Nationals: the music
A skating meet is an odd collection of the senses and emotions, and a great crossection of raw human spirit. What follows are a few vignettes into what it’s like to be there.
MUSIC:
The first thing that catches me every time at a meet is the music; not much Tchaikovsky or languid Debussy here. Most of it is far livelier pop stuff, energy-laden soundtrack items or (in the case of dancers) Lawrence Welk-y rooter toot theater organ pieces from before Kennedy went to Dallas - or maybe Bob Fosse musicals done at a slower tempo. And lots of tangos.
I find that I fix on the music first, perhaps because it’s a way that I can be part of the event on the sides - playing the “where’s that from” game on the music, wondering why in the **world** they mixed together A and B (think a Strauss waltz cut with Surf Guitar Ala Dick Dale) and whether the choreography and style on the skating floor match well.
The skating coaches often come up with the music, with a strong idea of what sort of pacing they want. Any routine is a collection of jumps, spins and other maneuvers spliced together - sometimes the skater is obliged to do some of X and at least one Y and W moves, depending on the event and the difficulty level of the competition.
So it’s music as a binder for the choreography setup; time your jump to this or that point in the music for dramatic effect. It also helps in regard to keeping the skaters on track to what needs to be done when.
For the casual observer, the dramatic impact is **everything**. Skaters take a ton of chances, of course, and have to practice their moves at considerable length. They can miss moving with the music properly, they can take chances with that move that is new and just barely in their reach that could wow the crowd or judges. It’s a crap game on wheels that only a well-practiced skater can pull off well!
As to music, I have a ridiculously good musical memory, and a good eye to the dramatics. I know when they’ve mixed together *really* inappropriate tunes, whether the cutting and mixing are either over the top or terribly done. So I will let loose a few OMGs and WTFs as I hear the music on the rink.
Examples:
- the Pink Panther cut back and forth with a lively Dixieland version of “Yes sir, that’s my baby.”
- versions of good music as redone for nursery school kids. I heard Beep Beep (originally by the Playmates around 1960) and selections from KISMET (the musical) this way and was NOT impressed.
- Often used recently a LOT, to the point where you groan and say aaaaagh:
…..the main themes from THE ADDAMS FAMILY, AVATAR, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, SCORPION KING and FOREST GUMP.
…..Oh, yeah - a lot of remixes of the opera CARMEN by Bizet.
**One** more flapper or Spanish dancer, and you want to throw things that are heftier than long-stemmed roses at the rink.
Other bad ideas:
- using loud, fast paced music for a very young, inexperienced skater because the coach thinks the music is cool. The music then highlights the skater’s awkwardness, doing them no favors.
- some genres just don’t work with the crowd and the judges, like death metal. You’d think that swing would work well, but I rarely see people pull it off sucessfully.
- dopey stuff sometimes works, believe it or not. Last year, a guy doing a sad-sack routine to Zorba The Greek won a gold in a free dance category; *I* was shocked, but the rest of the field was so-so, and it amused the judges.
Somtimes large groups trained by the same coaches will use an identifying very brief lead-in snippet: one Ohio group uses the Harry Potter theme for this, so you know that it’s one of their skaters. Caught me by surprise until I figured it out!
How much say does a skater have in the music? Depends on how much they run their training. Some don’t feel comfortable doing it, some insist on that level of control. And that can lead into a lot of trouble with a strong coach who won’t allow it!
Often, long-time coaches will re-use music and choreography after six years or more with a different skater, and will (if you ask) tell you that they can’t remember where the music came from in the first place. It simply worked well before, and that’s all they care about. And in the end, no matter how pretty, haunting or majestic the music is, that’s the heart of what a skater’s selection of music is all about.