Subtleties of gait and movement, and getting a steady inner rhythm

[CrushedVamp]

On 12/28/2024 at 6:59 AM, mlroseplant said:

I will turn your own question on yourself. Do you dislike all hymns, or only certain types? My personal favorites tend to have been written before 1850 or so. I dislike these modrun praise songs, although I'm pretty good at them. We get to put that claim to the test tomorrow, yay!

In full disclosure, this quote was NOT directed at me, but I find hymns intriguing so I thought I would reply without angering you @mlroseplant . If I do, that was truly not my intent.

But I grew up in a very conservative church where hymns were still sung. Today I go to a more progressive church where the tempo is more energetic, but in either situation I have kind of a pet peeve. People just seem to sing songs, citing words they never listen to, and do not apply to their lives.

As an example, the hymn "It is well with my Soul" is a tragic song. It was written by a man that could not travel with his family on a steamer ship to England. Yet on the way it had a boiler explosion and the ship sank with his four children drowned. Only his wife survived to send a telegram back home as to what happened. From that he wrote the song. 

I can't sing that hymn. I say this with utmost humility. I love God with all my heart, but I also love my six daughters. If they all perished I could not just say, "it is well with my soul". I would be traumatized forever. I know, I lost one son and I can't forget him though I wish I could. Parents just don't get over the loss of a child, so how could I ever sing "it is well with my soul" at losing ALL my children? I can't. I just can't.

But listen to that hymn and other more progressive songs. We sing one where it says "we will praise his holy name". But do we? We are singing to an almighty God, can we really say we are doing those things the song says we will do? Some of the wording is pretty specific. I just see so many people get caught up in the music that they don't take the words to heart. Its just something to do and follow along with everyone else without heart.

But some songs I can sing, like "I can only imagine" which was written by a guy whose father beat him endlessly and mercilessly. Now that I can relate to, and the words are heartfelt, finally being with a father that acts like a father should. So I do see the value of music, and especially so at church, I just people would listen to the words and apply them. Music can have such power in the right context.

[mlroseplant]

2 hours ago, CrushedVamp said:

In full disclosure, this quote was NOT directed at me, but I find hymns intriguing so I thought I would reply without angering you @mlroseplant . If I do, that was truly not my intent.

But I grew up in a very conservative church where hymns were still sung. Today I go to a more progressive church where the tempo is more energetic, but in either situation I have kind of a pet peeve. People just seem to sing songs, citing words they never listen to, and do not apply to their lives.

As an example, the hymn "It is well with my Soul" is a tragic song. It was written by a man that could not travel with his family on a steamer ship to England. Yet on the way it had a boiler explosion and the ship sank with his four children drowned. Only his wife survived to send a telegram back home as to what happened. From that he wrote the song. 

I can't sing that hymn. I say this with utmost humility. I love God with all my heart, but I also love my six daughters. If they all perished I could not just say, "it is well with my soul". I would be traumatized forever. I know, I lost one son and I can't forget him though I wish I could. Parents just don't get over the loss of a child, so how could I ever sing "it is well with my soul" at losing ALL my children? I can't. I just can't.

But listen to that hymn and other more progressive songs. We sing one where it says "we will praise his holy name". But do we? We are singing to an almighty God, can we really say we are doing those things the song says we will do? Some of the wording is pretty specific. I just see so many people get caught up in the music that they don't take the words to heart. Its just something to do and follow along with everyone else without heart.

But some songs I can sing, like "I can only imagine" which was written by a guy whose father beat him endlessly and mercilessly. Now that I can relate to, and the words are heartfelt, finally being with a father that acts like a father should. So I do see the value of music, and especially so at church, I just people would listen to the words and apply them. Music can have such power in the right context.

I have no idea why I'd ever be angry about it, but thanks for being tactful anyhow. It's a lost art. I'm not asking the question to judge the answer, I'm just curious. I know a lot of people who don't like to sing traditional hymns for a number of different reasons, and now I know Shyheels's reason. Not surprisingly, his reason is a little different than most people's objections.

We have two different services at our church, a contemporary music service at 9:00, and what we now call a "Blended" service at 10:15. We used to have three services, but.  .  .  declining membership, you know the drill. So the blended service consists of two organ hymns which are out of the "old" hymnal, and three typically more contemporary songs, which are accompanied by a band. That bit is me and my son on guitar and bass, and usually a pianist and another singer as well. The stuff the band does is a little bit different than what the contemporary service band does an hour earlier, in that it's not really what I would call "Christian Pop," and the 9:00 band most certainly is. I guess you could say that my band plays hymns or songs which were written in more modern times, roughly after 1975. The organ accompanies the older stuff, which occasionally includes your cited hymn, No. 377 (In the Methodist hymnal anyway) "It Is Well with My Soul." I find that to be a difficult one to sing, not because of the lyrics or the story, of which I was up to now unaware, but because of the tune and the typical way our organist plays it. It definitely requires some thought--that one does not sing itself.

Here is my thought about hymns in general. Like them or lump them, they were designed to be sung congregationally. Some of the more modern pop stuff really is not. And while you will find some singing enthusiastically at the contemporary service, it has been my observation that many are content to stand there and listen. I could go on, but perhaps this is a bit much for a thread about gait. Not that we care about such rules around here, I'm just sayin'.

[CrushedVamp]

On 1/4/2025 at 7:30 AM, mlroseplant said:

I have no idea why I'd ever be angry about it, but thanks for being tactful anyhow. It's a lost art. I'm not asking the question to judge the answer, I'm just curious. I know a lot of people who don't like to sing traditional hymns for a number of different reasons, and now I know Shyheels's reason. Not surprisingly, his reason is a little different than most people's objections.

We have two different services at our church, a contemporary music service at 9:00, and what we now call a "Blended" service at 10:15. We used to have three services, but.  .  .  declining membership, you know the drill. So the blended service consists of two organ hymns which are out of the "old" hymnal, and three typically more contemporary songs, which are accompanied by a band. That bit is me and my son on guitar and bass, and usually a pianist and another singer as well. The stuff the band does is a little bit different than what the contemporary service band does an hour earlier, in that it's not really what I would call "Christian Pop," and the 9:00 band most certainly is. I guess you could say that my band plays hymns or songs which were written in more modern times, roughly after 1975. The organ accompanies the older stuff, which occasionally includes your cited hymn, No. 377 (In the Methodist hymnal anyway) "It Is Well with My Soul." I find that to be a difficult one to sing, not because of the lyrics or the story, of which I was up to now unaware, but because of the tune and the typical way our organist plays it. It definitely requires some thought--that one does not sing itself.

Here is my thought about hymns in general. Like them or lump them, they were designed to be sung congregationally. Some of the more modern pop stuff really is not. And while you will find some singing enthusiastically at the contemporary service, it has been my observation that many are content to stand there and listen. I could go on, but perhaps this is a bit much for a thread about gait. Not that we care about such rules around here, I'm just sayin'.

You make many valid points… about hymns as well as this being far removed from the topic of gait while wearing high heels. This will be my last post regarding it, although I do appreciate the conversation immensely.

Maybe I was overthinking singing hymns and songs though? That maybe rather than taking the singing of songs to be a vow before God, I look at it more like I do a sermon whereas the sermon can either be uplifting in that I realize I do some things well, or at other times, look to challenge me to do better.

It’s something I will have to think about.

[mlroseplant]

I wouldn't worry too much about wandering conversation. We are too few to be concerned about staying exactly on point. I can think of many examples of threads where we have sometimes strayed for several pages into such topics as electrical wiring methods or vintage outboard boat motors. And while I would not like to completely abandon the subject of walking, I find that if one creates a special thread to accommodate the conversation which has wandered away from the original subject, 99 times out of 100, the conversation dies very quickly, and usually in both threads.

Therefore, I do not wish to stop the ball rolling, so to speak. Being a church musician is kind of a strange job in that you never have the time to get really good. Unlike preparing for a regular concert or recital, you've got to keep cranking out new material, week after week after week. Because of this, I sometimes have a difficult relationship with sacred music. I am familiar with about 90% of the hymns in the traditional hymnal, so if I don't have time to practice on any given week, those come last on the priority list. I know I can wing those for sure. What this means is that sometimes I find myself simply reading the words and not really thinking of it too much. It is not my preference, but it sometimes happens. I don't think it's part of the human condition to be "on" 100% of the time. There are times that we need to coast.

The same goes for looking graceful and elegant. I think it's impossible to do it 100% of the time. I am made painfully aware of that on a weekly basis thanks to the church livestream. Not only do I have to play/sing five new songs every week, I have to be careful what I say in the background during the service (microphones are everywhere), and I have to be careful how I look and how I carry myself. That stuff is recorded and kept forever and ever, amen. If I have dropped my pencil and have to bend over to pick it up, a camera will see it. Potentially, the whole world will see it. This makes me think about things I never thought about before, such as how exactly am I going to bend over and pick up that pencil? How exactly am I going to walk in front of the altar to confer with my bandmates or to greet the organist? And why did I wear these stupidly high heels today? This is one of the several reasons that I have become much more interested in the mechanics of walking than I used to be.

[mlroseplant]

We have survived yet another cold snap, and I've got to get back to my walking. It's been almost a week, and you know how I mentioned somewhere back there that you can't really afford to take more than a day or two off? Oh, yeah. Four inch heels definitely feel like four inch heels again.

[Shyheels]

The snow and ice are gone from the towpaths, but the mud remains. Heels worn only indoors …

[mlroseplant]

After four days in a row of practice, I believe I am back to normal. The super cold weather has left us, at least for now, and I can stand to walk outside again. It may be that I will feel like taking some pictures again soon. It's kind of too bad I missed the last couple of weeks. I wore knee high boots to church two weeks in a row!

[Shyheels]

Nice to hear the knee boots are getting an outing! I've not been wearing heels much these past few weeks. It's been quite nippy here and I've been wearing my heavy suede OTK boots with low heels - they're so nice and warm. 

[pebblesf]

I have been wearing my block heeled ankle boots the most lately.  

[Shyheels]

4 hours ago, pebblesf said:

I have been wearing my block heeled ankle boots the most lately.  

A style I love. Along with go-go boots, block heeled boots were what attracted me to feminine footwear in the first place. I love them. I’ve always preferred boots to shoes and high heeled ones seemed like racier more daring forbidden versions of my usual style. I like stiletto but block heeled boots are “me”

[pebblesf]

1 hour ago, Shyheels said:

A style I love. Along with go-go boots, block heeled boots were what attracted me to feminine footwear in the first place. I love them. I’ve always preferred boots to shoes and high heeled ones seemed like racier more daring forbidden versions of my usual style. I like stiletto but block heeled boots are “me”

Yeah, I love them also.  It's strange that I love many different styles of boots, but am extremely particular at the same time.  One misplaced design feature, or strange heel style, and I'm out.  I love wearing my stiletto boots but tend to kill the heels pretty quickly on crappy terrain/streets/sidewalks.  My ankle block heeled boots were a lucky thrift store find, not the greatest materials, but look good and are super easy to walk in.  Better I should wear these out from constant use than some of my other more valued boots...  

[Shyheels]

I am very similar in my pickiness about boots. THey've got to strike a chord, otherwise - no. As you say it can be something seemingly minor but that's all not takes. I like clean classic lines and elegance in the heel shape and styling, whether it's stilettos or block heels.  Three to four inches is my favourite height, although I love the imperious elegance  of 12cm stilettos. 

Like you, I'm always worried about wearing out my stilettos and so tend to go for the more solid heels. 

[mlroseplant]

I totally get saving the stilettos for special occasions, as it requires a lot more attention to wear them out in the real world, and the heel tips wear out quickly. I am curious, however, how broad of a heel do you guys like to wear on a daily basis, and why? I ought to do some experiments to find out at what point a broad heel actually provides stability, and at what point a broad heel provides security in the sense that one can start to ignore cracks/holes in the pavement. Without actually measuring, my gut feeling is that although not technically a block heel, my personal comfort level starts at about 3/4", or 2 cm. This still allows the fluidity associated with a stiletto without worrying about every single surface one might encounter.

[Shyheels]

My heels are generally fairly chunky. I haven’t measured them but I would guess a couple of inches across. My stilettos - Italian Heels - are very skinny, and I’ve one pair of slender but not quite stiletto heels that are perhaps 8mm across

[pebblesf]

15 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I am very similar in my pickiness about boots. THey've got to strike a chord, otherwise - no. As you say it can be something seemingly minor but that's all not takes. I like clean classic lines and elegance in the heel shape and styling, whether it's stilettos or block heels.  Three to four inches is my favourite height, although I love the imperious elegance  of 12cm stilettos. 

Like you, I'm always worried about wearing out my stilettos and so tend to go for the more solid heels. 

Yes indeed, clean classic lines and styling for sure...  

[mlroseplant]

23 hours ago, Shyheels said:

My heels are generally fairly chunky. I haven’t measured them but I would guess a couple of inches across. My stilettos - Italian Heels - are very skinny, and I’ve one pair of slender but not quite stiletto heels that are perhaps 8mm across

My block heels tend to be a bit smaller than that, with one exception. I know I mentioned it somewhere else, I just can't think where--probably on my personal thread, because I remember posting a picture of my "motorcycle" boots with heels that are 2 inches broad, super huge for me. I am still debating about whether I want to keep those boots or not. Despite their hugeness, the heel caps are wearing out at an alarming rate, and I'm going to have to spend money on them if I want to keep them. I don't hate them, but had I known just exactly how big the heels were, I don't think I would have bought them in the first place. 1 1/4" in heel width seems to be pretty average for block heels in the rest of my collection.

In addition to having to pay money to get the heel caps replaced, I'm afraid that they will lose the near perfect sound that they currently have. I know that Vibram or some other similar material is far more durable, but I also know that the boots will lose their "tock, tock" sound. Seems silly, but it's right up there on the list of important features for me.

[Shyheels]

Your post prompted me to go measure mine. They vary from 1.5” to 2 ⅜ “ and my slender, not quite stiletto heel, is ⅜ “