For example, skaters competing at the Pre-Preliminary level skate to music that is one and one-half minutes long. The music a figure skater skates to must be custom made and put on a CD.
Only one piece of music can be on this special custom made CD.
Until recently, some skaters put their music of cassette tapes, and used a pause button to "cut" the music from a master CD, but now, the standard for skating music is CDs.
Before tapes, skaters had custom records made for figure skating and it was common to see young skaters entering an ice arena with skates and a record case!
There are some good sources available that supply pre-cut figure skating music.
Also, many coaches professionally cut music for skaters.
If a skater uses a professional music editing service to cut music for ice skating, there will be charges for the time it takes to find the best music for a skater and there will be additional fees for the time it takes to put the music together.
Some good selections for ice skating routines include tunes from movie soundtracks and classical music.
Vocal music is not a good idea unless the program is for a show, exhibition, or artistic event.
It is important to take some time before choosing a piece of music to skate to.
Some skaters will skate to the same piece of music for an entire year.
Select a piece of music that is about 1½ to 2 minutes long.
Classical music is always acceptable, and movie themes can be a popular and trendy source for music. Something with a definite, identifiable crescendo or change is a good choice since there are natural places to insert jumps or other dramatic moves.
Select a place in the rink to start, and decide on a starting position.
Almost anything will work; putting your toe to your side, with one arm up, or just standing in a nice "T" with arms down, are good choices.
Decide on a starting move.
You might want to begin the routine with a pivot, bunny hop, or spiral.
Take advantage of the connecting moves.
Use moves such as three turns, mohawks, strokes, and crossovers to connect each element. Try a jump, followed by some footwork, then go into a spiral on a curve, transition into running threes, into another jump, followed by a spin, and finally some more footwork.
Use of space in the rink is artistically important.
Don’t skate in the same area over and over, and don’t do one spin followed by another spin--it’s generally not aesthetically pleasing.
Make sure you know your music well.
Practice your routine enough times to know when in the music to anticipate when certain moves will happen, and memorize your routine, every beat, every step.
Finally, once the choreography is complete, end in a definite pose.
Tips:
Practice the program to music daily, and build up endurance to do it again and again. As you perfect it, you always have the option to add to it or change things around.
If you do get a chance to perform the program in public, make sure you know it really well, and if you make a mistake, just go on to the next move and keep a smile on your face.
What You Need:
Figure Skates
Music
A CD Player or Tape Player
A Creative Mind
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