[choreo chat] Long period of silence in music?

[jjane45]

I am expanding the program music length for a simple audition program and ran into some problem...   I really really love the beginning of the original sound track...  subtle and dreamy, but there is a whole 7 second silence (near silience) from 00:11 to 0:18 in the OST video... What would you do during such a long period of silence for choreography?

Hesitant to cut the silence away completely because it's already too short (need 2:10 and right now it's 2:05 including silence). But if I can't find something to do matching the mood of the music I can cut away say maybe 4 seconds of the silence.

Ideas please?


OST video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCpFeE68Yjg


Live version seems to be a little different
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ni1sVCgEk

[hopskipjump]

7 seconds with no music is an eternity.  People start looking to see if there is a music problem. 

[Isk8NYC]

Personally, I think it's a music issue, not a choreo problem.

That's too long a gap; you need to shorten it a bit.

You are not REQUIRED to go to the 2:10 mark; you can be +/- 10 seconds either way, but the length guideline is actually 2m even.

Change the tempo to slow it down a notch and you'll make the song last longer, with or without the gap.

[jjane45]

Thank you hopskipjump and Isk8NYC. Yeah it kind of sounded like an eternity :S 

I played with a slower tempo and thought it would not fit as the original tempo was fairly slow already. I'll cut away most of the silence and just be happy with around 1:58 then.

So here is the general question: what was the longest silence you saw in program without feeling awkward? Was the choreography able to compensate?

[AgnesNitt]

1 second.

[hopskipjump]

For me, the only time a break works is in the middle of a spin and then Boom!, they go out of it quickly and the music changes. 

[Twizzler]

very pretty music.
don't have 7 secs of silence though.
if you can't/don't want to change the tempo, perhaps there is a bit of the intro which you can use as an intro to the part you are using for your program.
good luck and enjoy your new music!

[jjane45]

One second?!!! Patience, dear

I'm using 00:00 to 02:05 from the ost, cutting away the above mentioned near silent portion completely, that leaves me 1:58 at the original tempo.

[Skittl1321]

I think anything more than 3 seconds and you risk the music person turning the CD off thinking it malfunctioned.  I honestly wouldn't even go up to 3.

[Doubletoe]

If you want to add a few more seconds, why not copy and paste  the first 9 seconds onto the very end so that you both start and end with that pretty section, and then cut out all but one second of the silent part near the beginning?  Not only would that add time without taking you over the limit, but it would also end in that nice silence instead of sounding like an abrupt cut.

[davincisop]

Is it possible to edit the music to repeat a section to add some time so you remove the gap completely? I've done that before.

[jjane45]

Thank you everyone for your great tips! Tried to copy the first 9 seconds to the end, but the mood does not seem to mesh well. A friend also pointed out the "silent" portion isn't really silent, and it may be an option to amplify that part.

As is I will try to put everything into 1:58, and revisit the original if I desperately need an extra 10 seconds or so. Thank you again!!