Pink Floyd and Cycling.

Elizabeth Zharoff, The Charismatic Voice on YouTube, as she analyzes Clare Torry’s vocals on The Great Gig In The Sky, gives me some key takeaways that carry over into sport so well.

Analyzing Pink Floyd's Studio Version of "The Great Gig In The Sky"!!!

A great foundation, background, is key to being able to improvise, be creative. Without that aerobic endurance base we limit the potential highs.

Range. Moving from Chest voice to Head Voice, the ability to cross over seamlessly with a range of pitches available from both. Having a high 20 minute power number is wonderful, or a great 1 minute, or 15 second. Having a great range though, priceless.

Zharoff has looked at this song twice, studio and live. The studio version giving us what the creators dreamed it should sound like. The live version an evolution. Training in laboratory conditions with no distractions can be idealised, the perfect time at each intensity, the perfect interval duration. How this works in the real world can create very different demands. 

Imperfect can be perfect. Because something is not technically perfect it can still work in a given situation. Every session does not have to meet every target. 

Always bring your A game. You never know what you’ll be called on to do, you never know if your session track will be used. This is not to say every training session should be flat out, or as a sprinter you don’t ease up a bit on the mountain stages, but rather try to do the right things at the right time.

You may not be the best judge of how well you performed. Torry apparently apologised for her poor performance when leaving the studio, not realising how famous her vocals would become, and how integral to the piece. When you feel you have messed up, take a step back and check with someone you trust, coach or manager maybe, and get a second opinion. It could make all the difference to how you approach the next piece of training or racing.