A year ago this week I did something new and pretty daunting. In many ways it looked and felt familiar as I had followed this routine for 15 years: sit down, write a script, position the mic and wait for the clock to tick on to the hour. But I had never before presented Today on BBC Radio 4.
Unlike lots of new jobs, you can’t really have a bad first day with this particular gig, because you are doing it in public. It takes a decent amount of time to find a groove and purpose in each programme I have previously presented, yet day one still has to be a blinder (or as good as you can muster).
In the four weeks between leaving Woman’s Hour and joining the good ship Today, I read lots, rehearsed the programme “furniture” (time checks and news junctions) with a very patient Justin Webb and got to know the lovely and committed production team.
But I also turned to the one thing which has always helped me bridge the transitions in my life: music. A Today playlist was born. Just like there had been a maternity leave playlist before it, a getting married one before that and many in between. You can follow my life via the music compilations I have painstakingly constructed. Music takes me out of myself, and the right soundtrack helps me access a different part of myself.
Depending on the track and tempo, it can prompt soulful reflection, stir a swagger or get me moving on a day where I’ve felt rooted to my chair.Music and people are my most important medicines. There is now more evidence that music does change our behaviour, although it comes with a health warning.
Researchers at Brunel University have found that songs with a faster tempo, above 120 beats per minute (bpm), can subconsciously encourage drivers to speed up and change lanes more often. By contrast, music which matches the average resting heart rate, of about 60 to 80bpm, is associated with more focused and calmer driving. More than 20 years ago, another study found music with exaggerated bass tones or aggressive lyrics can prompt risky driving, or even lead to road rage.
This new work builds on it, with both studies showing that music changes us, and that songs with a higher bpm can stimulate the part of the brain that processes danger, meaning drivers react rather than think. This in turn means awareness can fall, speed can go up and safety becomes less of a priority.
Now, while this has been posited negatively, the research speaks to how I have always used music, and many others too. It changes our brains and makes us feel differently. A year ago this week, Britney Spears’s “Gimme More”, Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and Jimmy Somerville’s version of “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” were some of the key ingredients in getting me ready for a big new job on a big new stage.
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I also had to find the right sounds to force a change in my mindset about early mornings. I always believed I was a night owl. Then I had children and discovered this was a myth, I was just someone who loved staying up late and sleeping late. Turns out, if the sleep is removed from the equation, I am neither lark nor owl. Just broken.
So I was unsure how I would take to the 3.21am starts. (And yes, I do need that extra minute – it’s my mini-rebellion, and I have always love waking on odd numbers.) Previously, I was only ever up at that time with a hungry baby or to catch an early flight, and I would usually feel very sick and out of sorts.
Neither experience prompted good memories of rising so early. I needed to use music to propel me away from these negative vibes and inject some can-do energy to a new routine and rhythm. That is why I walked into the office on that first day at 4am listening to another killer track, Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”. I walked taller, felt the energy and then bang: it was into brief reading and script-writing.
For those tasks, I deployed my trusty Faithless, cranked up in my ears with that fast tempo I have come to rely upon to create speed, excitement and efficiency in my output. Maxi Jazz (RIP) and Sister Bliss have been helping me meet deadlines for years. They are playing right now as I write this column.
The first programme came and went; there was joy, decent interviews and no one fell off air. Plus, I am still there a year on. I floated home after my first shift and deployed some chilled and blissful Zero 7 for my first attempt at a daytime nap. Needless to say, it didn’t happen. The adrenaline was too high.
But I had been helped by my trusty playlist, because music is magic. Music takes us places we can’t imagine going, and helps us access the real person inside of us – the one that can handle pretty much anything, most of the time.
Sometimes all we need is a killer beat to remind us of this. So thank you for the music. Just lower the tempo when driving, OK?
This week I have been…
Watching
Sex and the City. Again. The gals, minus ageless Samantha, are 36. I am 40. How did that happen? I still feel the comfort and joy of watching four good pals, who somehow manage to co-ordinate their diaries and meet regularly, navigating the gorgeous, gritty city. Following Miranda as she navigates motherhood with knowing eyes – I now have a two year old and was recently in the same love trench – is particularly good.
Listening to
The High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes. I am the co-founder of Colour Your Streets, the UK’s largest local and bespoke colouring book company, with my husband. This is a full-on stage of our lives, creating books and learning many new things. I appreciate the wisdom imparted in this pod.
Reading
The Fence – my first new magazine subscription in more than a decade. I like its buccaneering spirit. From wistful tales of youth through to deep dives on poor behaviours in our major institutions, and some decent sounding Soho lunches and pub crawls – I feel covered. When I get the time and energy to sit down and read, of course.
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Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( My daunting first day at the Today show, and the playlist that got me through it )
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