Why music is the performance-enhancing drug it’s OK to take

With football matches at the top level being decided by the finest margins – a moment of footwork magic, a missed tackle, a lucky punt from the half-way line – the changing room jukebox takes on new significance: listening to the right music before a game can seemingly be the difference between a hard-fought win and spirit-crushing defeat.Various studies indicate that pre-task music can elevate heart rate, optimise arousal levels and facilitate task-relevant imagery. In turn, this can reduce perception of effort by 10%. That’s significant because if an athlete can change their relationship with perception of effort (how hard they judge themselves to be trying), they can get closer to their physical limit (how hard they can actually try).But pre-match playlists are something of a tightrope walk. The wrong song might come on right before you take to the pitch – just because someone who doesn’t know you has created the mix. Dynaudio Music’s range of intelligent music systems solves this problem. Its ingenious Music Now algorithm learns your music tastes and listening habits, auto-generating playlists tailored to the situation. And because it also comes with RoomAdapt – game-changing tech that senses where in the room the speakers been position and optimises its sound accordingly – it’s designed to sound great even if it’s being man-marked by the burly centre-half.That’s why Dynaudio asked us to find out the ingredients of the perfect pre-match playlist. We spoke with a leading sports science expert and an ex-professional footballer to do just that…Don’t you worry ’bout a thing“Music can be used to create a ‘listening bubble’ to allow people to focus inwardly,” says Dr Costas Karageorghis, author of Applying Music in Exercise and Sport. “If you have a player who is worried about being psyched out or distracted by others, they can cocoon themselves very effectively by listening to music.”Striker Nathan Ellington – who played for Wigan, West Brom and Watford – has experienced this effect first hand. “Music can take your mind off everything,” he says. “You can think too much before a game, and music can make you more relaxed.”Rayan Wilson, head honcho at Bristol's Back2Action gym and fitness trainer to football's top athletes, has also used music during training to great effect. Watch the video above for Rayan's thoughts on the role music plays in an athlete's all-important fitness routine and how heuses theDynaudio Music 3.All together nowHowever, as any good pundit will tell you, football is a team sport. As such, songs that a dressing room can unite behind are motivational gold dust. Perhaps the greatest example of this can be found outside the world of football, in the shape of the All Blacks’ haka. A war dance, deeply rooted in Māori culture and performed en masse, it ticks all the motivational boxes. Karageorghis says: “If you’re trying to create feeling of unity, of esprit de corps, having a common track that everybody subscribes to, and everybody sees meaning in, can be very potent.”In Ellington’s experience, music is something that was always listened to together: “The boombox would be in the changing room, so after the team talk the tunes would go on. That’s what you want; otherwise there’s no atmosphere and you might go on to the pitch a bit flat.”With Dynaudio music, pre-match motivation is only a tap away. Thanks to its one-touch play technology, you can access single songs, regular playlists or Music Now playlists simply by touching one of five presets on the side of the speaker.Take it easySport psychologists often talk of something called the ‘Inverted U Theory’ (also known as Yerkes-Dodson law). The basic concept is that, as arousal level increases, performance improves, but only to a point. Beyond that point, increases in arousal lead to a deterioration in performance. “If you have a player with a tendency to become over-aroused, listening to speed garage or any bass-heavy, aggressive hip-hop may put them in danger of becoming over-activated,” says Karageorghis.So, if you find yourself in the Sunderland changing room before the Black Cats’ crunch derby with Newcastle, and Lee Cattermole has Kool G. Rap’s ‘Executioner Style’ blasting on his headphones, it’s probably time to start planning on how you’ll cope playing 89 minutes of the match with just 10 men. Ellington, however, is less convinced by this: “I was never worried about being too hyped up before a game. That’s what you want: to be going out there ready for battle.”If it’s good enough for youStruggling to find your own anthem to unite behind? Steal one from another more successful team. “An example of that would be a track like ‘Mas Que Nada’, the samba associated with the Brazilian football team,” says Karageorghis. Aligning yourself with a more decorated team, he says, is a great way to get inspired before a match.Whatever song you’re looking for – from Brazilian sambas to British rock standards – Dynaudio Music, which connects to streaming services likeTIDAL, will help you find it. That said, the fact you don’t have Neymar Jr in your ranks may mean you fail to hit quite the same heights as the Samba Boys, even if you play their favourite song. Still, worth a try.Speaking words of wisdomA song’s sentiment can make all the difference. “Sometimes the lyrics can have an historical meaning,” says Karageorghis. “Take, for example, Jerry and the Pacemakers’ ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Anyone from Liverpool will have a very strong association with that song.”Alternatively, though, the lyrics might have a personal affirmation. 50 Cent’s ‘If I Can’t’, for instance, with its assertion: “If I can’t do it, it can’t be done.” Finally, there are the classic football songs that have become inextricably connected with the game. “A good example of this kind of association is Puccini’s aria ‘Nessun Dorma’, which was fused with football culture from Italia ’90,” says Karageorghis. “When you hear that song, you immediately get that association.”The beat goes onWhere the music leads, the heart will follow. “If you want the music to have a sedative effect,” says Karageorghis, “the tempo should be relatively low – between 80 to 110 beats per minute. If you want the music to have a stimulative effect, the tempo should be faster – between 120-140 beats per minute. So it depends on what you want the music to do.”When it comes to pre-match music, you want the music to energise and inspire. This is no time for the dewy-eyed introspections of Elliott Smith. “I was the designated DJ when I was at Wigan,” says Ellington, “so I made it my job to create all the playlists before a game. I’d include stuff from any genre, but it had to be fast-paced and upbeat; you couldn’t have any slow love songs on there!”I know it’s only rock’n’roll, but I like itWhile Karageorghis, like Ellington, says genre isn’t particularly important when it comes to motivation, there are some stadium rock songs that seem to work well across the board. “Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ is an example of a track that’s particularly powerful,” he says. Alternatively, ‘Highway to Hull’ might prove equally motivating on the long drive up the M1 to play the The Tigers.All the people, so many peopleIf all else fails, get the crowd to sing for you. We saw how effective this could be in Euro ’96, the closest England have come to winning a major tournament since the last time the Germans knocked them out on penalties. The Three Lions would take to the pitch with the crowd roaring ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home.’ “That was a bit of a watershed moment in the relationship between sport and music,” says Karageorghis, “because [the crowd] was alluding to the fact that England, the spiritual home of football, had not won a major tournament since 1966, and the time was nigh for another famous victory. I think that track helped to bridge the gap between a mere football tournament and the hopes and dreams of a nation.”You only get one shotWord of warning: when it comes to constructing pre-match playlists, you don’t get many chances to get it right. “If you put on some rubbish songs, you’ll soon get a few of the lads telling you, ‘You’ve been crap! That’s it!” says Ellington. “It’s a bit like being the designated penalty taker: if you miss a couple in a row, it’s the next guy’s turn.” Perhaps it’s better, then, to let a Dynaudio Music system do the choosing for you. To find out more about Music, Dynaudio’s new range of intelligent music systems, click here.