Clarinet DMA Annaka Price presents on Operation Cadence at the October 2015 College of Music Scholarship Dinner.
Annaka Price can take one look at a runner and recognize their propensity toward injury. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just like when you observe a musician, you can see when there are inefficiencies and potential problems.鈥�
The clarinet performance DMA student knows because she was an injured runner herself. In 2011, she suffered stress fractures that cracked both her shin bones. 鈥淚 spent a year learning how to run again,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 did a lot of research and took a class on running form, and that鈥檚 where I learned how your cadence can affect how your run.鈥�
As a musician, Price knows all about cadence. The idea that her two passions were related鈥攊ndeed, that one could help the other鈥攅ventually led her to .
Finding the beat
鈥淚t seems like running should be so easy and natural,鈥� says Price, fresh off her third half marathon since returning from injury last year. 鈥淏ut a lot of people haven't explored how to run and end up frustrated.鈥�
As she recovered with cadence in mind, Price did what any good musician would do: she brought her metronome on her runs. 鈥淎n increased cadence more naturally facilitates a smaller stride and a more efficient foot strike,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲hen your stride is too large, your skeletal system cannot function optimally and your muscles must overcompensate, increasing the risk of injury.鈥�
In her research, Price learned that 180 beats per minute on her metronome was the ideal cadence for running. That many steps per minute may sound fast to the casual jogger, but Price says cadence isn鈥檛 necessarily related to speed. 鈥淚t relates to how many steps you take. You can take smaller strides and more steps, without your run turning into a sprint.鈥�
After a while, the metronome got old. 鈥淚 started talking to some friends who laughed at me for running with a metronome, but we were unable to find music to run to 鈥� even among the playlists already designed for running.
鈥淚 wanted to make quality music available for runners.鈥�
Adding the melody
Price got to work finding and creating that music, casually referring to her new venture as . 鈥淚 just started calling it that because I really wanted to educate people about cadence, since it鈥檚 so important to me and my development as a runner. The name caught on, and just stuck.鈥�
This spring, she started commissioning pieces from with the goal of recording an album available for digital download. Several have already signed up, including a friend of Price鈥檚 who wants to create a 鈥渄ub-step鈥� piece for bass clarinet. 鈥淚 want the music to be diverse, with broad appeal,鈥� Price says.
鈥淏y recording newly composed music at 180 beats per minute, I'll have a resource to teach others about effective and efficient running form, while simultaneously increasing awareness and appreciation for contemporary classical music.
鈥淪o many people outside classical music have such a narrow conception of what it is. When you can showcase a wide variety of styles, it鈥檚 more accessible and enjoyable.鈥�
Price is currently working with local businesses to secure support for Operation Cadence, which she also hopes to make part of her dissertation project. 鈥淩unning is so popular, and Boulder is such a good place to be while working on this project鈥攊t鈥檚 an active community that鈥檚 engaged in the arts,鈥� she says.
and of some of the pieces are available on the Operation Cadence website. are also available at varying costs.
