what can one really do while REALLY listening to opera. (Exception: my husband feels that Wagner, particularly the Ring, is the perfect accompaniment to sheet metal fabrication.)

 

Heh.

I imagine he must sing along while wrestling with his sheet metal while listening to Siegfried reforging Nothung? :-)  Or all those Nibelungen hammering away. :-D

I wonder if he would do the same if listening to something like Lohengrin.

 

Oh, I wouldn't be able to do anything else when listening to opera in the opera hall, of course**...but when cooking, at home – well, it depends, as I've described. :-D  (I used to be a regular annual subscriber to the Met when I lived in the greater NYC area. I miss those days. I bop up to the Chicago Lyric off-and-on nowadays.) Thinking about it more - I *can* listen to various vocal stuff when cooking, with pauses here and there - Dowland songs, for example, goes over reasonably well --- I just incorporate the rhythm and melody into my actions (like various other stuff too) - until something like "Come again, sweet love" (oh, such a cliché, I know) plays/airs, especially if done by David Daniels, say. I just have to stop cooking then.

 

** I remember one time, though, when I was taking in a performance of Meistersinger at the Met and looking at the simul-translations on that little console in front of me (installed at every seat) when Beckmesser was mangling his stolen-from-Walther song at the competition and almost being unable to stifle laughing out loud at the HILARIOUS translations of his "song" rendered by the Met's translator! But many of the people around me were also stifling their laughter, I realized quickly!

Edited January 28, 2016 by huiray
To add youtube link for Daniel's rendition of "Come Again..." (log)

[Jaymes]

Whereas I, for many years after seeing "The Big Chill," couldn't seem to get through a session in the kichen without at least humming a version of "Grapevine."

[Alex]

8 hours ago, huiray said:

 

Heh.

I imagine he must sing along while wrestling with his sheet metal while listening to Siegfried reforging Nothung? :-)  Or all those Nibelungen hammering away. :-D

I wonder if he would do the same if listening to something like Lohengrin.

 

Oh, I wouldn't be able to do anything else when listening to opera in the opera hall, of course**...but when cooking, at home – well, it depends, as I've described. :-D  (I used to be a regular annual subscriber to the Met when I lived in the greater NYC area. I miss those days. I bop up to the Chicago Lyric off-and-on nowadays.) Thinking about it more - I *can* listen to various vocal stuff when cooking, with pauses here and there - Dowland songs, for example, goes over reasonably well --- I just incorporate the rhythm and melody into my actions (like various other stuff too) - until something like "Come again, sweet love" (oh, such a cliché, I know) plays/airs, especially if done by David Daniels, say. I just have to stop cooking then.

 

** I remember one time, though, when I was taking in a performance of Meistersinger at the Met and looking at the simul-translations on that little console in front of me (installed at every seat) when Beckmesser was mangling his stolen-from-Walther song at the competition and almost being unable to stifle laughing out loud at the HILARIOUS translations of his "song" rendered by the Met's translator! But many of the people around me were also stifling their laughter, I realized quickly!

 

And I always thought the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore was the ideal sheet metal fabrication ditty. Also for pounding veal cutlets. (The cutlet-pounding parts are at 1:16 and 2:37. Then check out this flash mob.)

Edited January 27, 2016 by Alex
to add YouTube links (log)

[haresfur]

Nothing too bopping. I chopped the end of my finger off while listening to the English Beat and prepping. 

[huiray]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

 

And I always thought the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore was the ideal sheet metal fabrication ditty. Also for pounding veal cutlets.

 

Haha! Yes, that one definitely.

Might not work for mortar-and-pestle stuff, though --- the SPLATTER might be a little too dramatic if one got fully into the rhythm. :-)

[IowaDee]

For pounding meat, I always like "If I Had a Hammer"  

[Alex]

2 hours ago, huiray said:

 

Haha! Yes, that one definitely.

Might not work for mortar-and-pestle stuff, though --- the SPLATTER might be a little too dramatic if one got fully into the rhythm. :-)

 

True. For splatter you need Lucia di Lammermoor's mad scene.

[vivian darkbloom]

I sort of wander through prep and execution, so for me there's nothing like Tom Waits dubbed off a desperately scratchy LP onto digital  for the iPod, all hissing pops as I take my own sweet time. "work? nah, that was leisure with music and a knife"

[Lisa Shock]

I discovered in my 20s that music got me too distracted, and I would make mistakes. So, I gave it up. I need the quiet to focus. That said, something high energy, like punk, was always nice for repetitive production jobs where we made the same pastry every day.

[FauxPas]

For awhile the best was listening to John Kessler and his All Blues program on KPLU (National Public Radio) on weekends. And many of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) or Radio-Canada offerings are wonderful and quite eclectic. 

 

 

[ElainaA]

20 hours ago, Alex said:

 

And I always thought the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore was the ideal sheet metal fabrication ditty. Also for pounding veal cutlets. (The cutlet-pounding parts are at 1:16 and 2:37. Then check out this flash mob.)

 

I think opera flash mobs are the greatest invention since non-sliced artisanal bread. Although when I saw Trovatore at the MET the male chorus all took off their shirts. Either they got some ringers or that chorus is in great shape.  (Notice that I did work in a food reference.)

[Alex]

21 minutes ago, ElainaA said:

I think opera flash mobs are the greatest invention since non-sliced artisanal bread. Although when I saw Trovatore at the MET the male chorus all took off their shirts. Either they got some ringers or that chorus is in great shape.  (Notice that I did work in a food reference.)

 

In the YouTube video, shirts are removed, but only by a few of the cutlet, er, anvil pounders. (Food reference: didn't such males used to be called "beefcake"?)

 

Flash mobs, especially opera ones, are just great. I hope to witness one some day. Maybe I'll have to organize one of my own. And speaking (again) of food, here's one from several years ago at Whole Foods, most likely in the Baltimore area.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Alex
to omit needless words (thanks, Strunk & White) (log)

[Darienne]

ElaineA and Alex, thank you so much.  Wonderful, wonderful and I'd never seen either of those two mobs before.

 

And in the same vein,  and in a FOOD COURT (food reference) which has to be in Canada because of the French in the signs, here's my all-time favorite flash mob:Hallelujah Chorus.


 

[Alex]

32 minutes ago, Darienne said:

ElaineA and Alex, thank you so much.  Wonderful, wonderful and I'd never seen either of those two mobs before.

 

And in the same vein,  and in a FOOD COURT (food reference) which has to be in Canada because of the French in the signs, here's my all-time favorite flash mob:Hallelujah Chorus.


 

 

This is the same video, but on YouTube.

 

Looks like it's at Seaway Mall in Welland, ON, Canada. I'm going to be right by there this summer!

Edited January 27, 2016 by Alex
to add information (log)

[Darienne]

Right, Alex.  That's where I found it and this time it came up on another website so I just posted it.

[gulfporter]

If I'm making something intensive or tricky, or following a new recipe, I'll play instrumentals.  Often it'll be flamenco guitar as these days I am into Spanish foods. 

 

When I'm cooking foods I've made before it's usually Diana Krall or Sinatra.  My husband and I often cook together and we both like that sort of music....sets the mood for a romantic meal.

Edited January 28, 2016 by gulfporter (log)