5 | bring the noise, boost the signal

Listen to this description of Public Enemy’s creative process:

It isn’t music. Until it is.

And noise, rather than obscuring the groove, reveals it.

In other words, sometimes you need more noise to find the signal. It turns out that human movement may work similarly. Consider the following from Dr. Rob Gray, author of How We Learn to Move.

Maybe one of the reasons our nervous system is riddled with noise is because it’s actually essential for perceiving our environment - it helps to pull signals out, make them resonate.

Rob Gray, “How We Learn to Move”, p. 20

But what does noise look like when it comes to creating movement solutions?

According to Gray, noise “is achieved in practice by adding random fluctuations to the training environment in the form of very different body positions (feet together or apart, arms up or down), body movements (arms rotating in circles, legs moving flow or fast), perceptual information (one eye closed or both open), and/or equipment (beach balls vs soccer balls).” (p.113). Specific approaches to achieving this vary (e.g., differential learning, constraints-led approach), but all share a common theme: variability. Rather than assuming that consistent outcome variability (e.g., making a shot, completing a throw, hitting a ball) is achieved through low movement variability (i.e., having a repeatable technique), variable approaches allow athletes to experiment with multiple movement solutions to achieve the desired outcome.

Let’s look at an example for free throw shooting. It is tempting to think success is simply a matter of repeating the exact same technique on every attempt. But the goal isn’t to repeat the technique. The goal is to repeat the outcome (i.e., making the shot). It may feel counterintuitive, but variability in the task during practice can enhance the chances of repeated outcome success during competition. Here are just a few examples of ways to add variability, or noise, to the equation:

• Change what the ball does

  • Shoot with as much arc as possible; as little as possible

  • Bank it in; try to bounce it in off different parts of the rim; bounce it in

• Change what the body does

  • Shoot with your feet as close together as possible; as far apart as possible

  • Shoot off of one leg; now try the other

  • Close one eye; close the other; close both

  • Shoot with your non-dominant hand

  • Shoot underhand Rick (or Canyon) Barry style

• Change where the body is

  • Shoot a free throw from the elbow; the other elbow; the Dwight Howard

  • Try all the above variations from these different spots

An added benefit of this approach is that it may also help athletes lock in on a mental routine that will benefit from repeatability. For example, a simple routine of Tension, Target, Trust may help athletes relax, visualize the desired outcome, and shoot more consistently with the belief that the ball is going in. Athletes can practice working a consistent mental routine to solve the variable practice tasks that you throw their way.

• Tension - scan the body, release any tension with a deep breath

• Target - identify the specific spot that you are aiming for and imagine the ball traveling the necessary path to hit that spot and travel through the basket

• Trust - use a positive performance phrase (e.g., confident and free, hibachi, Steph Curry, etc.) to lock in the desired feeling and shoot with confidence

In short, you want athletes who can repeat the process and the outcome rather than an ideal technique. Knowing how to introduce noise, or variability, can be a key component of achieving that goal.

If these ideas strike you as interesting, I would recommend checking out How We Learn to Move and/or Gray’s other books on coaching. For now, I will leave you with some questions that may be worth considering as you help others learn to move:

• What would making space for noise look like in your sport/activity?

• How would your players respond to opportunities to make more noise? How would you frame it to make sure they understand its purpose?

• What kind of productive noise could you encourage? What sort of signals might emerge?

Sunkyung Yoon, Edelyn Verona, Robert Schlauch, Sandra Schneider, and Jonathan Rottenberg. 2020. Why do depressed people prefer sad music? Emotion, 20, 4, 613-624.

summary: The researchers wanted to extend previous work (Milligram et al., 2015) demonstrating a preference for sad music in depressed individuals. This study attempted to (1) replicate those findings and (2) extend them to an investigation of why the sad music is preferred. Participants were sorted into two, 38-person groups via pre-screening questionnaires and clinical interviews: (1) Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Group and (2) Healthy Control (HC) Group.

All participants completed two experimental tasks:

1. Replication Music Choice Task: After an assessment of current emotional state, participants listened to six, 30-second, randomized music excerpts that were categorized as sad, happy, or neutral. At the conclusion, they were asked to select which excerpt they would most want to listen to in the future. They were also asked an open-ended question about the reasons for their chosen music.

2. Extension Emotional Music Selection Task (EMST): After an assessment of current emotional state, participants completed two tasks involving sixteen, 10-second musical excerpts that fit into seven categories based on emotion/energy (happy/high, happy/low, sad/high, sad/low, fear/high, fear/low, neutral).

• Participants listened to a pair of excerpts and were asked to select which one they would prefer to listen to again. They completed 84 trials of this task, which meant they were presented with each emotion/energy combo 24 times.

• Participants listened to each of the sixteen excerpts in a randomized order and rated how much they experienced sad, happy, and fear emotions for each. They also rated the energy level of each excerpt.

The authors reported several findings from the replication attempt:

• The MDD were more likely to choose happy music over sad music, and were more likely to choose neutral music over happy music

• The HC were more likely to choose happy music over sad music

• The MDD ratings of their preferred music was less happy, sadder, and less energetic than the HC ratings

• The MDD happy ratings started out low but increased significantly after listening to preferred (and most often sad) music clips; the HC reported moderate levels of happiness to begin with and did not report significant changes after listening to preferred clips

• The MDD reported less sadness after listening to their preferred clips than at baseline; the HC group reported low sadness levels at baseline and this did not change after hearing preferred music

• The majority of the MDD reported choosing sad music because it was calming, relaxing, or soothing.

The authors reported additional findings from the extension task:

• The MDD chose fewer happy music excerpts and more sad music excerpts; the HC chose more happy music excerpts than sad music excerpts

• The MDD chose fewer high energy excerpts and more low energy excerpts than the HC; the HC preferred high energy excerpts to low energy excerpts but the MDD did not show a consistent preference for low energy music relative to high energy music

• Both the MDD and HC preferred happy and/or sad music to fearful music

In summary, depressed individuals tended to choose sad music, but rather than increasing negative feelings, listening to sad music made depressed people feel better. It is important to note, however, that the preference for sad music over happy was far from universal in the group of depressed participants (i.e., 21 of 38).

potential application: These results feel like they can be categorized under “the only way out is through” and “steer into the skid.” It may be logical to think that listening to sad music would make sad people even sadder, but this study suggests other possibilities, at least for some individuals. Sad music in the face of sadness may both improve someone’s mood and help them feel relaxation rather than stress. The results align with other studies that demonstrate the benefits of sad art (Venkatesan et al., 2025) or the effects of preferred music, regardless of its format (e.g., Wilkins et al., 2014). Additionally, there may be times when individuals cannot find the words to express what they are experiencing. Music preference in the moment may be a more easily accessible version of an acceptance-based approach in those instances. Music has the power to both reflect our state and direct it, and these results show that those two things may be possible to achieve within a single song!

Tennis star Emma Raducanu is today’s example of an athlete with an interest in music. Raducanu has posted videos of her piano playing on social media. Although it may be have been something she invested in as a distraction during a period when injury kept her off the court, I see a lot of value in the pursuit. There are many parallels between music and traditional forms of meditation, for example. Additionally, it makes sense that meditative-type activity that involves movement may be of greater interest to an athlete, especially if they are temporarily limited in their sport participation. As I tell clients, I don’t really care how you practice your capacity for awareness as much as I care that you practice your capacity for awareness!

Today’s lyrical spotlight was inspired by the writing process this last week. This issue came out more rock than diamond!

Some days are diamonds
Some days are rocks

Tom Petty, “Walls” No. 3

For this playlist, I went with songs that have ‘noise’ in the title. If you know of others that should be included, dump them in the comments below!